Issue #65
Welcome to the 65th Issue of Original Comic Art Tips! This week I’m very late due to the long hours spent at family lunches/dinners in the last few days…
Auction Results, Ebay: a few hours after I sent last week’s newsletter this Jim Lee Batman illustration went up for $5k. (I posted it on the Comic Art Tips Facebook page btw, that’s why you should like the page…) Less than 24 hours after it was gone, probably sold privately.
The Romita Sr. Punisher sketch (the only one who looked real in the lot) sold for $1,080, I hope it’s not a xerox. The Gene Colan Dracula title splash went for $1,300, the OMAC page by Jack Kirby for $1,200.
Heritage Sunday: the Art Adams Longshot page made $3,600. I’m happy to see that Adams’ early art (which I’d like to own) is still affordable compared to more recent art. A Dick Dillin JLA splash made $1,600, a Reload cover by Gulacy $3,800, Curt Swan‘s Twinkies ad $2,000 and the Superman page $1,900.
Howard Porter’s JLA art continues it’s very recent price spike with a cover sold for $5,700. The Wolverine cover by John Romita Jr. ended at $2,800, the lack of background and the hidden face kept the price of a very nice cover a bit low. A Russ Manning Magnus page made $4k.
Happy collectors bought the Paul Ryan illustration for $360, the Gene Colan Wolverine page for $450 and a great Haunted Tank page by Sam Glanzman for $130.
strips: first time I see cheap Superman art by Wayne Boring. This Dick Tracy Sunday was great and deserved more than $1,400 (even if it was from late in the run).
Top ten links of 2018
#2 Erik Larsen Original Art
In 2018 I sent a newsletter every week, I went back to the stats and made a top ten of the most clicked links of the year.
The winner is, as usual, Jim Lee who took the #1, #4 and #7 spots. Second comes Erik Larsen with #2 and #6. Guessing from these 10 pieces a typical Comic Art Tips reader likes Marvel Comics (7 out of 10), likes superhero art from the 90’s and prefers buying original art from eBay (9 out of 10). This past week we had a lot of new subscribers (thanks Glen!), so we’ll see if the general preferences will change or not. I will continue to highlight art for all tastes!
Jim Lee Justice League #12 p. 2 – $2,175.00. Nice full team half splash, Nothing to explain here… Sold for a very good price, it will probably sell for much more in a few years.
Erik Larsen Amazing Spider-Man #350 p. 6 – $6,487.00. Really great page with Spiderman fighting Doctor Doom. This is one of the best pages sold in 2018 on eBay, and since eBay links here get more clicks than anything else this 2nd place is obvious.
Andy Kubert X-Men #45 pg 29 – this page was in the last issue (and is still for sale). Andy‘s original art always gets a lot of views, but this third place is probably due to new readers checking the last issue before subscribing. (thanks again!)
Jim Lee Daredevil Convention Sketch – $300. As you can guess by the final price this is a very low price for a Jim Lee piece, that’s why everybody went to see if it was good enough to buy.
John Romita Sr. Spider-Man daily strip – $3,048.00. Again one of the best pieces on eBay in 2018. No bidding wars here, collectors kept it at market price.
Erik Larsen Amazing Spider-Man #324 p. 19 – $1,892.88. Spiderman in 2 small panels and no Doc Doom means 70% less than the #2 page.
Jim Lee Batman: Europa splash – this splash has been for sale for over a month, $5,000 for a Jim Lee cover sounds like a dream come true but looks like fans don’t want Jim to try new art styles.
Mike Mignola Hellboy sketch – $400. This year Mignola’s daughter sold on eBay some beautiful Hellboy originals and only this simple sketch made the top 10. Collectors know prices for HB art are skyrocketing, so a more affordable piece gets more views.
John Byrne Wolverine commission, 1979 – $10k was too much for an unpublished piece and it went unsold. Fans like Byrne a lot and every piece I highlight here always gets a lot of clicks.
John Buscema The Savage Sword of Conan #11 p. 2 – $4,320.00. Heritage makes the top ten thanks to the Sunday Auction, one of the two regular features of this newsletter. We spent more than a year looking at all the great Conan pages put for sale every week, many were much better than this one, but to get the final boost it needed a naked woman…
This week on eBay
Jim Lee – Batman Original Art
DC: many Kieron Dwyer pages this week, a nice Batman/Flash and a couple of Lobo pages. A small lot of modern Teen Titans pages by George Perez and a big lot of Teen Titans pages by Brett Booth. Wonder Woman DPS by Stephen Segovia and WW page by Yanick Paquette. Hawkgirl page by Howard Chaykin and a Superman splash by Dave Taylor.
Batman page by Greg Capullo, Batman bust by David Finch. A good week for Jim Lee fans: a big and pricey Batman bust, 2 of the Batman figures with sketch on auction (instead of the usual high BIN price), Harley Quinn and Batman. There’s also a remarked print.
Marvel: 2 Avengers covers by Ed McGuinness and an Inhumans cover by Ryan Stegman. Nice Spiderman splash by Angel Medina, many Spidey pages by Chris Bachalo but he’s seen only in this one, great Spiderman/Octopus page by Humberto Ramos and a Superior Venom. Spiderwoman page by Greg Land, Morbius by Romita Jr., Doc Ock by John Byrne, very nice Spidey/Sandman/F4 page by Geof Isherwood, Spidey half-splash by Kerry Gammill.
Nice Namor page by John Byrne, Avengers DPS by Steve Epting, cheap Thanos and Fantastic 4 pages by Ron Lim, Hulk half-splash by Bagley and Avengers page by Jim Cheung.
A Zombie commission, a Walking Dead page by Charlie Adlard and some Strips: a funny Tumbleweeds daily, a Bringing up Father daily and many Hagar the Horrible dailies from this seller.
Heritage Sunday Auction
Bob Lubbers – Robin Malone Sunday Original Art
I hope nobody is expecting to be surprised by an auction taking place on December 30… Not much to see in the superhero department. There’s the usual Twinkies Ad by Curt Swan (starring Flash), another Swan page with Superman changing to Clark and a Green Lantern page by Joe Staton.
A little more selection for Comic Strip art collectors. The usual great pieces by Bob Lubbers, like this Robin Malone Sunday, a beautiful and rare Connie Sunday by Frank Godwin, a 1958 Hi and Lois Sunday, a funny 1932 Barney Google daily, a 1921 Bringing up Father, a Green Berets daily by Joe Kubert, an X-9 by Al Williamson and a Doonesbury.
This was a pretty slow week for Comic Art Auctions. Next week, we’ll start to look into ComicLink’s new lots and the usual great original art! Happy Holidays!
