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SDCC 2019 - Original Art pics
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413 posts in this topic

Oh man, I was so sure Butler was going to be the one that ended up with that Nosferatu painting, but he told me the same thing. It was pre-sold.

When I scrolled down on the thread and saw you with the color piece, I thought, oh mess, Gene got it.... then I saw the type on it. Bah. I wanna know who walked away with it. It's a cool piece. I don't buy prints. I just have no place on the wall for them and no desire to collect them. But if I was going to buy one, that's a good candidate!

Thanks for sharing the stories guys. Maybe some day soon I'll make another go at attending a SDCC. It's been damn near 20 years for me.

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2 hours 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

Blade reboot news was better the the Thor sex change movie starring Natalie Portman. Person with that bright idea won’t be alive for long. Marvel fans wil tar and feather him or her. Thought it as an Onion story.

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2 hours ago, Lucky Baru said:

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?

No, I didn't have that conversation with them (about where they may be seeing signs of softening in this otherwise strong market).  

Thibodeaux jokingly apologized to me for flooding the BWS market, though. lol  I don't know if it's too late, but, maybe getting the material more spread out in the market will be a good thing long-term, ensuring that there is enough available supply for people to get interested in collecting the material.  I mean, sometimes it doesn't matter if a large quantity of art is in one place (e.g., Burkey and Romita ASM), but, for the more niche material, I think it matters more.  I think the Warren Vampirella OA market, for example, was stunted somewhat by having so much material concentrated in just a few collections for so long.  

Edited by delekkerste
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I just got back from SDCC and still recovering.  I tried to make this post readable but I need more caffeine. 

I had a great time in San Diego.  I went to the IDW dinner.  I don't know many collectors in person so it was nice to meet a few.  

It looks like I am now priced out of the market.  I did buy a few small pieces just for fun.  But the prices seemed to be extremely high as a few of you like Gene commented.  

Regarding comic sales, I just saw a post from a big midwest comic store that said comics sales for floppies are the most popular in recent memory, and they posted that other stores are saying the same thing.  

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39 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

Hasn't Jane Foster's Thor been in comics for years at this point? Something like 5 years as an ongoing character?

Five years this Fall. I thought the storyline made a pretty big splash in 2014, but social media says otherwise.  

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5 hours ago, comix4fun said:

 

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? 

Yes, iirc -- it was done at a con at the request of the original owner back in 2017, which may explain its fuller body/detail compared to more recent offerings. 

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1 hour ago, Brian Peck said:

Blade reboot news was better the the Thor sex change movie starring Natalie Portman. Person with that bright idea won’t be alive for long. Marvel fans wil tar and feather him or her. Thought it as an Onion story.

I would not bet against the creative team involved.

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4 hours ago, delekkerste said:

No, I didn't have that conversation with them (about where they may be seeing signs of softening in this otherwise strong market). 

Touch base with them.  You might be surprised by the answer that you are provided.

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20 minutes ago, Lucky Baru said:

 

4 hours ago, delekkerste said:

No, I didn't have that conversation with them (about where they may be seeing signs of softening in this otherwise strong market). 

Touch base with them.  You might be surprised by the answer that you are provided.

 

Do tell.

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12 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.

Yes, I sold it. For the price marked. 

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10 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Hasn't Jane Foster's Thor been in comics for years at this point? Something like 5 years as an ongoing character?

Ya but picking Natalie Portman to lead it is the stupid part. She didn't seem to like being in the Tor films and wasn't that great as Jane. Myself and many others thought her Jane was one of the weakest parts of the films.

 

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20 minutes ago, Brian Peck said:

Ya but picking Natalie Portman to lead it is the stupid part. She didn't seem to like being in the Tor films and wasn't that great as Jane. Myself and many others thought her Jane was one of the weakest parts of the films.

 

Agreed.  Of all the A-list actors that have been featured in the Marvel films, she was by far the weakest.

 

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I was wondering if the pricing at SDCC seemed specially priced high for the con, or reflects a market disconnect generally? Are perhaps dealers are unwilling to lower their prices because it will reduce the value of their inventory, perhaps to avoid a problem with loan security?  

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