Sunday, August 5, 2012
Kevin Maguire Justice League International original poster artwork 1987
You don't see Justice League International original artwork for sale on eBay often, or at least I don't remember seeing any late 80s/early 90s Kevin Maguire artwork on eBay in many many years. So when the original art for a poster and original artwork from issue 4 went up on eBay last week, I was pleasantly surprised.
Hopefully there will be more Kevin Maguire JLI original artwork coming out of art collector closets. I would definitely be interested and you'd get some bids from me. If you have some for sale, email me directly. :-)
The original artwork for the poster sold for what I thought was an amazing amount of loot. $8,877.77 is a lot of coin. Granted, this is a great looking team shot done by the main artist of this best selling comic book title which had the quirky characters and stories. Good times.
Kevin Maguire original artwork for a Justice League International poster from 1987.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Jim Lee Scott Williams Batman 617 panel page from Hush
I remember when these pages were first available in 2002/03 and they were selling like hotcakes. Turns out these pages are still worth their weight in gold, and given the large number of bidders on this recent Hush panel page auction that just closed, things could be heating up in 2012.
20 bidders brought this auction to $3050.00. The original art of Batman 617 page 20 featuring Jim Lee pencils and Scott Williams inks is a nice example of the art from Hush. This is all-in-all a pretty nice panel page. Has some excellent large images of Batman especially the 2 large views of the Dark Knight at the top of the page.
Hopefully with the large number of bidders and high realized original art prices for recent auctions (see above and see previous post today re: Neal Adams Brave and Bold page), we will see more great pages come out of hiding and go up on eBay before comic book convention season starts.
NOTE This page sold on Heritage in Nov 2011 for $4780.00
Neal Adams Brave and Bold 86 page from 1969
Welcome 2012.
I've been distracted with life since my last post. But I have been browsing original art on eBay again since late last year and noticing original art price trends seem to be going upwards slightly. Am I reading this properly? If so, forget the banks. I'm investing in original comic book art. Case in point...
The post I'd like to share today is a sweet early Neal Adams Brave and Bold 86 page 4 that sold today. Iconic Neal Adams Batman in the top pane and gotta love the irregular shaped panels. This page is just so clean in layout makes me wish I bid a tad more. All Neal Adams artwork.
According to the auction description, this page was purchased from Heritage for $3107.00 in Nov 2011. Couple hundred bucks profit in a few months. :)
UPDATE 8/4/2012: Artwork is still available for sale for $6500. Great looking page though.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns original art sketch
Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" original artwork doesn't come on the market very often, if ever. I think the last public transaction for a page from that book was more than $35,000.00. So when this sketch hit eBay, it was difficult to figure out true value. While on one hand it is clearly era accurate and from Frank Miller, this sketch wasn't published and wasn't as detailed as his inked pieces. But it sure is a BIG 11by17 large piece of art, and features Batman and Robin from the mini series.Regardless, this selling for a tad North of $10k seems like a good price for whoever was lucky enough to win the auction.
From the auction:
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Miller Daredevil 172 page 15 original comic book art

Here's a sweet Miller Daredevil 172 page of original comic book art that featured Bullseye and Kingpin from that classic run. This was the last issue that Miller fully penciled.
This fits the definition of an interior page in every way. Smaller individual artwork from the "middle" of the story. There is no splash element to this page. If anything, this page is extra dark with the (moody but great) Klaus Janson inks from that period.
But what makes this page so great is the awesome layouts, fascination storytelling (layouts) by Frank Miller, wonderful inks by Klaus Janson, and the uniqueness of the long elongated panels. This won't be the last time you hear me say this (or write it in this case) but boy do I miss the way comic books were drawn from back in the day! Most everything nowadays is splashy and storytelling is usually the afterthought. Publishers and artists are now so intent on making the book "look" pretty that they miss out by only using larger images. And artists also will tend to be able to sell more of their pages at a higher price if they are splashier, which may or may not be a coincidence. Whatever happened to creating a mood on the page by using blacks or different film-esque camera angles for the panes. Telling the story like you are watching a movie. That might also be why I enjoyed watching Watchmen the movie. If you watch it again, compare it to the graphic novel and the panels in the GN are almost identical to the way the movie was shot (camera layout). Eerie but done the way it should have been done.
21 bids @ $7800.00
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Super Rare Omega Speedmaster Missions Moon watch set and briefcase
Just came across this very awesome ensemble of Omega Speedmaster Missions Moon watches up for sale. I didn't know this collector's set was available but when you see it, you'll shake your head in disbelief at how unbelievable this collection of watches would be for your trophy room. haha.
There is a buy-it-now of only $145,000.00 which I think is down from the original post of $175,000.00. Considering another same set sold for upwards of $368,900.00 (!!!)
If you are into watches, this is a very bad-ass and rare collection of timepieces.
There are many other close-up images of this collection here.
From the auction:
First of all I want to thank GIZMODO.COM, THEAWESOMER.COM, HODINKEE.COM, and TIMETOCLOCK.COM for their efforts on helping me sell these watches. I didn't even know you guys had made a special blog until a couple of people let me know and for that I thank you. I also would like to thank everybody who's showed their appreciation for these watches. Now for those fraudulent bidders who keep bidding and disrupting this post please don't bother with any of your scams as I will only accept a bankwire so don't waste my time. This is the 5th time I've had to post the watches due to fraudulent bidders and thanks to you, all the links from my friends up above are broken.
DESCRIPTION
I have set a buy it now at $175,000.00 but I do consider every offer when a good one is made, so please don't be discourage on the price. As you may already know the set before this one which was #33/40 sold in a European auction for $368,900.00 http://www.antiquorum.com/eng/brandindex/pages/catalog_action=load&lotid=235&auctionid=158.html
This is a rare collection that will not lose it's value even in this economy if anything through the years it will go up in price.
The watches were made in 1997 and bought in 1998 when they were released. I am the original owner and have had them stored away all these years. They were released as a tribute to 40th anniversary of the Omega Speedmaster Professionals. A collection of 23 Speedmaster watches presented in a case fitted with a an Omega briefcase, that doubles up as a display case, fitted with genuine NASA Apollo-Space suit. Each watch in the collection is adorned with a different NASA mission patch on it's dial at the 9 o'clock position: Starting with the 1965 Gemini V to the 1973 Skylab SL-4. It also contains areplica of the original 1957 Speedmaster. This comes comeplete with all certificates and booklets.
You can find more info on these sites;
http://theawesomer.com/tag/watches/page/6/
http://timetotock.blogspot.com/2008/11/omega-speedmaster-missions-watch-set.html
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/11/23_nasa_missions_omega_watches_for_ijusti_125000-2/
http://www.antiquorum.com/eng/brandindex/pages/catalog_action=load&lotid=235&auctionid=158.html
23 watches total:
Gemini V, Gemini VI, Gemini VII, Gemini VIII, Gemini IX, Gemini X, Gemini XI, Gemini XII, Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 9 “Gumdrop & Spider”, Apollo 10 “Snoopy and Charlie Brown”, Apollo 11 “Columbia and Eagle”, Apollo 12 “Intrepid and Yankee Clipper”, Apollo 13 “Odyssey and Aquarius”, Apollo 14 “Kitty Hawk and Antares”, Apollo 15 “Endeavour and Falcon”, Apollo 16 “Casper and Orion”, Apollo 17 “America and Challenger”, Skylab 1, Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and the 1957 Speedmaster.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Zatanna color cover study by AH!

I'm a fan of Zatanna. Here's a beauty done-up by none-other than Adam "AH!" Hughes. Looks to be like a cover warm-up but looks very finished all in all. Nice use of color markers on drawing paper.
From the auction:
"Up for auction is a sketch study by Adam Hughes of Zatanna. Adam is the new cover artist for the DC Comics Zatanna comic book (starting with issue 11), and this was a piece he did as a warm up before starting work on a cover. The piece is rendered in warm Copic markers on drawing paper. Piece measures 11 inches wide and 13 inches tall, and the image fills most of the paper. "
28 bids @ $3,270.51
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
1981 Byrne Storm and Nightcrawler pencil sketch

Was watching this sweet John Byrne "Storm and Nightcrawler" pencil sketch from 1981 ending in the last few minutes earlier today and boy was there some serious bidding. Auction had been parked at around 300 bucks for the longest time, then up to around 700 mid day. Then in the waning last 10 minutes, it kept going up. Last minute probably went from $1500ish to $5,500.00 (53 bids in all).
Makes me think the Wolverine and Sasquatch sketch from late last year may have been a bargain, although this was no slouch in any way. I've got the image and some notes if you look at my post from that time by clicking here.
Personally I would have stopped at a little under $4k. Then again, this is a full figured sketch of 2 characters, Uncanny X-Men no less, and from one of the greats on that book, drawn back in the period when his work was King, great details. Art was on 10 3/4" x 14" sketchbook paper. So maybe you value it as $2500 per character and throw in $500 to have them both on the same page, have Storm in her birthday suit, have a great pose with great detailed expressions, have period accurate drawings from Byrne, have the art in great (clean) condition, and have some art that has not been shopped previously (fresh art). Hmmm, maybe this one was a bargain after all.
Must be getting close to comic con season. Feels like this year will have a turn-around in original art valuation and people will be buying up everything and anything again.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Amazing Spider-Man 252 original comic book art sells for close to $5k

Just wanted to note that 2 pages of original comic book art from Amazing Spider-Man 252 sold for close to $5000 each page today. They were pages 6 and 22. Of course this issue is the first appearance of the black costume which then later led to Venom. These pages are of historical significance in the Marvel Universe and an important time in Spider-Man.
Amazing Spider-Man 252 page 6 sold for $4919.69
Amazing Spider-Man 252 page 22 sold for $4600 even.
Congrats to the winner of these original pieces of comic book history. With comic books become more and more mainstream, original comic book artwork seems to be poised for more recognition as well as "historical" significance to those following pop culture.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
1983 Byrne Wolverine and Sasquatch pencil sketch
Was just watching this auction end and it sold for about what I thought it would, although it did more than double in the last 10 seconds. :)
Here's a great Wolverine and Sasquatch (of Alpha Flight) pencil sketch from John Byrne done up around 1983 time frame. If my memory serves me right, this is around the time Byrne was working on the Alpha Flight title. This sketch looks highly detailed and in decent shape for a piece of art from that many years ago. Wolverine in the front is 3/4 full-body sketch and with his claws out. Sasquatch takes up all of the background, and looks great. The detail on his hair looks sweet.
Seems like higher quality pieces like this are slowly coming out of the closet and being offered for sale. The realized price seems quite healthy considering we are still in an economic downtime. Don't tell that to the winner of the auction though. Congrats on a stellar piece of original art.
This sold for $2313.88.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
2010 BOWMAN CHROME SUPERFRACTOR STEPHEN STRASBURG 1/1

OK I know what you must be thinking. Why would anyone spend this much money on a freaking baseball card and on an unproven new player at that? Well, it's speculation for potential appreciation, its the rareness of the item, and it could be a great investment in the long run and maybe short run. Potentially this could be a steal in the long term.
So I present to you, and up on eBay, the super rare 2010 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Stephen Strausburg baseball card. It's 1 of 1. Not only are the Superfractor cards highly sought after, but it is the only one of it's kind, and it's for kid phenom flame thrower from the Washington Nationals Stephen Strausburg. This kid can throw some zingers and break some lumber, maybe crack some skulls along the way. This kid will be a star someday soon, right?
Current price with 4 days to go, a cool $14,099.99.
Would you spend $20k+ on this investment?
Friday, April 2, 2010
Jack Kirby Captain America 6 page 8 original comic book art
Lots of Kirby pages for sale recently but this one clearly stands out... Jack Kirby Captain America 6 page 8, Timely Comics, 1941.From the original auction:
This auction is for nothing less than the most significant piece of Jack Kirby Original Art to reach the market in at least 20 years. From the pages of Captain America #6, Timely Comics, 1941, this very recently discovered lost Kirby Original is Page 8, the penultimate page from "Meet The Fang - Arch Fiend of the Orient". To call the action on this page spectacular would be understating it. Cap and Bucky are both nearly beheaded. But they recover and turn the tables, in action that can't be contained by the panels, with arms and legs spilling into 2 panels, almost 3. This story was reprinted in the easy to find Fantasy Masterpieces #6. We will include a free copy of that issue as a bonus. In searching through auction archives to find something to compare this to, we came up empty. We didn't find a single Kirby Timely page. The only thing we saw of a similar magnitude was a Bill Everett Sub-Mariner page from Marvel Comics #1, 1939 which sold for over $86,000 5 years ago. All the significant reports we saw of Kirby Originals were from the Silver Age: a splash page from Tales to Astonish #27 sold for $65,000 in 2002. An interior page from X-men #1 went for $54,000 in 2008. Even Fantastic Four pages from the late 60's sold for big prices - a page from FF 63 sold for $23,000, and a page from FF 55 sold for$39,000. We normally list auctions with no Reserve Price, but for this very special item we have set a very reasonable, modest Reserve. This Reserve Price will NOT be revealed, the auction will NOT be ended early, and it will NOT be sold off ebay. If the Reserve Price is not met, it is likely we will relist this page at some future date with No Reserve. But don't wait, get it now.Just a few words on where this piece came from. In 1941, a young man worked at Lewis Artists' Materials, a store in Manhattan about 3 blocks from the Timely Studios. Part of his job was to make regular deliveries of illustration boards and other Art supplies to the Timely Studios. He did this at least once a week, possibly more often. The people at Timely got to know him and apparently liked him. At some point they asked him if he would like to have 2 pages of Captain America Original art. He gladly accepted, but didn't think it a big deal. 69 years later, his grandson was helping him clean out his home in upstate New York. He had long since forgotten that he had the 2 Kirby pages, and when the grandson found them, he gave them to the grandson as a gift. Neither realized exactly what they were or who the artist was. That brings us to this auction. The back of the other Kirby page that's up for auction now, ending 5 minutes before this page, shows the Lewis Artists' Materials store logo on the back of the illustration board. The back of both boards also shows the Timely Comics, inc. stamp.
We couldn't find a definitive answer on who inked this page. The possibilities are Syd Shores, Al Avison, Al Gabriele, or Kirby himself. We saw reports which said that Kirby's normal procedure was to give the pencilled pages to one of those 3, then apply finishing touches or make corrections himself. Perhaps some of you will know just by looking. Any comments from experts will be appreciated.
Below are a large number of scans and photographs, of various sizes. There are probably more than necessary, but we thought we'd show them all anyway. Take your time. Overall, this page is in excellent condition - only minor blunting at the corners but no creases and no marks to the image area other than those made by Kirby or the Timely production staff. The color is excellent, only very minor soiling near the edges. Check the scans below. The board measures a huge 15" X 20", the image area measures 13 1/2" X 18 1/2".
Sunday, March 14, 2010
John Romita and Mike Esposito Amazing Spider-Man 52 original comic book art title splash! 1967!

Here's an early Amazing Spider-Man 52 original comic book art page with art by John Romita Sr and inks by Mike Esposito (penname Mickey Demeo). This is from September 1967. The page features Spider-man and JJ Jameson taken prisoner by the Kingpin. This title splash is from the issue "To Die A Hero!".
This is truly an amazing piece of artwork. Currently at $28,988 with reserve currently not met. We'll see about that in the coming week. :)
Neal Adams X-Men 61 original comic book art page

Doesn't get much more rare than a Neal Adams X-Men page, and no less than from issue 61! X-Men 61 page 18. This page feaures Sauron battling the X-Men team including Cyclops, Iceman, Beast and Marvel Girl!
This auction completed and the original artwork sold for $8,000.00 with 38 bids.
Charles Schulz Peanuts Strip Original Art - Charlie Brown

I've been away for a bit but no time like the present to come back and post a quick note.
Here's a great looking Peanuts strip original art piece for sale with a few hours remaining. This strip features Charlie Brown. Currently at $10,000.00
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Al Migrom Jim Mooney Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man original art

Nice Al Migrom penciled splash with Jim Mooney inks from Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man 96 page 8.
A little surprising that it sold for as high as it did but still a nice piece of artwork. From 1984.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Cockrum/Layton The X-Men 105 page 30 original art

Here's a sweet page from The X-Men 105 page 30 (before they became Uncanny) with art from Dave Cockrum and Bob Layton. Great looking artwork with large panels featuring the entire team including Phoenix prominently in the center. You even get Wolverine in a pane down below! Signed by Layton.
This piece looks to be very representative of that time. Don't forget pages from this early Cockrum run don't come out for sale publicly very often. From June 1977.
Currently at $6500 (13 bids) with 9 hours to go. Anyone betting on this one doubling before it's done??
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Happy 2010 !! Darwyn Cooke Justice League New Frontier original art

Happy 2010 Everyone!! Can't believe 2010 is already here --I coulda swore it was only 2008 like last week. Oh man where have I been? ;)
In the 2010 art front, there were a couple nice LARGE Darwyn Cooke style Justice League New Frontier original art pieces that sold on eBay recently. These were 14" x 18" ink and water color on bristol of various characters from that popular GN (and DVD) several years back, all done by Darwyn Cooke himself. The pieces I saw looked fabulous and hopefully there will be more coming and more being auctioned off. Also some other smaller and prelim Cooke artwork sold around this same period.
- The Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman original art piece sold for close to $2500.00 with 37 bids.
- The Darwyn Cooke Green Lantern piece had a BIN price of $600.00. In hindsight, that might be a steal but I think the auction was ended rather than realized.
- A smaller black/white Catwoman prelim original art piece sold for close to $700.00 (Darwyn Cooke original art)
- A large Batman and Robin piece by Darwyn Cooke, very nice too but more simple!
***
2010 San Diego Comic Con Update: Did you get your 2010 San Diego Comic-Con tickets yet? I know the 4 and 5 day (preview night) passes are long gone as in SOLD OUT, and Saturday individual tickets are sold out as well. I think this will be a good year to check out the show as I believe there will be a healthy selection of quality original artwork for sale. Of course the big summer movie marketing machine will be at full power during the show too, and who knows which premium movie star will attend to promote their films. Can you say Twilight boys and girls? Whoa that Ashely Greene sobe painted swimsuit was uh fascinating.. ;)
All the big name comic book artists will be at the show as well. What better way to beat the crummy economy than by attending a 4-5 day comic book convention this summer in sunny and warm San Diego. Think vacation. Don't forget your swim suits kids! Party responsibly. :)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
McFarlane Spider-Man original artwork
Here was a sweet piece that realized more than $4800 on eBay.
Todd McFarlane Spider-Man original comic book art for a promotional piece, with crazy disjointed hips and all, probably from around the time of his run on Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man. Large 11by17 art with some white-out around the eyes and near the arm. Plus a large lower corner cut off but then re-attached. All in all, not a bad looking piece for a McSpidey fan.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Hero Initiative Wolverine: Weapon X #1 sketch covers

Hero Initiative is at it again! :)
"Marvel Comics graciously created blank-covered editions of the landmark new Wolverine: Weapon X #1 and gave them to The Hero Initiative to have a bountiful bevy of stellar artists do ORIGINAL drawings on the cover. Each of these covers is an original, one-of-a-kind piece! Hero will be auctioning these off at the rate of approximately 12 per week ’til we get thru ’em all!"
Artists that have donated sketched covers include Chris Bachalo, Joe Bennett, Colleen Coover, Clayton Crain, Ken Lashley, Steve Lieber, Jorge Lucas, Mike Kunkel, Mike McKone, Danny Miki, Todd Nauck, Jeff Parker, Brandon Peterson, Humberto Ramos, Stuart Sayger, Aaron Sowd, Dustin Weaver, Skottie Young and many other surprise guest artists!!
Check it out before they all sell out!!
This link is to the Hero Initiative eBay store and all the different Wolverine Weapon X #1 original art sketch covers and other original comic book art for sale.