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

Spring, emails, and artwork

Spring is here. I've been away from the computer past few weeks, so I apologize for those waiting for an update. I'm back and have been thinking of only posting some thoughts here, and hope to have new art up on the main website as well. And will be adding some new stuff to the "Original Comic Book Artwork For Sale" section in a couple weeks. Get the inside track and stay tuned.

Email. Got an email from a couple collector friends recently asking about trying to help value some pages they have for sale. Got another email wondering if I've heard anything about a specific piece of artwork. First off, THANKS for your emails and keep em coming. I just want to reiterate that if you want to chat about art, please just shoot me an email anytime 24/7 and I try to help out as much as I can, and WILL respond to every request. Curious about trends? Want an inside tip for certain art by a certain artist? Want an opinion on your art? Recommendation on framing? Want a second opinion on something you are selling, etc. I can't tell you enough about the many passionate collector friends I've met through this hobby. In fact I know a great group of collectors that are in France, and which I try to meet up with every time I visit Paris.

Hot artwork watch. Took a look at my trusty Most Watched eBay Auctions page, and noticed an interesting auction ending soon.

Jim Lee/Scott Williams Uncanny X-Men 275 page 1 Splash!

Yo. These splash pages don't come up for sale often, or if they do, they get snatched up quickly. I should know. I sold a couple decent Lee/Williams X-pages last year from my site, and they sold faaast. Throw in a bid here, or check out the pages I still have left for sale. :) Original comic book artwork, either as investment or to collect, can't get much worse than this, and as you already noticed, Jim Lee X-art is still worth buying. Why X-art (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor, etc)? Have you seen the prices of his Hush and Superman, and All-Star BM & R? It's only going to be matter of time before his past (X-Men artwork which put him on every fanboy's radar), will increase in value, or better put catch up, with his more current stuff.

Is original comic book art recession proof?

With all indicators pointing to the United States being in a economic recession, it's time to tighten your belt and start pinching pennies says traditional logic. But with original comic book art still flying off eBay at skyrocketing prices, maybe this is a sign we are already there. Don't agree? Hear me out.

When the Fed lowers key interest rates, they want us to spend more money. This subtle push is to keep the economy running, get people out buying and using they cash rather than investing it in a bank (and get some interest from it). Money stops circulating otherwise. But non-traditional investments, including collectibles such as comics, sport cards, original art, even movie memorabilia, tend to appreciate more during these times due to the high amount of quality items on the market (ie. those trying to sell to raise more cash) and so bargains can be had. I don't know off hand how many Kirby pieces were sold in the last month or two, but those blue-chip type pieces sold easily and often, and raised a lot of $$$ for their previous owners. It also made for great investments for those seeking an "in" to sought-after and rare gems of the original comic book underground. We can't forget that investing in original art also still probably has a higher rate of return than many domestic funds, and actually are relatively low risk, unless you buy something you don't like in the first place (Buy art you love).

It's not uncommon to see more than 20 bids and realized prices more than $4k for original artwork from the 70s-80s-90s, including gems from BWS, Romita, Miller, Byrne, McFarlane, and others. But I don't recall in recent history many Jim Lee (90s, early 2000s) hitting above that number. But did you catch that Hush splash selling for $6500.00 the other day? And I thought those art prices were artificially inflated when they first were sold into the market. Maybe the hype has caught up with the (limited) supply, and demand is finally coming around. Or people like that art more than their run on All-Star B&R. With that in mind, I still think Lee/Williams Uncanny X-Men have room to appreciate in my opinion. That time in X-history was significant, and really hooked many folks onto comics (including me), maybe starting to cement comics as a legit medium for story-telling as well. And then others will say that Image and the multiple cover syndrome killed any momentum it had. But you gotta admit that there have been many many comic book related movies since those 90s. I can't think of any core titles that hasn't had a movie yet, other than Justice League, and that's coming soon.

If we are in a recession, will you buy more original comic book art, OR are you selling?