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Jim Aparo, An Appreciation
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41 posts in this topic

1 hour ago, BeholdersEye said:

Where with Marvel, it used to be Kirby and Ditko, then Romita and Buscema were the next tier to go up in value, followed by Kane, then now you're seeing Pollard and other solid run artists go up, I feel with Aparo, he's in that Pollard realm of an underappreciated artist who has an excellent resume of his body of work for DC that is now being recognized.

Art from the 1980's and prior continues to shoot up.  It's only a matter of time when some of the mediocre 90's art surges and becomes not-so-average.

The only things that don't seem to go up or has less investment potential, yet many today still spend good money on are commissions and CGC certified sketch covers in the original art realm where published mainstream (Marvel and DC) super-heros seem to be the safest bet.

I certainly like Aparo; I bought one of the pieces which came up in the past several months. But one of the things I have noticed is that a distinctive style, like his, can create a fan favorite even though the artist isn't particularly better than other artists. For examples, look at the work of Grey Morrow or Jack Sparling (particularly, his pre-1960's stuff) which I think is overlooked in pricing but is very, very good. Aparo's work is very well suited to mystery, horror and darker characters (including Batman, Phantom Stranger and Spectre), but honestly, I'm not over-awed about his work on more conventional heros like GL or Aquaman. So while the GL page which went for $4.2K is very nice, I don't see why--except for generic market forces which drive up favorite artist prices.

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9 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

I certainly like Aparo; I bought one of the pieces which came up in the past several months. But one of the things I have noticed is that a distinctive style, like his, can create a fan favorite even though the artist isn't particularly better than other artists. For examples, look at the work of Grey Morrow or Jack Sparling (particularly, his pre-1960's stuff) which I think is overlooked in pricing but is very, very good. Aparo's work is very well suited to mystery, horror and darker characters (including Batman, Phantom Stranger and Spectre), but honestly, I'm not over-awed about his work on more conventional heros like GL or Aquaman. So while the GL page which went for $4.2K is very nice, I don't see why--except for generic market forces which drive up favorite artist prices.

This is not a mystery....Jim Aparo has always been a fan-favourite - amongst the masses generally for his sizeable body of work obviously on Batman (Brave and Bold), but also amongst a rabid fan base for his brief run on The Spectre. In recent years since his passing, his estate has held onto all of his original art and apparently they have no plans to sell at this point. As a result, it is simple economics.......demand and appreciation for Aparo's art has continued to escalate while supply has absolutely dwindled. There is the odd piece here and there that pops up but for the most part, the primo stuff is locked up tightly in private collections or is in the Aparo estate....AND when it has sold privately, I can tell you from experience it has sold at the auction levels you are seeing now. These HA auction results are absolutely a reflection of a pent-up demand for nice Aparo art as well as a realization by Aparo collectors that once these two collections have dried up at Heritage (which looks like will happen in the next week or two), the tap will once again shut off until the next private collections of Aparo art get offered or if/when the Aparo estate decides to sell part or all of the remaining art.

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4 hours ago, Lago32 said:

This is not a mystery....Jim Aparo has always been a fan-favourite - amongst the masses generally for his sizeable body of work obviously on Batman (Brave and Bold), but also amongst a rabid fan base for his brief run on The Spectre. In recent years since his passing, his estate has held onto all of his original art and apparently they have no plans to sell at this point. As a result, it is simple economics.......demand and appreciation for Aparo's art has continued to escalate while supply has absolutely dwindled. There is the odd piece here and there that pops up but for the most part, the primo stuff is locked up tightly in private collections or is in the Aparo estate....AND when it has sold privately, I can tell you from experience it has sold at the auction levels you are seeing now. These HA auction results are absolutely a reflection of a pent-up demand for nice Aparo art as well as a realization by Aparo collectors that once these two collections have dried up at Heritage (which looks like will happen in the next week or two), the tap will once again shut off until the next private collections of Aparo art get offered or if/when the Aparo estate decides to sell part or all of the remaining art.

As I recall, there an estate website where a lot of his art . http://www.theartistschoice.com/aparo.htm 

I had assumed I found it too late to matter.

Edited by Rick2you2
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9 hours ago, BCarter27 said:

Is this what Heritage says? How many more pieces do they have?

If you look at the auction previews over the next few weeks, the Aparo art tapers off within 2 weeks. There might be more but I doubt it just given that these two collections of Aparo art were initially dumped into one auction and then were scattered across the signature and weekly auctions between April to July.

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2 minutes ago, BCarter27 said:

Heritage rarely posts their Sunday material more than two weeks ahead. I wouldn't judge by that.

I realize that, I am just basing it on the fact that what I assume was the whole collection was dumped online into one auction preview back in March/April and then was spread evenly across the signature and weekly auctions for the next 2-3 months and no new Aparo art has shown up since. You could be right but I have a feeling this was the entirety of the two Aparo collections. Actually, let me say that I hope you are right as I would love to see more come up.

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On 6/26/2018 at 3:17 AM, Rick2you2 said:

I certainly like Aparo; I bought one of the pieces which came up in the past several months. But one of the things I have noticed is that a distinctive style, like his, can create a fan favorite even though the artist isn't particularly better than other artists. For examples, look at the work of Grey Morrow or Jack Sparling (particularly, his pre-1960's stuff) which I think is overlooked in pricing but is very, very good. Aparo's work is very well suited to mystery, horror and darker characters (including Batman, Phantom Stranger and Spectre), but honestly, I'm not over-awed about his work on more conventional heros like GL or Aquaman. So while the GL page which went for $4.2K is very nice, I don't see why--except for generic market forces which drive up favorite artist prices.

I agree with you on the GL page 100%, it was a good piece, not a great piece, especially not a remarkable one within the body of work of Jim Aparo.  I am pretty sure I know why it went up as high as it did because it's the same reason why I was eyeing it but the prices had me drop out to not vie for it, and that's because it had The Green Lantern reciting his oath in the dialogue, which is similar to folks buying FF pages with The Thing saying "It's Clobberin' TIme" or The Human Torch saying "Flame On" or Donald Blake striking his cane into Mjolnir and turning into Thor.  So, there were a handful of interested bidders that drove it up, and all it takes is two for a bidding war.

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1 hour ago, BeholdersEye said:

I agree with you on the GL page 100%, it was a good piece, not a great piece, especially not a remarkable one within the body of work of Jim Aparo.  I am pretty sure I know why it went up as high as it did because it's the same reason why I was eyeing it but the prices had me drop out to not vie for it, and that's because it had The Green Lantern reciting his oath in the dialogue, which is similar to folks buying FF pages with The Thing saying "It's Clobberin' TIme" or The Human Torch saying "Flame On" or Donald Blake striking his cane into Mjolnir and turning into Thor.  So, there were a handful of interested bidders that drove it up, and all it takes is two for a bidding war.

So what are the DC equivalents of a "Snikt!" page that carries with it that hero's cache and associated price premium?

Captain Marvel: SHAZAM! transformation?

Green Lantern: Oath page? 

Aquaman: Finger to head with telepathy rings?

Superman: Telephone booth costume change? American flag pose?

Wonder Woman: Bullets deflecting off bracelets? Lasso? Invisible jet! 

Batman: Holding a dead Robin?

Swamp Thing regrowing an arm? Zatanna with a backwards spell? Spectre creatively killing someone? Green Arrow shooting a boxing glove arrow? Beast Boy animal change? Constantine smoking? Flash running? Blue Beetle (shudder).

As a DC guy, typing up this list really hits home that Marvel's pantheon of heroes is so much cooler... At least you have Batman's rogues that are 100% the best! 

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30 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

So what are the DC equivalents of a "Snikt!" page that carries with it that hero's cache and associated price premium?

Captain Marvel: SHAZAM! transformation?

Green Lantern: Oath page? 

Aquaman: Finger to head with telepathy rings?

Superman: Telephone booth costume change? American flag pose?

Wonder Woman: Bullets deflecting off bracelets? Lasso? Invisible jet! 

Batman: Holding a dead Robin?

Swamp Thing regrowing an arm? Zatanna with a backwards spell? Spectre creatively killing someone? Green Arrow shooting a boxing glove arrow? Beast Boy animal change? Constantine smoking? Flash running? Blue Beetle (shudder).

As a DC guy, typing up this list really hits home that Marvel's pantheon of heroes is so much cooler... At least you have Batman's rogues that are 100% the best! 

Interesting!  I agree with Shazam, Oath page and Zatanna.

not quite sure on the Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Swamp Thing and others.

Batman holding a dead Robin probably isn't it since there can't be that many out there.  Although I did luck out and have one by Aparo for the Death in the Family card art.  I don't know what would be a Batman one though

Malvin

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1 hour ago, malvin said:

 I don't know what would be a Batman one though

easy... on a rooftop or gargoyle

latest?cb=20090613144145

1 hour ago, Sideshow Bob said:

Superman

also easy... hands on hips pose-

e9f897393d3cbcbd9fa7f5c705137536--advent

EDIT: I'd also add Superman breaking chains or having bullets bounce off his chest!

Edited by BCarter27
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1 hour ago, eewwnuk said:

i'd add crime alley scene for batman or anything associated with his origin. 

I like that one better than the gargoyle one.  Not just because I have one of those pages too :)

The gargoyle ones tend to be more for pinups, covers and commissions no?  Are there a lot of published pages with him on a gargoyle?

Malvin

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20 hours ago, Lago32 said:

I realize that, I am just basing it on the fact that what I assume was the whole collection was dumped online into one auction preview back in March/April and then was spread evenly across the signature and weekly auctions for the next 2-3 months and no new Aparo art has shown up since. You could be right but I have a feeling this was the entirety of the two Aparo collections. Actually, let me say that I hope you are right as I would love to see more come up.

There are a bunch of later Aparo pages coming up in Clink next month. 

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20 hours ago, Lago32 said:

If you look at the auction previews over the next few weeks, the Aparo art tapers off within 2 weeks. There might be more but I doubt it just given that these two collections of Aparo art were initially dumped into one auction and then were scattered across the signature and weekly auctions between April to July.

Or, it could be the activity of a smart seller. Posting a small number of pages up will drive up demand for those pages (because there isn't much out there). If a lot are posted at once, the pool of potential bidders is quickly watered down as they spend what they want to spend. They don't have time to decide if they want to buy more at that auction, but, if they wait a week, they may buy more. And, there may be more people who discover the auction the next week.

Let me add that the seller(s) seem to be selling in loose categories by hero, and by early vs. later work. So we get a run of Spectre pages, then Batman, then Aquaman and some GL, then more GL. That sort of pattern.

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On 6/27/2018 at 1:34 PM, Sideshow Bob said:

So what are the DC equivalents of a "Snikt!" page that carries with it that hero's cache and associated price premium?

Captain Marvel: SHAZAM! transformation?

Green Lantern: Oath page? 

Aquaman: Finger to head with telepathy rings?

Superman: Telephone booth costume change? American flag pose?

Wonder Woman: Bullets deflecting off bracelets? Lasso? Invisible jet! 

Batman: Holding a dead Robin?

Swamp Thing regrowing an arm? Zatanna with a backwards spell? Spectre creatively killing someone? Green Arrow shooting a boxing glove arrow? Beast Boy animal change? Constantine smoking? Flash running? Blue Beetle (shudder).

As a DC guy, typing up this list really hits home that Marvel's pantheon of heroes is so much cooler... At least you have Batman's rogues that are 100% the best! 

For Superman I think it is the shirt pulling open to reveal the S. 

For flash perhaps the costume out of the ring ....

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59 minutes ago, Chillax23 said:

Hold on - earlier someone said Aparro knight fall pages are in the $3-5k range??? That cannot be right ? please tell me it’s not as I wanted to pick up another (got mine 3 years ago) ....

Pics or it didn’t happen! ;) Which one do you have? 

 

I would also like to know,  is that really the going rate? Or just for pages from Batman 497

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3 hours ago, Catwoman_Fan said:

Pics or it didn’t happen! ;) Which one do you have? 

 

I would also like to know,  is that really the going rate? Or just for pages from Batman 497

It is on page 1 of this thread from Batman 494. I Have no idea what the going rate is - I bought it three years ago. Earlier in this thread someone noted a knightfall page is running $3-5k from  Aparro which seems insane 

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On 6/27/2018 at 9:33 AM, Lago32 said:

If you look at the auction previews over the next few weeks, the Aparo art tapers off within 2 weeks. There might be more but I doubt it just given that these two collections of Aparo art were initially dumped into one auction and then were scattered across the signature and weekly auctions between April to July.

Some more Aparo Batman coming to Heritage.

https://comics.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=52+793+794+791+1893+792+2088&Ntk=SI_Titles&Nty=1&Ntt=Aparo&limitTo=all&ic=homepage-search-A-K-071316

 

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