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SDCC 2019 - Original Art pics
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413 posts in this topic

On 7/18/2019 at 8:56 PM, exitmusicblue said:

Yummmmm... Not 9k yum, but yummm. Snagged my Artgerm Vampi for a teensy fraction.

P.S. Foreground >>> background.

Was this an Artgerm published cover or commission you picked up? 

I ask because I thought Artgerm's current single character commissions were $1k or $1250 with no background and 9"x12" in size. 

And the Hughes published cover is really oversized, something like 14x20 is I am remembering correctly seeing it in their portfolio at the convention. 

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43 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

Was this an Artgerm published cover or commission you picked up? 

I ask because I thought Artgerm's current single character commissions were $1k or $1250 with no background and 9"x12" in size. 

And the Hughes published cover is really oversized, something like 14x20 is I am remembering correctly seeing it in their portfolio at the convention. 

Although Dynamite's E-I-C wanted to use my commission as a cover, Artgerm apparently told him he'd like only new art to be used for a new cover.  Which led to: https://allforgeeks.com/variant-covers/new-variant-covers/vampirella-2-lau-rare-blood-moon-variant/

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3 minutes ago, exitmusicblue said:

Good to "see" the syndicate... errr, coiterie... errr, cabal lookin' chill and happy.

What happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas, with the exception of that photo of the Blue Man group.

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3 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Friday night SDCC Cabal dinner... 

20190721_211653.thumb.jpg.a2a7d4524ce5a3bbd8cf5f4d61eef3d3.jpg

The Cabal has been outted!!!!! Eyes and hair or lack there of have put prices on their heads. Really skimping on the blue dots!

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32 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

That is not an actual picture of the cabal. Easy to tell. No hookers surrounding them and where is all the hard liquor and cigars. 

Where are the hookers and the hard liquor?     Under the table, of course  :insane:

They aren't animals!

Edited by Bronty
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2 hours ago, TheLostDreams said:

Was the price on the Gulacy/Adkins Master of Kung Fu 33 page 1 splash 14k?  And did it sell?  Any info would be much appreciated...Thanks.

14K, yes. 

It hadn't sold the last I saw, but, I wasn't keeping tabs on it.  

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17 hours ago, delekkerste said:

All I'm saying is that they have to have the Betty visits the cosmetic surgeon storyline before she can be drawn with a bust that large, because, otherwise, it's just not the character... :whistle:

Although, if you're gonna have AH! draw the character (and cover in particular), don't you kind of know what you are gonna get!  And given that Veronica has the wealth, I kinda like that Betty has the boobs!

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12 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Was this an Artgerm published cover or commission you picked up? 

I ask because I thought Artgerm's current single character commissions were $1k or $1250 with no background and 9"x12" in size. 

And the Hughes published cover is really oversized, something like 14x20 is I am remembering correctly seeing it in their portfolio at the convention. 

 

12 hours ago, exitmusicblue said:

Although Dynamite's E-I-C wanted to use my commission as a cover, Artgerm apparently told him he'd like only new art to be used for a new cover.  Which led to: https://allforgeeks.com/variant-covers/new-variant-covers/vampirella-2-lau-rare-blood-moon-variant/

Very nice, always cool when an artist's commission piece turn out nice enough that the publisher thinks they might want to use it. 

So it was a 9x12 commission like Artgerm's other pieces? 

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Great report Gene as usual. 

It's not that prices are normally high for good stuff.

It was the alarming and annoying mantra of dealers justifying ridiculous prices by saying, "I don't really want to sell that."

I was told that at least seven times. I laid into the dealer the seventh time. It went something like this:

-------

Hi Dealer X, I really like that piece. How much is it? 

$10,000. 

OK. Heritage usually sells those for around $4500-5500. Can you share with me any information as to why it is priced 2X that? Is there something special about it?

I don't want to sell it. 

What? That's your sale pitch? It's hanging on your for sale wall here at comic con. What do you mean you don't want to sell it? Why not leave it home?

I wanted to see if I could get stupid money for it. 

Well, I'd have to be stupid to pay stupid money, yes?

I never heard it put that way. If I don't sell it I will just bring int home and be happy that it didn't sell. 

---------

I heard this throughout the show. I don't want to sell that, I'm happy to bring it home. 

I went to spend money and with a few small exceptions, came home with most of it. I'll spend it privately or at auction I guess. At least the auction house won't whine to me that they don't want to sell what I'm bidding on. 

I had a great time otherwise, but in speaking with some deep pocketed collectors, they too had the same complaints. It wasn't that we weren't willing to spend large sums on the right pieces; 

It was that increasingly we were unwilling to pay multiples of fair market value for appealing art for no other reason than the sellers desire to score sales at multiples of fair market value. 

 

Rob

 

 

..the flip side of SDCC 2019 is that I feel that dealer pricing this year was the most disconnected from reality that I've ever witnessed (and I was not alone in this characterization - I heard it from two auction house reps and a number of collectors as well).  I mean, it's not just that prices are at/near record highs, but, the pricing spread to FMV was just beyond the pale this year.  I mean, sure, collectors always complain about dealer pricing, but, normally at least prices are at a level where you can start a conversation or negotiation. This year, many prices were just so far in la-la land, having jumped by hyperinflationary levels since just last year, that few would even want to bother. I'm not going to name names, and will point out that it's not all dealers (but, enough of them to make this characterization); the ones who post here on the Boards are not the ones I'm describing.

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23 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

2019 SDCC CON REPORT

So, another SDCC is in the books!  Although I grew up in San Diego, I never made it to the show until 2001, and now I've been to 16 out of the last 19 shows. 

I have to say, this was one of the better shows, but, not necessarily for the best reasons.  I think there's been a noticeable drop-off the past two years in terms of the number of OA collectors going to the show.  I think part of that is Con fatigue (there's just so many these days, plus, SDCC is the hardest show to secure tickets and hotels*), part of it is aging out (the median age of the OA guys at the show probably exceeded 50 this year), and now this L.A. show is probably siphoning off some traffic to SDCC (a Heritage official told me as much, while a ComicLink official said that they did some biz at the L.A. show that they wouldn't have gotten here in SD, as the consignor wasn't going to the latter).  

So, why was it one of the better shows?  Fewer OA guys = more time to spend with people = better quality experience.  Just got to spend a lot more time talking with a smaller number of people and feel like we had better and longer conversations, more shared meals with the same people, etc. Not to get all cornball, but, I feel like this was a Con where friendships were deepened, having had the chance to spend more time with people.  And, the social aspect is really what this show is now all about, because...

...the flip side of SDCC 2019 is that I feel that dealer pricing this year was the most disconnected from reality that I've ever witnessed (and I was not alone in this characterization - I heard it from two auction house reps and a number of collectors as well).  I mean, it's not just that prices are at/near record highs, but, the pricing spread to FMV was just beyond the pale this year.  I mean, sure, collectors always complain about dealer pricing, but, normally at least prices are at a level where you can start a conversation or negotiation. This year, many prices were just so far in la-la land, having jumped by hyperinflationary levels since just last year, that few would even want to bother. I'm not going to name names, and will point out that it's not all dealers (but, enough of them to make this characterization); the ones who post here on the Boards are not the ones I'm describing. :foryou: 

On the other hand, the Amazing Heroes Watchmen cover had its price deflated from $250K (?) last year to $185K this year (this has bounced around to various dealers on consignment the past couple/few years); I guess the consignor realized with the Watchmen #1 cover re-selling at $216K that $250K was pie-in-the-sky and that $185K would be a much more reasonable price. :wink:

It was nice to meet a couple of Boardies in person for the first time, including @Panelfan1 and @hippiecop.  If I left anybody out, my apologies, it was great meeting you too!  

Got to meet writer Tom King (Batman, Sheriff of Babylon, Vision, Mister Miracle) at Scott Eder's booth, which was nice.  I've never met Rob Liefeld and missed my chance to introduce myself when he was checking out Mike Burkey's booth as I ended up in another conversation.  Next time, I guess.  I didn't do the IDW-sponsored Walt Simonson dinner this year, but, did see a panel on '70s comics, featuring Walt and Louise, Tony Isabella, Mark Evanier (moderator), Trina Robbins, Arvell Jones and a few others, which was fun.  I try to make it to at least one panel a year, and this was the only one I made it to this time (it was a rather underwhelming selection this year, by all accounts).  Also met John Dolmayan for the first time; figured him buying my old ASM cover was a good excuse to strike up a conversation.

I wasn't planning on buying anything at the show, as I've been laser-focused and as disciplined as an Olympic athlete in only buying things off my super-narrow want list.  Well, it was a good week in the market last week and so I succumbed to temptation and ended up buying a number of things on Friday and Saturday - a nice (and cheap!) piece of strip art from Mitch, a super-cheap Sanho Kim Charlton page from a dealer down on the comic end and a couple of cool pieces from Scott Eder (one of them may end up on CAF at some point).  A friend of mine at the show tipped me off to a very nice piece that popped up online on Friday, which I snagged as well (this one will probably make it to my CAF gallery at some point); I think my biggest competition for the piece probably missed it, being at the show. lol  I also picked up a first edition copy of Seduction of the Innocent, an amazing Bob Ross bobblehead doll, a Nosferatu action figure (from Super 7), and a Kent Williams-signed Nosferatu print (Kent is working on a big Nosferatu project; I would have loved to have bought the original to the print, but, it was pre-sold.  There was a nice study for the original at Allen Spiegel's booth, for a reasonable $3800 IIRC, but, I was content with the print).  See photo below...

Anyway, I read that SDCC Con attendance peaked in 2015 at about 170,000, vs. 130,000 nowadays.  I wonder if we are living in (or have even lived through) Peak Comic-Con?  That remains to be seen, but, the shrinking attendance on the OA collector side is a bit worrisome as far as our little corner of the hobby goes.  

I was not unhappy, being the owner of the Tomb of Dracula #10 cover, to hear that Marvel is rebooting Blade with Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali in the title role. :applause: Just sayin'...

- Gene

 

* I know a lot of people are more constrained by hotels than by getting tickets to SDCC.  Let me just say that, unless you absolutely have to be near the show, there is plenty of hotel availability outside of downtown during Con week, easily accessible by Uber or Lyft.  My parents live about 40 min. north of downtown and I just hit an Uber back the last two nights (caught a ride down with a friend both days)...$42 including tip, and that's for a pretty long drive.  You can easily find something closer to downtown and cut that cost by at least a third, I imagine.  And, I'm sure even with the car expense, you'll save enough staying outside of downtown (where rates are jacked like The Rock during Con week) to more than make up for it.  

Nosferatu.thumb.jpg.cab8c8f2813ddf1e1a81b1ccbe8f0f74.jpg

Bummed I didn't get to see you at show, thought this year I spent much more time running around with my kids.  Didb't expect to pick up anything at the show (I agree with much of what you said, but I did manage to pick up a grail or sorts on Wednesday night!  ASFA has always been one of my favorite booth, and I'm glad to see you picked up something nice from Kent. 

--Alex

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7 minutes ago, artcollector9 said:

Great report Gene as usual. 

It's not that prices are normally high for good stuff.

It was the alarming and annoying mantra of dealers justifying ridiculous prices by saying, "I don't really want to sell that."

I was told that at least seven times. I laid into the dealer the seventh time. It went something like this:

-------

Hi Dealer X, I really like that piece. How much is it? 

$10,000. 

OK. Heritage usually sells those for around $4500-5500. Can you share with me any information as to why it is priced 2X that? Is there something special about it?

I don't want to sell it. 

What? That's your sale pitch? It's hanging on your for sale wall here at comic con. What do you mean you don't want to sell it? Why not leave it home?

I wanted to see if I could get stupid money for it. 

Well, I'd have to be stupid to pay stupid money, yes?

I never heard it put that way. If I don't sell it I will just bring int home and be happy that it didn't sell. 

---------

I heard this throughout the show. I don't want to sell that, I'm happy to bring it home. 

I went to spend money and with a few small exceptions, came home with most of it. I'll spend it privately or at auction I guess. At least the auction house won't whine to me that they don't want to sell what I'm bidding on. 

I had a great time otherwise, but in speaking with some deep pocketed collectors, they too had the same complaints. It wasn't that we weren't willing to spend large sums on the right pieces; 

It was that increasingly we were unwilling to pay multiples of fair market value for appealing art for no other reason than the sellers desire to score sales at multiples of fair market value. 

 

Rob

 

 

.

This is something I've been preaching for your.  Most of the dealers are playing with house money, so they don't care if they sell anything.  They'd rather hand on to it to keep prices propped up.  I'm at the point where I'm largely priced out, and also, I'm perfectly content with, and proud of, the collection I have.

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26 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

...the flip side of SDCC 2019 is that I feel that dealer pricing this year was the most disconnected from reality that I've ever witnessed (and I was not alone in this characterization - I heard it from two auction house reps and a number of collectors as well).  I mean, it's not just that prices are at/near record highs, but, the pricing spread to FMV was just beyond the pale this year.  I mean, sure, collectors always complain about dealer pricing, but, normally at least prices are at a level where you can start a conversation or negotiation. This year, many prices were just so far in la-la land, having jumped by hyperinflationary levels since just last year, that few would even want to bother. I'm not going to name names, and will point out that it's not all dealers (but, enough of them to make this characterization); the ones who post here on the Boards are not the ones I'm describing. :foryou:@Panelfan1 @hippiecop

 

 

 

In your conversations with the auction house personnel, did any of the bring up where they have a seen a softening of the OA and comic book market(s) over the last year?

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