Jets fans must not be hit by the economic woes

Hope everyone is doing well and surviving some crazy times --stock market chaos, more foreclosures all over, and pending extreme recession for years to come, etc etc. Sorry to remind y'all. I found this article interesting because it seems there still are many optimistic people out there and I'm sure the bad times will pass eventually. If you don't believe me, read on.

Apparently the NY Jets football team will raise at least $40 million dollars from PSLs for their new stadium opening in 2010. They are auctioning off the licenses for some prime location viewing, but that doesn't include the tickets to the games which are suppose to $700/game. The first PSLs sold for more than $65k. How far off can collectible investments be from recreational weekend investments such as this?

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/27287683/

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Big-spending New York Jets fans are sealing their bids for the best seats in the house with a click.

Online bidding went as high as $65,100 per seat through the first two days of the team’s unprecedented auction of 2,000 personal seat licenses. The PSLs are in the Coaches Club — located near the 50-yard line and behind the Jets’ bench — in the new Meadowlands stadium, scheduled to open in 2010.

Fans can specify which seats they want to bid on through the online ticketing Web site StubHub. The public auction, which started Sunday and runs through Oct. 27, marks the first time a U.S. sports team has done so with PSLs.

(more...)

Fans unite in auction to save Superman's house

Here's a follow-up to the auctions that were running to help save the house where Superman was dreamed up.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081001/film_nm/us_media_superman

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Superman's home planet Krypton was destroyed, but his house on Earth will live on thanks to loyal fans and an online auction that raised $100,000 to restore the rotting home where the Man of Steel was created.

Everything from original artwork to a role on the hit television show "Heroes" was sold in the month-long auction, which ended on Tuesday, to save the dilapidated Cleveland, Ohio, house where Superman was dreamed up by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster more than 70 years ago.

"This was easily the most humbling spectacular project I've ever been part of, and showed just how much people care about this character and why today Superman still matters," said novelist Brad Meltzer, who organized the auction.

Meltzer said $101,744 was raised in the month-long sale of art, memorabilia and other donated goods, more than double the $50,000 goal. The extra money will allow organizers to fix up not just the outside but also the inside of the Cleveland house where an elderly couple now live.

Meltzer, who discovered the deteriorating house while researching a novel, said at first he wasn't sure people would care about restoring the red-and-blue house where the superhero who wears the red-and-blue suit was dreamed up in 1932.

But the response has been overwhelming.

"The house where Google was created is saved. The farm where Hewlett-Packard was founded is preserved. We protected the house where Dr. Seuss lived, where Elvis lived," noted Meltzer. "So the idea that Superman's house was just rotting away struck everyone as inherently wrong."

Meltzer, who offered the naming rights to a character in his next novel as part of the auction, takes no credit for saving the home, saying loyal fans of the comic book hero came to Superman's rescue.

"We're all Clark Kent. We all know what it is like to be boring and ordinary and we all want to be able to rip open our shirt and do something beyond ourselves. That's what happened here. Ordinary people made a difference."

Fundraiser for Siegel and Shuster Society

Here is some great artwork for sale, and it's all for a great cause.

Join "Ordinary People Change The World" and bid on one-of-a-kind items donated by famous authors and artists to help repair and restore the house where Jerry Siegel first created Superman. 100% of the proceeds go to the Siegel & Shuster Society.

Auction includes items from:

• Brian Michael
• Bendis Neil Gaiman
• Dave Gibbons
• Jim Lee
• Allen Bellman
• Dan Brereton
• Travis Charest
• Greg Rucka
• Ian Churchill
• Ernie Chan
• George Perez
• Brad Meltzer
• Ed Brubaker
• Joe Stanton
• Gene Ha
• Judd Winick
• Ivan Reis
• Bill Morrison
• John Romita Jr
• Dave Johnson
• John Cassaday
• Andy Kubert
• Joe Quesada
• Stephen Colbert
• Tim Sale
• Geoff Darrow
• Ron Garney
• "Rags" Morales and Mike Bair
• Frank Cho
• Eric Powell
• Geoff Johns
• Amanda Conner
• Alex Ross
• Jerry Siegel
• Be on the TV show HEROES
• Jason Palmer
• Renato Guedes
• Michael Turner
• Ivan Reis
• Walt Simonson
• Murphy Andersen
• Adam Kubert
• Chris Bachalo
• Eric Wright
• Mike Mignola

and more.

Couple of notable items that standout to me include the Charest Superman piece, getting Jim Lee to draw you and Supes, Alex Ross original, as well as a Heroes walk on role.

$4650 - Dale Keown Hero Initiative Hulk 1 sketch cover!!

Here's an awesome cover sketch on the Marvel Comics/Hero Initiative Hulk # 1 by Hulk supreme-artist Dale Keown. Pencil and ink plus grayscale pencil in super detail. This might be the best Hero Initiative Hulk art cover too!! You can see the glare off the Hulk's eyes... Love the way DK did Hulk's hair. There aren't many artist that have such a dynamic and unique vision of the Hulk. I can only name a few artists whose style on the Hulk really blows me away --Keown, McFarlane (pencil and inked!), Ditko, Kirby, Sal Buscema, Jeff Purves, Mike Deodato, John Byrne and Bruce Timm.

[ Speaking of which, if you have any Jeff Purves Hulk pages for sale or trade, email me!! ]

This cover "sketch" is a fine example of Dale's work and this piece would be great in anyone's collection, whether you are a fan of his art, or just collecting comics. Plus as a bonus, this piece could be sent off to the folks at CGC for authentication registration with the price of purchase.

Vintage Classic X-Men #2 cover by Arthur Adams

Here's a nice cover that will no doubt sell for a high price. It is the cover to Classic X-Men #2 by Arthur Adams, from 1986. Many days to go but definitely an auction worth watching closely and bidding!! :)

This one has a pretty nice team shot too.

Dark Knight by Whilce Portacio!

There are 2 sweet Whilce Portacio Batman pieces on eBay and ending soon. Some details.. The one ending first is inked and might be more "finished", the other sketch is tight penciled and I'd say is equally nice too. Whilce is still pumping out some cool stuff!

NOTE: One more Whilce Batman sketch showed up on eBay but it's a really nice one!!

Whilce Portacio original art hasn't really really taken off yet, in popularity nor prices. I can imagine that once people figure out that his early work on Punisher, X-Factor and Uncanny X-Men was actually very very good and solid, things will change. And let's not forget this body of work was done around the same time that Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and the other "Image" artists came into their prime in the late 80s, early 90s. Maybe Whilce's work got lost behind their great work. His Image Comics Wetworks book was solid too. And don't forget Whilce also did some great work as an inker on a variety of titles including Alpha Flight and Longshot (over Arthur Adams), before getting his own book. His run on Heroes Reborn Ironman is very underrated.

If you have any of his early Punisher, X-Factor, or Uncanny X-Men original art for sale or trade, shoot me an email please!! Always interested in 70s, 80s and early 90s original art.

Liefeld New Mutants original art fans rejoice?

Let's talk Rob Liefeld.

Don't hate on the guy. No I'm not defending the guy. But he has got to be the most hated early 90s artist that I know of. I swear I think people love to hate the guy and his "art". I'm not sure where I stand with his stuff either, quite honestly. I mean, there are times when I look at some of his earlier work, especially his run on New Mutants 87 through 100 & X-Factor 1, and remember those days when I did actually pick up an issue or two to follow the story, characters and art. Then... I remember why I don't have any of his art in my collection now... when I look at the out of proportion human anatomy, the strange page layouts (ahead of his time?), and the strange looking "women" he draws. How many freakin muscle bulges can an arm have anyways? I'm not a doctor but damn I didn't know an arm could do that.

But to me, Liefeld will be best remembered as the guy who first drew Cable (who is a proportionally challenged character anyways), and the fact he had a Levi's commercial back when it was hip. Let's not forget Youngblood did sell many issues too. Someone bought them. And dude is still selling comics today.

Art is subjective. The reason I want to "talk" Rob Liefeld was that there was an interesting auction that ended today. It was a recreation to his New Mutants 87 cover by Rob Liefeld. And when you look at the cover, this is very representative of those early 90s. It is to me. His art style when he worked on New Mutants 87 was strong with period details including cross-hatching goodness and such. That was a good time to be collecting comics if you were a kid back then. But what intrigues me about the piece specifically though, was that someone asked him to specifically trace the cover because they liked his art the way it was back then. Apparently there were at least a dozen other people (bids) who also liked it and the auction realized over $500.00. Say what? Yes $510.00 for a Rob Liefeld cover recreation! I thought his art sucked. So my question is, did it get as much as it did due to the art or was it due to the significance of the issue/time period? Is this a good sign for Rob Liefeld original comic book art fans to get their cash ready?

Open the door already. Could there be a revitalization on his earlier style/art that put him on the comic book map? Maybe it was "only" a $500.00 auction, but I know that the interior art from X-Force 1 changed hands earlier this year and I can imagine the transaction was not cheap. Plus I'm pretty sure there will be a price jump on his art should any more of his stuff becomes available, especially pages/covers/art that hadn't been on the market previously. Like representative pieces. Nice ones. Those closet Liefeld fans are already wondering where is all his art and who is hording it all --New Mutants, X-Force, and didn't he do an issue (cover) of Uncanny X-Men long ago? I would think there is potential to make some money by setting the market price for his art. That seems inevitable.

In the meantime, if you have a representative Liefeld New Mutants cover or splash for sale/trade, shoot me an email. I might be interested. ;)