This week Chris and Walt talk about how to collect artists. Do you stay with comics or add portfolios, artist editions, prints, original art? Collecting artists can really add layers to anyone’s collection.
Please let us know what you thought of today’s show. Add your comments in the comments field provided below; all we ask is that you keep things civil.
Do you collect certain artists? Do you add non comic items?
Chris, regarding your comment regarding that collecting artists may not be great as an investment; I say….GOOD. This hobby has become highly monetized and I say it’s a bad thing for everyone involved!
A hobby should bring you joy, it should enrich your life, fill the days and the mind along this journey. People who have turned it into a hustle for the almighty dollar have stolen from themselves, once again, they took an interest, something fun and they whore’d it out.
Look whats happened in the past 20 years; IG, Whatnot, Mercari are full of people just trying to turn a buck selling rags, anything old is now slabbed away never to be read, most moderns are so poorly produced it’s like the big 2 have given up on making them readable and solely rely on variant covers and the collecting public’s OCD to ‘have it all’ to make their profit. It’s all gone off the rails and it’s way out of balance; I have 600 followers on IG: 95% are trying to sell me something, 30 people actually care about the books I’m posting, the artists I’m discussing and what i find interesting about the book, this simply isn’t sustainable.
So collect your passions, dive in deep, forget the money, reach out to Rich Buckler and ask him the big personal questions, dream of fist bumping Steranko and saying ‘Bob Kane was a c#nt’….because life’s too short to sell out your own happiness for a quick buck!
Collecting Artists
There are many parameters that I consider when selecting an artist as collectable:
1.Does s/he ink as well as pencil? Colour? Letter?
2.Does s/he draw their own covers to their inside work?
3.Does s/he write or edit as well as draw their own comics?
4.Have they made a significant contribution to the artistry and industry of comics?
5.Have they started their own company or self-published?
6.Have they fought for Creator rights or worked on improving right-to-work contracts?
7.Have they participated in Fandom – cons, LCSs, blogs, websites?
For me the politics is as important as the linework.
Spider, this is the way. We have to try to wrestle the hobby back.
Tim, this total immersion is also the way, this approach can really broaden one’s perspective and it can easily start with, say, comics issues and branch out from there
Hey Tim, if you collect Neal Adams then you get to tick every single criteria you got!!!
Spider,
Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Frank Miller, Rob Liefeld and Mike MIgnola tick off a lot of boxes and tick off some people!
Hey Tim, I like your list…mostly….
Rob Liefeld is an absolutely barrier-breaking, industry-changing, super-popular, beyond-belief artist and all-round great bloke…well, that’s what Rob told me on his podcast anyway 🙂
I won’t be too mean-spirited on Rob; whilst his art doesn’t do it for me (that’s putting it subtlety), I do love his passion and knowledge for the books; when he talks splash pages, or memorable runs/arcs…or even issues that he poured over as a young boy, it’s fantastic to hear his energy…if he could just dial the self-love back a little bit.