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2019 - one month left...
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30 posts in this topic

1 hour ago, ESeffinga said:

Pretty sure that was me too, though more like 12. By high school, I was really into drawing and art myself. I didn't appreciate everything I do now of course, but I did stop and look more carefully. But at 12, it was a junior high field trip (with lunch) in DC away from school with my friends, so hell yeah! Breeze through the exhibits and spend twice as long hanging out on the benches talking and laughing at stuff. :bigsmile:

When I was that age, I like to go to the Smithsonian and look at their mineral collection. Different hobby, obviously. Although, it was around that time I developed an appreciation for Mondrian as well  Augustus St. Gaudens (he designed the $20 gold piece).

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5 hours ago, vodou said:

I've long held that the best thing that ever happened to this hobby, even better than art returns beginning in the 1970s at the Big Two, was that one zero got added to the end of everything. With that came: respect. That extra zero meant that the largest swath of collectors had to re-jigger the (always false) assumption that you can have it all. Then it happened again (the zero). And yet again (the zero, again). Each new iteration of zero made every individual object significantly more precious than before and forced us all to appreciate what we already had -upon re-examination- that much more because none of us could fool ourselves any longer than you can have even most of it. That right there, more than anything else, explains seven decades of comic art history in a paragraph: 1960s to present -bigger prices, bigger respect (among ourselves, who cares what non-collectors think!)

Now in 2019 and heading into 2020, very few people can afford anything that isn't new or rather unloved...in bulk. Beyond that, talking vintage of even two decades back we're all facing budgetary concerns to a greater or lesser extent (even Jim Halperin can't win every single six and seven figure item in every category he collects in!)

Is this such a bad thing? Most would reply, "yes!!" but I would not. Look at the fifteen or twenty pieces you've curated, if you've been collecting for a mere five years, the pieces worth wowing a friend with. Each of them has  a legitimately interesting (not just to yourself) story you can share, a story about yourself, the artist/s and about the comic/character and it's place in greater comic history. The story of: why. You think the guys thirty years ago with stacks of John and Sal Buscema panel pages (stacks measured by the foot!) felt the same way? No. That's why they were $5 each or 5 for $20 ;) Those guys only had respect for EC and GA DC (cuz: prices ;) ) They were wrong. And I've got a stack of Mike Zeck to prove...each piece with a 'why' story I could share...

Mike, 

As you know, I'm an outlier on the subject. I regard my collection as the way to relive old memories and have new ones without reading some of the junk out there (again, and again, and again). Oh my God! The Universe is about to implode/explode/be eaten/conquered/set on fire/etc. Too much of the real world is ignored to produce an impossible story. I guess that's why I lean toward magic stories these days--no effort to comport with reality; so my suspension of disbelief can continue on. In comic world, I bet all the property insurance companies in Metropolis all fled or filed for Chapter 7 years ago.

In terms of pricing, I buy what I buy for completely personal reasons. And frankly, I would prefer it if they were all cheaper so I could have it all. But, I also won't buy a BMW or Mercedes even though I could. If someone likes what I like, great, if not, so be it.

So pour it on, folks. Any great images of the Phantom Stranger by little known artists at a reasonable price? 

Rick

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14 minutes ago, ESeffinga said:

Great pages with Phantom Stranger... seems like oxymoron, yeah?

Heh. NOPE! There's some nice Steve Dillon Hellblazer out there (finally just read that first Ennis/Dillon trade last night!) with PS, same again Bissette/Totleben ST. But cheap ain't part of that discussion :(

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1 hour ago, vodou said:

Heh. NOPE! There's some nice Steve Dillon Hellblazer out there (finally just read that first Ennis/Dillon trade last night!) with PS, same again Bissette/Totleben ST. But cheap ain't part of that discussion :(

I have a Bissette/Totleben page. It wasn’t that pricey in the 1980’s. No Dillon Hellblazer. Wouldn’t even know where to look. 

Art is such a personal thing; its trigger on our emotions and intellect all vary.

Besides, there is something very appealing to me about a character who sits on the divine dividing line between good and evil, right and wrong, trying to encourage others to do what is right instead of making that decision for them.

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10 hours ago, Bronty said:

Adams and Aparo too and I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but it’s kinda true that he didn’t have the deepest artistic roster afaik

He does make quite a few guest appearances (less so since that most recent run which DiDio poisoned). So, I can pick up things that way. For example, Sienkewiecz used him on the cover of Unexpected No. 6 with the Spectre (which I have). But yes, it makes the search much harder.

He needs a really good thinking man’s writer to shine, not an action writer. Trying to get a person to alter their intentions, as compared to covering them with spider webbing, is hard to project in the visual manner which is required in most comics.

Edited by Rick2you2
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9 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

My first ever exposure to the Phantom Stranger character  vis-a-vis my first DC Comic: JLA #110, a 100 pager, and an Xmas issue: Dillin/Giordano

 

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To appreciate the character, I think the best runs are Series 2, by Wein, from around issue 10 to 26, and Series 4, by DeMatteis, from around issue 6 to around issue 18. A lot of his guest appearances, where the art can be good, don’t always have the best storylines. He would sometimes be brought in to “save the day”, or as little better than a narrator telling the reader where the plot was going.

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