auctions
Comics A.M. | Digital comics market triples to $25 million
DC Comics app
Digital comics | ICv2 estimates the total value of the digital comics market in 2011 as $25 million, triple the 2010 figure, and boldly predicts that digital will account for 10 percent of the entire comics market in 2012. Digital sales grew faster in the second half of the year, which ICv2 attributes to three factors: DC’s decision to release its New 52 comics digitally the same day as print, the industry-wide trend toward same-day print and digital releases, and the proliferation of different platforms on which to read digital comics. As for digital taking away from print, the publishing executives ICv2 has spoken to over the past few months don’t seem to think that is happening. [ICv2]
Retailing | Retailer and journalist Matt Price takes the temperature at the ComicsPRO Annual Members Meeting, which kicks off today in Dallas, noting that members remain interested in DC’s publishing plans, and report “very strong sales” for Image’s Fatale and Thief of Thieves. [Nerdage]
- February 9, 2012 @ 07:15 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
More Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns art goes up for auction
More than nine months after an original splash page from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sold for a record $448,125, Heritage Auctions is offering two more original pieces of Frank Miller art, expected to bring in more than $50,000 each.
Consigned by Miller himself, the pieces are the cover to 2006′s Absolute Dark Knight and the frontispiece from the 1997 10th-anniversary edition of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
“It took me years to define, in my own mind, Batman as less a creature of vengeance than of vigor,” Miller said of the Absolute Dark Knight cover. “This piece is one of my personal favorites. To me, it sums the man up.” And on the Batman and Robin splash: “Like any hero, Batman is complex. Here we see him as a father figure, instructing one of my favorite creations, dear Carrie Kelly.”
The two pieces will be auctioned Feb. 23 by Heritage, which notes that while Miller worked with inker Klaus Janson and colorist Lynn Varley on The Dark Knight Returns, “these images are rare examples of 100 percent Frank Miller pencils and inks on his most popular character.”
- February 7, 2012 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Antarctic Press to stop selling Wimpy Kid parody
Diary of a Zombie Kid
Legal | Antarctic Press has agreed to stop selling Diary of a Zombie Kid and Diary of a Zombie Kid: Rotten Rules under the terms of a temporary restraining order issued Wednesday by a federal court. Wimpy Kid Inc. is suing Antarctic for trademark infringement, among other things, claiming that its Diary of a Wimpy Kid parodies are too close to the real thing. Antarctic CEO Joe Dunn signed the temporary restraining order, signifying that Antarctic agreed to it; the two companies are negotiating a settlement, according to court papers. One interesting tidbit: Diary of a Zombie Kid sold all of 850 copies in comics shops in August, while the first printing on the latest Wimpy Kid book was 6 million. [ICv2]
Retailing | The auction for the inventory of Arizona retail chain Atomic Comics announced last week has been moved to Jan. 10. [Sierra Auction Management]
Comics | Bayou Arcana is a new anthology of Southern Gothic horror comics with a gender twist: All the comics are written by men and illustrated by women. There are some pretty broad generalizations in this article — “There is a certain sensitivity that you find in women’s art that just does not appear in a lot of guys’ work,” says the project editor, James Pearson — but the project itself sounds interesting. [The Guardian]
- December 29, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Atomic Comics inventory heads to auction
Atomic Comics inventory
Retailing | The inventory Arizona retail chain Atomic Comics, which abruptly closed its four locations in late August amid the bankruptcy of owner Michael Malve, will be sold at auction Jan. 3 Jan. 10 in Phoenix, both live and online. Known nationally for its in-store signings, innovative marketing and sheer size, the 23-year-old chain gained international exposure last year when its name and logo were featured prominently in Kick-Ass, the film adaptation of the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Photos of the inventory to be liquidated can be found on the website of the auction company. Update: The date of the auction has changed to Jan. 10. [Sierra Auction Management]
Publishing | Tom Spurgeon continues his yearly holiday interview series by talking to Tom Neely, Emily Nilsson and Virginia Paine about the future of Sparkplug Comic Books. [The Comics Reporter]
Publishing | Tim Stroup, co-founder of the Grand Comics Database, recently dug up some old comics sales figures from the 1940s; John Jackson Miller analyzes them and reaches an interesting conclusion: “comics may be reaching far fewer eyeballs, but it’s a more profitable business to be in today.” [The Comichron]
- December 21, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Nicolas Cage’s copy of Action Comics #1 sells for record $2.16 million
A near-mint copy of Action Comics #1 owned by actor Nicolas Cage sold at auction tonight for a record $2.16 million.
Graded at 9.0, the rare 1938 comic easily surpassed the previous record of $1.5 million set in March 2010 for the same issue, featuring the first appearance of Superman. That copy was graded slightly lower, at 8.5.
Vincent Zurzolo, chief operating officer of ComicConnect/Metropolis Collectibles, told Comic Riffs that the issue that sold this evening — bidding closed at 7:25 p.m. ET — is the best copy of Action Comics he’s ever seen.
“The buyer was extremely excited about the prospect of bidding on this,” he said. “I think he had an adrenalin rush for the last two hours.”
The comic was stolen from Cage’s Los Angeles home in 2000, and discovered in April by an unidentified man who claims to have bought the contents of an abandoned San Fernando Valley, California, storage locker. Although Zurzolo wouldn’t reveal the comic’s previous owner, he did confirm that his company played a role in its recovery.
About 100 copies of Action Comics #1 are believed to exist, but only a handful of those are in good condition.
- November 30, 2011 @ 06:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Carl Barks’ classic painting ‘The Sport of Tycoons’ fetches $262,900
"The Sport of Tycoons," by Carl Barks
Carl Barks’ 1974 painting “The Sport of Tycoons,” which features the iconic image of Scrooge McDuck swimming in his gold-filled vault, sold at auction last week for a record $262,900.
The painting is based on Barks’ often-reprinted 1952 tale “Only a Poor Old Man,” the first story in which Scrooge was the main character (in which, while swimming in his money bin, he says, “I love to dive around in it like a porpoise, and burrow through it like a gopher, and toss it up and let it hit me on the head!”). “The Sport of Tycoons” debuted in print in 1981′s The Fine Art of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck by Carl Barks.
The piece, part of the Kerby Confer Collection, was accompanied by the Heritage Auctions sales of two other Barks originals — “Sheriff of Bullet Valley” ($107,550), and “McDuck of Duckburg” ($101,575).
The auction also saw Jerry Robinson’s original cover art for 1942′s Detective Comics #67, the first Penguin cover, fetch $239,000, which Heritage dubs the second-highest price for a piece of American comic-book art.
- November 23, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | ‘Death of Phoenix’ page fetches $65,000 at auction
From Uncanny X-Men #137
Comics | An original page by John Byrne and Terry Austin from Uncanny X-Men #137, the 1980 issue that featured the death of Phoenix, sold at auction Wednesday for $65,725. As ICv2 notes, the sale continues the trend of 1980s comic art going for high prices; a page of Frank Miller art from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #3 sold for $448,125 in May. [ICv2.com]
Digital | ICv2′s Milton Griepp makes the case for publishers to provide sales information on digital comics. “Why would this information be useful? There are a number of reasons. One is that it would help distributors (most importantly, Diamond Comic Distributors) and retailers selling physical comics and graphic novels identify which titles have the largest audiences in digital form. They could then make sure that they’re merchandising the top digital titles appropriately, so they can take advantage of demand for physical titles that results from digital exposure (we’ve been hearing that there’s a significant phenomenon of digital purchasers looking for collections of comics they’ve purchased online). Digital demand can also indicate potential demand for physical books from consumers that aren’t purchasing digitally; a good book, after all, is a good book, and if digital purchasers are finding a title that’s not as popular in physical form, it may indicate that there’s an untapped market of consumers of physical books as well.” [ICv2.com]
- November 17, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Steve Rude art discounted to raise bail following creator’s arrest [Updated]
Courtesy of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office
Prices of Steve Rude’s artwork have been reduced in an effort to raise money for bail and legal fees following his arrest late Monday in what’s characterized as a dispute with neighbors.
“Steve has had a back and forth with the neighbors for quite some time now that started over their barking dogs,” states a message on Rude’s website titled “Help Bail the Dude Out.” “Last night Steve got hauled in.”
While details are scant, the Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office lists the Nexus co-creator as being held on charges of assault and failure to comply with a court order.
Rude’s art auctions can be viewed on his website and on eBay.
Update (Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 6:50 a.m. PT): Rude’s wife Jaynelle wrote last night on his Facebook page that he was able to post bail, but that they’re still in need of financial assistance: “Now we have to pay for the legal counsel so he doesn’t end up back doing hard time for trying to keep his sanity. All he wants is to be left alone to create his art, not harassed by people who call the police on our kids because a frisbee ended up in their yard.”
- November 1, 2011 @ 05:16 PM by Kevin Melrose
Check DC wrote in 1938 for rights to Superman goes up for auction
Characterized by Matt Fraction as “the most important $412 dollars in comics history,” the check written to a young Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, in part, for the rights to Superman, has surfaced among the items for an upcoming auction.
“Have you ever made a business decision that haunted you?” writer Gerry Duggan tweeted Monday, pointing to images of the check. “This piece of true comics history will make you feel better.”
Indeed that check, written March 1, 1938, by Detective Comics Publisher Jack Liebowitz, has been key to several legal and moral disputes, the first beginning barely a year after its signing. (Bleeding Cool notes an April 6, 1939, stamp on the back for the U.S. District Court of New York, suggesting it was entered as evidence in DC’s copyright-infringement lawsuit against Bruns Publications over the Will Eisner-created Wonder Man.)
- October 25, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Your chance to name villain in Millar & Gibbons’ new series ends today
The auction for the rights to name the supervillain in the new comic from Kick-Ass writer Mark Millar and Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons ends in a matter of hours — at 3:54 p.m. Pacific, to be exact.
Officially unveiled Tuesday on Comic Book Resources, The Secret Service is the duo’s long-simmering first-time collaboration, based on an idea by Millar, Gibbons and Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn (who holds the film rights to the project). More details will be revealed next month in CLiNT #12.
As he did with Kick-Ass, Nemesis and Superior, Millar is auctioning off the opportunity to name a character in The Secret Service — specifically, the villain — with the proceeds going to charity. This time the beneficiary is St. Bartholomew’s Primary School Pantomime Fund, established by Millar (a former student there) and Head Teacher Christine Boyle. The current bid on the eBay auction is $3,100, with mere hours to go.
The six-issue miniseries is set to debut in February.
- October 21, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Jack Kirby’s Space Busters art unearthed
Think you know Jack Kirby? Well, think again.
A piece of artwork by “The King” has resurfaced in an auction from the estate of one-time Kirby inker Marven Stein. This artwork is from an aborted comic strip pitch called Space Busters by Kirby and writer Dave Wood. The strip never saw life, instead evolving into another strip titled Sky Masters of the Space Force, which was syndicated in 1958. In 2000, Pure Imagination collected them in a single tome that’s worth tracking down.
Created in the mid-50s, this was after Kirby’s initial tenure at Marvel (then Timely) in the 1930s and ’40s, but before he returned to the publisher in the ’60s for the creation of the Marvel universe as we know it. Kirby’s ’50s work is relatively under-appreciated given the commercial peaks for him in the ’40s and ’50s, but this work shows Kirby as his style evolves into what he later became famous (again) for at Marvel.
- October 20, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Arrant
Speculators take notice as DC replaces Green Lantern #1 misprint
Amid the announcements of sellouts and second of third printings for the New 52, Heidi MacDonald catches an email from DC Comics notifying retailers of a printing error on some copies of Green Lantern #1. That noise you just heard was the sound of speculators making a frantic dash to their local comics store.
The flaw in question is a little green teardrop above Sinestro’s ear (you can see it in the image on the right). DC asks retailers to report the flawed copies to Diamond Comic Distributors by Monday. Replacement copies will arrive on Oct. 12, the same day as Green Lantern #2.
Naturally, a flawed copy has already made its way onto eBay, where the starting bid is $9.99. However, what DC labels “a printing error,” the seller characterizes as a sly maneuver by the publisher: “I’VE PLACED THE TEARDROP MISPRINT COVER IN ONE PHOTO AND REGULAR COVER ON THE OTHER PHOTO. ITS REALLY OBVIOUS. I’LL LET YOU BE THE JUDGE, CALL IT WHATEVER YOU LIKE. I think it was intentional especially with a launch of this magnitude.”
What DC would get out of it, I don’t know. But far be it for me to question a shrewd owner of an “unread, NM, dripping wet off the presses” copy of the “Teardrop Misprint Variant.”
- September 15, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Amazing Spider-Man #49 cover art expected to go for $100,000
Amazing Spider-Man #49
Heritage Auctions expects the original art for the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #49 to go for around $100,000 when it goes up for auction later this month.
Drawn by John Romita Sr., the cover features Kraven the Hunter and the Vulture double-teaming Spider-Man. According to Ed Jaster, senior vice president at Heritage Auctions, it’s only the second cover by Romita they’ve offered for auction.
In addition to the Spider-Man cover, several other comic-related items will go up for bid in Heritage Auctions’ Signature Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction on Aug. 17-18. These include Victor Moscoso’s original treatment for the wraparound cover to Zap Comix #4, Steve Ditko’s original art for page 17 of The Amazing Spider-Man #12, a George Herriman hand-colored Krazy Kat Sunday comic strip and a page of art from an unpublished Superman story by Joe Shuster, Paul Cassidy and Wayne Boring.
- August 5, 2011 @ 10:02 AM by JK Parkin
Don McGregor needs your help
Jungle Action #17
Clifford Meth passes along word that, because of family medical expenses, former Killraven and Black Panther writer Don McGregor has been forced to auction his collection of art from comics he wrote.
“I won’t allow art dealers to steal these from him,” Meth writes. “And I am not expert enough, despite the posturing, to know what these pieces are really worth. So here’s the deal: Some friends of mine and I are bidding on Don’s art while spreading the word far and wide. We are hoping you’ll beat our bids because we want Don to get top dollar.”
A rundown of the art, by such creators as Rich Buckler, Gene Colan and Marshall Rogers, can be found here. Bids are being accepted on McGregor’s Facebook page until “Don says, ‘I’ll take it!’” Meth also asks for any artists interested in helping to make “small drawings” of characters that McGregor worked on. “I’ll be the first bidder and I’ll bid generously… and I expect others to do the same.”
- July 18, 2011 @ 08:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
HeroesCon Recap: Photo Essay
Rather than try to write a summary of my HeroesCon 2011 experience, I have opted this year to share as many photos as possible. My camera was out-of-commission yesterday so all photos were taken during the second day of the show (Saturday).
Jeff Parker and friends
- June 4, 2011 @ 11:47 PM by Tim O'Shea