The Comic Art Cycle of Life! 0

[delekkerste]

So, I saw that the Fantastic Four #118 cover is for sale at Romitaman.com (Mike Burkey).  It is a very nice cover that I used to own.  I mentioned this to some friends and, it turns out, between the 3 of us, we were able to piece together much of the cover's provenance over the past 16 years.  

Early 2006 - the piece is owned by Collector "M", who I believe is now in his 50s and flips a lot of art on eBay

August 2006 - the piece is traded to dealer Albert Moy (also now in his 50s)  

somewhere between 2006-08 - the piece is sold on eBay for $10K (buyer unknown)

2008 - Piece resells on Heritage for $10,755 to Collector "S" (I'm guessing he's in his late 40s, but, in any case, has been inactive for many years)

At some point by 2011 it ends up with dealer Saul Zimmerman (I think he's still in his 50s but not sure)

At some point between 2012 and 2014 it ends up with Collector "J" (whose identity wasn't revealed to me)

In 2014, it ends up with dealer Mike Burkey (who is in his 50s) and sells to me (late 40s)

In 2016, I decide it doesn't fit in my collection and I sell it to Collector "P" (who is in his 50s)

Not sure if it bounces around in-between, but, in 2019, it's back with Mike Burkey

And there you have it...the comic art circle of life, as seen through the lens of a John Buscema FF cover.   

It's interesting not only to see the piece changing hands this many times (not sure why, I think it's really nice), but, also that it doesn't appear to be destined to land in the hands of a younger collector anytime soon.  It seems to keep bouncing around between people who were born in the 1960s and read comics in the '70s (aside from a couple of short-term holds by myself and another '80s-era collector).  

Just thought it was interesting that we were able to piece together so much of the piece's recent ownership...people can draw their own conclusions from the fact pattern. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by delekkerste

[marktom]

Going back aways (to the early 90's), Mitch I. had it for sale in one of his Graphic Collectibles catalogs. $150 if I remember correctly.

-- Mark T

[MyNameIsLegion]

Interesting- I'd like to see the prices along the way too, and track it's journey from $150 to $35K...

[AnkurJ]

Well since it hasn’t reached cool lines it’s still alive  

[ESeffinga]

Sounds to me like nobody really likes the thing. They think they will, and then move it along. Always a bride’s maid...

[Mmehdy]

21 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

Interesting- I'd like to see the prices along the way too, and track it's journey from $150 to $35K...

I will second that

[Timely]

I saw this cover many times on Burkey's site. It looks like a really nice cover and I thought about making a go at it , but never did as I am pursuing other things. I too am in my 40's so I am no young duck either!

[Bronty]

3 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

Sounds to me like nobody really likes the thing. They think they will, and then move it along. Always a bride’s maid...

It checks a lot of boxes but doesn’t wow me at all, so I know what you’re saying . Could be 

[The Voord]

Maybe it's not everyone's 'Thing'?

[Lee B.]

On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 2:39 PM, marktom said:

Going back aways (to the early 90's), Mitch I. had it for sale in one of his Graphic Collectibles catalogs. $150 if I remember correctly.

-- Mark T

You do remember correctly Mark!  That cover appeared in a 1990 Graphic Collectibles catalog.  You can see that very ad, along with 22 other ads for John Buscema Fantastic Four original comic art, on my ComicArtAds website.  Cheers, Lee

[The Voord]

Actually, I see the problem.  Lockjaw is such a blob of a dog.  Who in their right mind would want to keep such an overweight lump of lard?  Must have set the Inhumans back a few hundred dollars a week in food bills. It's a wonder he could even move to menace the Thing, for Christ-sake. What the cover needed was a REAL dog . . . like my English Bull-Terrier (or English Bull-Terrorist, if you prefer), Sasha.  This breed has been known to kill nasty Persian types by their thousands . . .

Edited December 15, 2019 by The Voord

[Stefanomjr]

Wondering, do the 30 year olds see this sort of conversation and opt to not get into the hobby? Where are the kids born in the 80s reading comics in the 90s? 

[Dick O.]

2 hours ago, Stefanomjr said:

Wondering, do the 30 year olds see this sort of conversation and opt to not get into the hobby? Where are the kids born in the 80s reading comics in the 90s? 

Not into Buscema or Romita, so nothing to add.

 

4 hours ago, The Voord said:

Actually, I see the problem.  Lockjaw is such a blob of a dog.  Who in their right mind would want to keep such an overweight lump of lard?  Must have set the Inhumans back a few hundred dollars a week in food bills. It's a wonder he could even move to menace the Thing, for Christ-sake.

I love Lockjaw! Something off about his lips and teeth on that cover. He needs to look more lovable/dopey, even when beating on powerhouses like the Thing or Surfer.

 

[exitmusicblue]

4 hours ago, Stefanomjr said:

Wondering, do the 30 year olds see this sort of conversation and opt to not get into the hobby? Where are the kids born in the 80s reading comics in the 90s? 

Wouldn't worry about it.  Almost everything cool today* was cheaper back in the 90s.

 

*not substantiated, already wrote my essay for the week in the Millennials thread, don't @ me.

Edited December 16, 2019 by exitmusicblue

[vodou]

6 hours ago, exitmusicblue said:

Almost everything cool today* was cheaper back in the 90s.

Close but not quite, try "nearly free" instead, except for gold/silver Marvel and DC core heroes.

1990s popular character art is already hot and getting hotter. It's actually too late for the 'buy low, sell high' crowd to get in. If that's one's angle, try looking at the first decade of this new century instead. The sweet buy low spot tends to be the bottom of the 10-20 cycle, where the early adopters are cashing out -poorly- for 'life' reasons. The sweet sell high spot for the same material in another 10-20 years from now, assuming no intervening society-ending Mad Max scenarios!

Don't really like the art, lack of IRL pencils and word balloons from that era? So what, hold your nose (or grab a hanky to wipe the tears from your eyes) and still buy, buy, buy. After all, and I mean this seriously, when speculating* it's so much easier to do successfully with stuff you "get" but don't love. Just keep and even add to your "love" holdings with your phat gains

 

*buying right to sell with profit as motive

[Mephisto]

12 hours ago, Stefanomjr said:

Wondering, do the 30 year olds see this sort of conversation and opt to not get into the hobby? Where are the kids born in the 80s reading comics in the 90s? 

Not buying this stuff. Pen and ink bores me and at these prices points I will not go back to vintage pen and ink pieces. For me they just don't translate. A comic cover I saw on the racks growing up losses its luster when I see the art in black and white.

I am also finding it difficulty to justify going back to comic collecting given the escalation of prices, as I just keep the stuff in boxes and don't look at it often, they just doesn't interest me as much as it did 15 years ago. Many of the books I couldn't even go back and replace at this point despite going from college student to having a full time job. The Golden Age books I have like Detective 69 and 71 exploded in the past 4 or 5 years and outpaced even a lot of top notch comic art. (I sold them to fund the page 1 splash for Silver Surfer 17...and yes I would much rather have those books today then that page).

In all honesty, I still buy things but I am not as gung ho as I was just a year ago. I mean I have gone through small phases of passing interest and not buying anything of much significance but they have been much short duration's of time. I think part of the problem is although I just moved into a much larger place I just have so many paintings it's kind of overwhelming and to keep adding to the pile is a bit absurd. I can't even blame my fiance for my dwindling interest. She is very supportive of it all. There are few paintings she doesn't care for and a few characters she doesn't like. She hates Moon Knight to a comical level, but she wants my Boris Weapon X naked painting hanging in our bedroom because it makes her laugh.  She loves Gambit so she keeps flip flopping where she wants piece like the X-Men Sega Genesis box art. I would rather not keep my art in portfolios and not look at them, so to just keep buying pieces I kind of like isn't worth it to me. One of the reasons I like art over comics is the display factor. Yes I can display comics but I'd rather not do that with them.

My sweet spot with paintings had been 90's Marvel trading card art as many of the sets were painted artwork. If something I really like comes up I will go after it but I no longer really chase pieces that I think are "kind of cool" as they are usually overpriced and I don't have the space for them. I honestly rarely see new pieces from this genre that I covet hit the market which has kind of taken me out my desire for them. In the past year I think the majority of pieces I have purchased have been brand new art for characters I wanted examples of and/or really liked the image and the price was reasonable. 

One thing I have noticed with a lot of late bronze and silver age comic books is prices on non keys even in high grade are either completely stagnant or have dropped greatly in price. It's all about keys, keys, keys from this period, which in the long run with future collectors of comic art may not bode well for crazy prices on run of the mill bronze age covers. Also, Fantastic Four was just not a popular group/title when I was growing up in the 90s. A few years ago I actually read FF 1-125(ish). I obviously didn't hate them since I kept reading but they never really grabbed me. I'm a HUGE fan of villains and even Doom didn't do all that much for me.They kind of remind me of Superman. He was THE Superhero character when I was very young. Over the years though I feel like he continues to slide down the super hero hierarchy. He's still way up there but he just isn't the powerhouse I remember 25-30 years ago.  

I was born in 1983. Most of my friends bought comic books in the early/mid 90's and the Marvel trading cards. I don't know any of them that have bought any comics since the 90's. I know people laugh about the graded video games but look at the prices. They keep going up. 90's Magic the Gathering prices are also robust. I know a comic bubble bursting has been talked about for around 15 years on these boards.  If the movie studios start firing off a string of comic book box office bombs, I can definitely see that crash finally happen with the comic book buying I see going on in a lot of Facebook groups. The most interesting thing to see 20-30 years from now is whether the nostalgia from growing up with all these comic book box office smashes will lead to the kids who grew up with these characters spending their disposable income as adults on vintage comic books and comic art.  I would honestly be surprised to see them spending tens of thousands of dollars on run of the mill bronze age comic covers. 

[vodou]

1 hour ago, Mephisto said:

I know people laugh about the graded video games but look at the prices. They keep going up. 90's Magic the Gathering prices are also robust.

It's a huge mistake to discount these two market categories. You could c/p my comments above re: 1990s art and apply to home games and MTG; not my era but it's real. Meanwhile, I enjoy my vintage arcade game and pinball machine collection, three machines take up a lot more space than hundreds of cartridges but -to me- they are also a lot more fun to play.

[Bronty]

35 minutes ago, vodou said:

It's a huge mistake to discount these two market categories. You could c/p my comments above re: 1990s art and apply to home games and MTG; not my era but it's real. Meanwhile, I enjoy my vintage arcade game and pinball machine collection, three machines take up a lot more space than hundreds of cartridges but -to me- they are also a lot more fun to play.

The fun thing about pinball is things happen on the play field that ‘shouldn’t happen’ sometimes.    Balls jumping over things and spinning off things in ways that appear impossible , etc.   So every time you step up to the machine you get a little different experience.   I’m a fan of the machines and the OA too. 

[aokartman]

I used to spend hours at the local arcade on "Flip Flop", and walk away from the machine with over ten free games showing for the next player.

Fun!  David

Edited December 17, 2019 by aokartman
pic added

[Drewsky]

Great Backglass Art Bronty! I have 3 Pinball machines at home, all EM, all 1970s.