2007 Review - Byrne, Kirby, McFarlane, Romita and more

** Happy 2008 Comic Book Artwork Collectors! **

It's been a great year for collecting original artwork, collectible investments (short of historic homerun balls) and all forms of art seems to be a great investment value again. I can't remember a year where there has been so much good art showing up for sale or being auctioned off in the public market. Let me touch on the original comic book art market, from my limited perspective and extremely biased opinion. :)

Of particular note for me, I've noticed quite a few nice Byrne Uncanny X-Men pieces sell on eBay the past year. Could this be a sign that Byrne UXM pages will be hot again in 2008? McFarlane Spider-Man artwork seemed popular as well, and some finished "sketches"even went as high as $5k-6K range (Read previous posts for more historical info on previous realized auction sales). Kirby FF pieces were selling fast and furious early in the year. Even a Kirby X-Men 1 page made an appearance on eBay, albeit a couple times not meeting reserve.

Jim Lee artwork always seems to have a following. His comics still pretty much fly off the rack and his still hard to come by original artwork consistently sell from dealer/collector's portfolios. With his All-Star Batman & Robin book often late, and with many grumbling fans bitter from not getting their book on time, it is difficult to get a good read on valuation for "current" Jim Lee original artwork (ie. All-Star, Superman, etc), although the prices are high and pieces are in demand. His older work to me seems to be the better value, especially where he got his roots at Marvel --Punisher War Journal, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men were just a few of the titles he worked on early on. Prime pieces of his will always draw interest, but it does seem that even "average" pages/art of his are getting attention. Regardless, I recommend you always buy artwork you want to keep regardless of price and intent to sell.

Moving on to the Wonder Woman artist, Adam Hughes AH! artwork has been hot, no need to mention that. I remember a mega-auction of his artwork that averaged something like $200+ a piece of art. Impressive. And Ethan Van Sciver artwork is still hot, especially his work on Green Lantern, and any Batman/Superman or Wonder Woman artwork of his gets some looks.

For 2008, I think Colan DD pages will start showing up more often, and more early Arthur Adams artwork will appear for sale. Buscema artwork is underrated and will become more collected once people figure out it doesn't show up for sale often. And Romita Sr ASM pages will sooner or later get hot in the public dealer/collector/eBay market, although it would be great if the one BIG Romita Sr art dealer would sell/trade me something. Hint, hint. ;)

Ok, I'm hoping for these things to happen in 2008 anyways.

What stood out for you in 2008? Any artists or characters get more attention that you expected?

It's almost comic book convention season. See ya at the next show and thanks for reading.

Uncanny X-Men 131 page 18. Colossus in action.

I don't know the seller, but here's another very nice Uncanny X-Men 131 page from ultimate X-art team of John Byrne & Terry Austin. Classic representation of Colossus (in metal form and as Peter), Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, Dazzler, and of course Nightcrawler. Don't forget Wolverine is lurking in 2 panels. The art on this page jumps out and oozes with 80s charisma. Love the third (middle) pane drawn with the cool perspective.

As you can tell, I love the art and story from this time in Uncanny X-Men. Who doesn't like this art, although I know there are a few of you that loath the art and story (Uh don't email me about it, just add your own comments eh and step out of the shadows), although I'm not talking about liking the artist or not for their personality. That could be it's own discussion. Byrne/Austin, Dave Cockrum, Neal Adams, and maybe Lee/Williams, really did some of their best work on this cornerstone Marvel title years ago.

Which brings us back to today. Don't get me started on what I don't like about today's art. I'm really not a fan of the art from current comic books where it usually seems the artist will tailor their artwork towards selling the art after the fact (ie. splashier = $), rather than telling a great story in the book using art. With the exception of a few artists, such as Ethan Van Sciver, most current comic art lacks intricate background details, even details in how the character is drawn, hair, etc. EVS seems to put his heart into each page he draws and esp when he inks his own work. This is good stuff kids. Really outstanding. It's easy to see why he is so popular and in demand. I really started to take notice when he had his run on Green Lantern Rebirth couple years ago.

Back to the auction, 7 days and 18 hours remaining and it's at $4550.00. To refresh your memory, another page from this book featuring Dark Phoenix recently sold for more than $7k. I'll update this post at the conclusion of the auction with realized price and number of bidders.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The auction has ended at a realized price of $8076.00 with 29 total bids. Seems like Byrne Uncanny X-Men pages are going up as not only they don't come out for sale often, but people are snatching them up when they do.