Little Boy Latest Victim of Kiss Cam (from espn.com)

Doesn't have anything to do with comics or original art, or collectibles, but it IS funny! Enjoy :)

Amazing Spider-Man 311 page 27

Here's a pretty nice interior page from Todd McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man 311 page 27, featuring Spidey in every panel and literally all over the original art, and it's signed by Todd McFarlane himself. Comes with the matching color guide which is a nice touch, especially if you end up winning this auction and then framing them side-by-side. Currently at $4050.00 with a few days to go, but this will probably keep rising. I get the feeling McFarlane ASM and Spider-Man pages will be showing up on eBay in 2008. Maybe this is the year McFarlane ASM pages will take a healthy upward jump in value. In some ways, it's about time this happened.

I'll update this post with the final price when the auction ends.

UPDATE: The auction ended early but turns out the page is still available but the seller is hoping to pick up an Amazing Fantasy 15 from the funds. I kid you not. So if you have an AF 15 you want to trade for McFarlane ASM original art, be sure to get in touch with this seller ASAP.

Marvel Team Up #84 cover (Spider-man and Kung-Fu)

Here's a great Marvel Team Up #84 cover featuring Spider-Man and Master of Kung-Fu from January 1979. This is an excellent and early example of Steve Leialoha, also signed by him in the corner box. You don't see Steve's work for sale often especially since he ended up doing more inking rather than pencils. To me, he is best known for his art on Spider-Woman and Howard the Duck.

Steve still appears at conventions including the upcoming WonderCon in Feb 22-24. I believe he still makes his home in the SF Bay Area.

The MTU cover is currently at $2075.00 with a few hours to go. I'll update this auction at it's conclusion.

UPDATE: This auction closed at $2276.00 with 24 bids. Great classic piece that was added to someone's collection!

"Justice" superheroes no match for striking writers

Original post from news.yahoo.com
Images from mykey3000.com

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The superheroes of "Justice League of America" will have to hang up their costumes, because the Hollywood writers strike prevents Warner Bros. from sorting out problems with the movie's script.

The feature, starring DC Comics staples such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in live-action flesh, was to have been a special-effects extravaganza for the studio. George Miller ("Happy Feet") was attached as director.

Word leaked in the fall that the script, by the husband-and-wife team of Kieran and Michele Mulroney, was good but that subsequent rewrites, including the latest by Miller, had pacing issues and took the project in the wrong direction. With the 11-week writers strike in full swing, the studio decided it was best to wait to iron out the problems.

Adding to the woes were questions of tax-incentive qualifications in Australia, where Miller was preparing to shoot. The project's costs were escalating, and the script would need an overhaul if the movie didn't qualify for discounts.

The decision to put the project on hold now frees up the actors who had been cast in such roles as Superman (Scott Porter), Batman (Armie Hammer), Wonder Woman (Megan Gale), Green Lantern (Common) and the Flash (Adam Brody). Extensions on their contracts expired Tuesday. The studio is not afraid of losing the actors because playing iconic superheroes in "Justice" is seen as a starmaking turn.

"Justice's" delay is considered good news for Christopher Nolan's camp. The director is in post-production on "The Dark Knight," the sequel to "Batman Begins," and is said to have been unhappy with the "Justice League" movie because its version of Batman clashed with his one, starring Christian Bale. Nolan has been resisting directing a third "Batman" movie, though the studio would relish the possibility and could begin heavy courting.

Ironman 141 splash!!

Here's a great splash page from the great duo art team of Romita JR and Bob Layton. Ironman 141 page 1 splash sold on eBay for $3,150.59 This is a great page representative of the great and almost under-appreciated art from their great run. The art from their work on Ironman will continue to be sought after.

What's in the air? MacBook Air.

In celebration of MacWorld SF's kickoff tomorrow, just thought I'd post on what could be an exciting week in tech. How is that relevant to original comic book art? Well, one, I'm gonna be there to check out the new toys and even get my time to kick the tires around on these beauties.. :) Rumors are rampant that Apple will be introducing a new super thin, ultra portable laptop called simply Mac Book Air. These spy photos, obtained from engadget and also posted at macrumors.com (what a great name for a Mac rumor site, eh?) seem to indicate Apple has been hard at work keeping these gems secret from us, and also hard at work making another cutting edge design. As with all Mac Books that are based on Intel processors, you can run MacOS or Windows (XP, Vista, etc) or even any flavor of Linux. Triple boot into any incarnation. This is the way to go if you want to maintain native compatibility with any OS.

Stay tuned for some interesting surprises that will be announced Tuesday morning, by Steve Jobs, and no doubt he will be clad in his standard "black mock turtleneck shirt and jeans" look.

Check out the for all the latest on the new flavors of Macs, iPods, iPhones and anything else Apple related. :)

I'm Baaack. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles premieres on Fox this Sunday Jan 13 8/7C and Monday Jan 14 9/8C.

Anyone remember Alex Ross' work on that early Terminator Burning Earth (Now Comics) book from 1990? Here are some of his painted covers as shown on alexrossart.com. Brings back a lot of memories when that book hit the shelf and especially since the movie was still cult cool back then, and got people thinking about Terminator again. Alex Ross was just starting out then and hadn't completely perfected his painted realistic people look yet. You could see the differences from now and then. He has some extremely detailed painted pieces. I can't think of any other painters that can paint with as much realism. Mike Mayhew is also a very good realism painter, esp his work on Vampirella turned a lot of heads. Ross and Mayhew artwork looks even better up close and in person. The details just drip off the page.

Speaking of turning heads... pictured here is stunning actress Summer Glau who plays Cameron Phillips, in the new Terminator series. I can't wait to check out the premiere.

Colan DD. Twice-up!

Speaking of Colan DD, set your eyes on this one. Daredevil 28 page 15. Twice up, and Colan/Ayers DD throughout, and a Stan Lee story to boot! Great page from a great time, and prime example of why Colan DD art is so collectible.

Currently at $2025 and 4 days to go. This auction ends Jan 8th @ 6:12 PST. This is a worthy piece of art that has it all except maybe Black Widow.

I'll update this one when it closes with the final realized price. Think $3200 is out of reach?

UPDATE: Final realized price was $3310.00

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.