HA February Auction 6 6

[PhilipB2k17]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 10:27 AM, delekkerste said:

This is just wild speculation on my part, but, I suspect it's the latter.  Get out before the other stuff hits the market and also before the Ditko heir(s) potentially tries to emulate the Kirby estate in wanting a piece of the action.  

My source suggested that Ditko had no art when they went through his stuff after his death. And, have you heard any rumors that any of this art was being appraised by the usual suspects in the Hobby, if for no other reason than to just get an appraisal for his air(s)? Pretty hard to keep that stuff a secret. Maybe not specific pieces, but even a rumor of a trove would be hard to prevent from getting out.

[vodou]

1 minute ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

My source suggested...

Source by name please, or veracity of all that follows carries no water.

[artdealer]

3 hours ago, vodou said:

Source by name please, or veracity of all that follows carries no water.

Conspiracy theorist.

[Bronty]

5 hours ago, vodou said:

Source by name please, or veracity of all that follows carries no water.

I want receipts.

[vodou]

Just now, Bronty said:

I want receipts.

Release the tax returns!!

[Grant Turner]

What do you think is the likelihood that all the Dr Strange pages go to one buyer?

[tth2]

12 hours ago, delekkerste said:

14 hours ago, tth2 said:

I knew the Ditko Dr. Strange pages would be in demand, but I had no idea that the splash would be a 6-figure piece. 

Noob.  

Sure it's Ditko, and if it were a Spidey splash I wouldn't bat an eyelash.

But it's Dr. freakin' Strange! 

[Bronty]

Yeah but they were short stories not full books and there’s less of them around.   Mulitiply thise factors and there’s probably 1/4 as many Sitka strange pages as ditko spidey?  Guessing but it’s quite a significant difference.   ST 110 is five pages for example.

[jjonahjameson11]

2 hours ago, Bronty said:

Yeah but they were short stories not full books and there’s less of them around.   Mulitiply thise factors and there’s probably 1/4 as many Sitka strange pages as ditko spidey?  Guessing but it’s quite a significant difference.   ST 110 is five pages for example.

But it’s Dr. Freakin’ Strange!

[comix4fun]

11 hours ago, tth2 said:

Sure it's Ditko, and if it were a Spidey splash I wouldn't bat an eyelash.

But it's Dr. freakin' Strange! 

Yeah, Dr. freakin’ Strange where Steven fricken’ Ditko did some of his greatest fricken’ work at Marvel. 

[chromium]

11 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

Yeah, Dr. freakin’ Strange where Steven fricken’ Ditko did some of his greatest fricken’ work at Marvel. 

Fricken’ Marvel.

Edited February 2, 2019 by chromium

[comix4fun]

4 minutes ago, chromium said:

Fricken’ Marvel.

Freakin' Fricken' A.....

[glendgold]

22 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

Yeah, Dr. freakin’ Strange where Steven fricken’ Ditko did some of his greatest fricken’ work at Marvel. 

This is true.  Also curious to see if the scarity of this event -- splitting up a Strange Tales book that wasn't even on the 1980 inventory (in other words kinda coming from, ya might say, a black hole collection) -- makes this pop.  Early answer is HOLY COW YEAH.  Ditko did great work on Doctor Strange, and there's some lovely linework on these, but this ain't his best sample.  It's a really good, if static, story. 

Has anyone read the new John Morrow book STUF' SAID?  It's a compendium of everything Lee, Kirby and Ditko said about how the Marvel Universe was created.  And something I hadn't picked up on before was how often Stan snubbed Doctor Strange.  There's like a dozen contemporary pullquotes in the book in which Stan complains about it.  It was hard to write, he didn't know what was happening in it. he never gave it enough space on the cover, etc.  So this was mostly Ditko's baby, and that makes it an interesting strip.  But also, minus Stan's involvement, there is zero emotional engagement with Doc.  He isn't a hero with a problem.  There's no agony and no joy, just a guy fighting magic with magic.  It's cool but the personal stakes just aren't there.  When Clea shows up in 126, that does light a narrative spark and the stories get better, but I always felt I didn't know Doc the way I knew Peter Parker until the '70s. 

The 117 pages have some cool design elements (someone more patient than me should figure out what else he took from The Spirit besides the window from Denny Colt's crypt) and I've always liked how Mordo and Doc Ock seem to have shopped from the same supervillain mail order janitor uniform catalogue, but yeah, these shouldn't go for Spidey prices.  There's gonna be more of this coming down the pike. 

In other words, no one needs to bid on these.

[comix4fun]

2 minutes ago, glendgold said:

This is true.  Also curious to see if the scarity of this event -- splitting up a Strange Tales book that wasn't even on the 1980 inventory (in other words kinda coming from, ya might say, a black hole collection) -- makes this pop.  Early answer is HOLY COW YEAH.  Ditko did great work on Doctor Strange, and there's some lovely linework on these, but this ain't his best sample.  It's a really good, if static, story. 

Has anyone read the new John Morrow book STUF' SAID?  It's a compendium of everything Lee, Kirby and Ditko said about how the Marvel Universe was created.  And something I hadn't picked up on before was how often Stan snubbed Doctor Strange.  There's like a dozen contemporary pullquotes in the book in which Stan complains about it.  It was hard to write, he didn't know what was happening in it. he never gave it enough space on the cover, etc.  So this was mostly Ditko's baby, and that makes it an interesting strip.  But also, minus Stan's involvement, there is zero emotional engagement with Doc.  He isn't a hero with a problem.  There's no agony and no joy, just a guy fighting magic with magic.  It's cool but the personal stakes just aren't there.  When Clea shows up in 126, that does light a narrative spark and the stories get better, but I always felt I didn't know Doc the way I knew Peter Parker until the '70s. 

The 117 pages have some cool design elements (someone more patient than me should figure out what else he took from The Spirit besides the window from Denny Colt's crypt) and I've always liked how Mordo and Doc Ock seem to have shopped from the same supervillain mail order janitor uniform catalogue, but yeah, these shouldn't go for Spidey prices.  There's gonna be more of this coming down the pike. 

In other words, no one needs to bid on these.

You can certainly see Ditko's work evolve over the course of the stories, much like it did on ASM, to where he really hits his stride artistically, thematically, emotionally in those later stories.  You can just feel how much Ditko enjoyed working on these characters, this world, and how it not being the more basic classic Marvel themes might have given Stan a problem relating. 

[NinjaSealed]

Now that I have had time to look at all the lots and see the early bidding.....

TKJ page - I knew another page would pop up after the sale of page one and that final hammer. It will be interesting to see how this one fares in comparison, it is probably the best of the worst pages in the book. I can't wait to see the fireworks when an A page from the story pops up.......For Bolland fans the Camelot $3k cover will make an excellent consolation price. I have always liked that one.

Mark Bagley - There are two Bagley pieces in this auction, an ASM splash and a New Warriors cover. Both are REALLY nice Bagley/90's Marvel examples that I love.

Silvestri UXM #233 Wolverine page is already at almost $4k, which I thought would be around the hammer. May be an eye popping result here.

The Sekowsky JLA #1 Title splash is awesome. SA DC is very hit or miss and this one was is a home run.

There are a few Wally Wood early DD pages that are absolutely delightful.

There are several very nice Mignola pieces in the auction, including a Shadow cover that is absolutely killer. The DC stuff he did right before Hellboyis some of his best work IMO and this one is no exception.

Finally not OA related, but for those who might not know and be interested, this is the first HA signature auction to have video games. I may be after one or two if I get destroyed on my art bids.

[Unca Ben]

9 hours ago, glendgold said:

And something I hadn't picked up on before was how often Stan snubbed Doctor Strange. 

Ever notice Ditko's Dr. Strange never got a full cover appearance until Ditko's last issue (146)?  The closest to a full cover was issue 130.  And after S.H.I.E.L.D. was introduced in 135, Dr.Strange only had 1 cover insert.  Issue covers for 135-145 were all devoted to Fury with the occasional Dr. Strange floating head (except for 139) and oftentimes Strange wasn't mentioned on the cover at all.
Very different from the other Marvel split books.

[Dick Pontoon]

10 hours ago, glendgold said:

11 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Yeah, Dr. freakin’ Strange where Steven fricken’ Ditko did some of his greatest fricken’ work at Marvel. 

This is true.  Also curious to see if the scarity of this event -- splitting up a Strange Tales book that wasn't even on the 1980 inventory (in other words kinda coming from, ya might say, a black hole collection) -- makes this pop.  Early answer is HOLY COW YEAH.  Ditko did great work on Doctor Strange, and there's some lovely linework on these, but this ain't his best sample.  It's a really good, if static, story. 

Has anyone read the new John Morrow book STUF' SAID?  It's a compendium of everything Lee, Kirby and Ditko said about how the Marvel Universe was created.  And something I hadn't picked up on before was how often Stan snubbed Doctor Strange.  There's like a dozen contemporary pullquotes in the book in which Stan complains about it.  It was hard to write, he didn't know what was happening in it. he never gave it enough space on the cover, etc.  So this was mostly Ditko's baby, and that makes it an interesting strip.  But also, minus Stan's involvement, there is zero emotional engagement with Doc.  He isn't a hero with a problem.  There's no agony and no joy, just a guy fighting magic with magic.  It's cool but the personal stakes just aren't there.  When Clea shows up in 126, that does light a narrative spark and the stories get better, but I always felt I didn't know Doc the way I knew Peter Parker until the '70s. 

The 117 pages have some cool design elements (someone more patient than me should figure out what else he took from The Spirit besides the window from Denny Colt's crypt) and I've always liked how Mordo and Doc Ock seem to have shopped from the same supervillain mail order janitor uniform catalogue, but yeah, these shouldn't go for Spidey prices.  There's gonna be more of this coming down the pike. 

In other words, no one needs to bid on these.

Just started STUF' SAID today, only about 20 pages in so far. Even feeling fairly familiar with the history, having it laid out chronologically is fantastic; accolades to Mr. Morrow.. 

Lee's feelings aside, Dr. Strange was always a little uneven both in art and story whereas with Spider-Man, Ditko seemed to be a bit more vested. ASM moved in a steady progression throughout his first 39 stories except maybe towards the end; Strange occasionally looked and read as if Ditko rushed through it for whatever reason.

[comix4fun]

10 hours ago, Pontoon said:

Just started STUF' SAID today, only about 20 pages in so far. Even feeling fairly familiar with the history, having it laid out chronologically is fantastic; accolades to Mr. Morrow.. 

Lee's feelings aside, Dr. Strange was always a little uneven both in art and story whereas with Spider-Man, Ditko seemed to be a bit more vested. ASM moved in a steady progression throughout his first 39 stories except maybe towards the end; Strange occasionally looked and read as if Ditko rushed through it for whatever reason.

There are some issues of Asm that were more than a little rushed in the art department. Some issues were fantastic and pristine of course. They were so much so that, when you held the art in hand and compared it to some other issues that weren’t as well executed, you could instantly tell. It also doesn’t help the Dr strange run when you take into account that bell inked quite a few pages which are also instantly recognizable in their difference. 

[Carlo M]

19 hours ago, NinjaSealed said:

Now that I have had time to look at all the lots and see the early bidding.....

TKJ page - I knew another page would pop up after the sale of page one and that final hammer. It will be interesting to see how this one fares in comparison, it is probably the best of the worst pages in the book. I can't wait to see the fireworks when an A page from the story pops up.......For Bolland fans the Camelot $3k cover will make an excellent consolation price. I have always liked that one.

Mark Bagley - There are two Bagley pieces in this auction, an ASM splash and a New Warriors cover. Both are REALLY nice Bagley/90's Marvel examples that I love.

Silvestri UXM #233 Wolverine page is already at almost $4k, which I thought would be around the hammer. May be an eye popping result here.

The Sekowsky JLA #1 Title splash is awesome. SA DC is very hit or miss and this one was is a home run.

There are a few Wally Wood early DD pages that are absolutely delightful.

There are several very nice Mignola pieces in the auction, including a Shadow cover that is absolutely killer. The DC stuff he did right before Hellboyis some of his best work IMO and this one is no exception.

Finally not OA related, but for those who might not know and be interested, this is the first HA signature auction to have video games. I may be after one or two if I get destroyed on my art bids.

4k estimate for the UXM 233 Wolverine page was quite low I think, at least based on the last page coming through HA: Mr. Sinister and Polaris, final price USD 3360.  This page is one of the best pages in the run, there are not many good wolverine pages from that run.  I expect it will get a good price (I am not the seller, nor do I know him...)

 

[Bronty]

22 hours ago, NinjaSealed said:

 

Finally not OA related, but for those who might not know and be interested, this is the first HA signature auction to have video games. I may be after one or two if I get destroyed on my art bids.

I'm bidding on a few... we'll see.