Why is it harder to collect art from the 90s than it should be?

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That is a sweet DPS. Yes, that's the stuff that I'm talking about. I recently saw that Mike Manley had joined CAF and that he still had DARKHAWK pages. I thought those were permanently with him. I'll have to keep an eye out on eBay.

One of the biggest problems with finding and buying 1990s art is that MOST dealers disregard art from that decade and won't even sell it. Right now, 1990s comics do get a bad rap for being some of the worst ever published. But, they really aren't.

But, heck, I've seen dealers turn away 1980s art -- if it isn't Frank Miller, John Byrne and Dave Gibbons -- simply because it is "too new".

I know a lot of the older dealers are used to selling 1960s, 1970s and 1980s art, but I think they are really missing out when they turn away great 1990s art that is offered to them.

I buy 1990s art when I find it cheap, because, one of these days, it's going to be for some collectors what silver, bronze and copper age art is to us older collectors.

I do think there is a lot more of the 1990s art out there, but I think most collectors just think it's not worth anything and don't offer it up and dealers don't deal in it much.

I thank everyone for their input and leads! It has renewed my faith in finding examples from the 90s with a little digging and patience with patience as the key word. It will still be hard to resist buying art from today's books as they tend to be aesthetically well-done, accessible, and relatively economically. For sure I was pleased to see so many fans and supporters of 90s artwork and the comics from which they came. I had a chance to browse through some of the personal collections and I'm jealous of how disciplined some of you have been sticking to a focus and of course, how lucky you got.

Many of you seem to agree that many of these 90s pages may be put away, like in a lost kind of way. It never even occurred to me that some of this could be forgotten in a box somewhere. But hey, when these pages hit 5-figures, memories get jarred and these lost pages tend to resurface quickly. Of course, by then, it'll be too late for me.

I quoted the post above because it made so much sense once it was pointed out to me. Many of these top dealers don't bother with 90s pages, with the exception of top-tiered artists and covers. With the exception of Anthony Synder's site, if you peruse the bigger dealers sites hoping to find 90s art, you'll be out of luck, and it'll appear like nothing is out there. On the other hand, it might be better for us if the stuff never lands with the dealers...except for Meeley Man, who's reasonable with his pricing

To put a different angle on that whole idea that dealers today don't deal in 90s art idea... back in the 90s they did. Just as today, most of them rep certain artists and deal in their current art now.

The short answer is they sold that stock 20 years ago.

OP mentions Kelley Jones on Batman, for example. Mitch used to sell some of JK's Batman pages through GC. Albert Moy had pages too. Others had pages at the time as well. Prices were in the $50-200 range for panel pages, with splashes being more. Not going to see them for those prices today with Batman on the page, but they do exist and pop up from time to time. Mostly from individuals selling them via eBay or classifieds on CAF. Occasionally Heritage. Like with anything else of quality, you gotta dig for the deals, or hold your nose and hit buy if it's something you gotta have.

Kelley did keep a certain amount of his work as well, so it's not all floating around out there that I'm aware of.

Terry Moore sold me a page from SiP #5 in '96 at Chicago Con. He'd just drawn it and told me it was bittersweet selling it.

Bought Madman pages directly from Allred at Philly and Baltimore in the mid 90s.

Bought my Sandman and other Vertigo work mostly directly from artists as well.

In fact, the way I see it, the 90s were the era in which comic art collecting went from a handful of folks dabbling or seriously collecting and turned into a thriving comic underground niche. Especially the latter half of the decade as more and more folks made use of this new thing we call the internet, and it no longer required that people make phonecalls, scour ads in CBG and the like, or be in attendance at every convention to get first crack at whatever was brought to that show.

Toss in the beginning of eBay, where the OA section of the site was literally just 2 or 3 pages of listings for EVERYTHING being offered (no BS color prints, no wannabe comic artist doodles, just pretty much published material), and things just kind of blew up by the time you hit 2000.

I think a lot of that Indie work sold to people piecemeal who were into the scene for a time. Maybe happy to just have that one piece of their one favorite story, and never got the whole collecting bug. Perhaps keeping it for nostalgia for the time they got out of High School, got their tribal tattoo and nose pierced, went to Lillith Fair, saw Chasing Amy and grabbed a cool page from SiP. And unless they hit eBay and happen to discover the pages bring money now, it'll just stay on a wall or in a closet. Dealers don't seem to seek most of it out because with a few exceptions, the margins just aren't there for the indie work. What can I say? People want hair metal and boy bands (McFarlane & Liefeld on Spidey, Youngblood, and whatnot).

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As an aside to the art buying, for me there was a ton of great comics in the 90s.

I think it was a massively creative era, just not so much for the Big 2.

Other than KJ and Beatty's work on Batman, or the killer folks producing the Batman Adventures books, if you wanted good work from DC, you actually looked to Vertigo. Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade the Changing Man, Swamp Thing. Along with books that have become industry mainstays like Hellboy and Bone, one looked to the indies and self published work. I'd stick the first few years of Stray Bullets up against just about anything. Especially that first year. It's what got me back into comic buying after a several year hiatus.

Jeez, and then guys like Burns on Black Hole. Clowes, Ware, Tomine.... great great artists left and right. If you were at all inclined towards truly great artwork and thoughtful, quirky or imaginative stories, I don't see how anyone would be hard pressed to find something to like, unless it just had to be guys in pajamas.

But then, if someone was really fixated on the vapid gyrations of hair metal, or the squeeling glee of boy bands, you really didn't care for the early 90s explosion of what was quickly labeled as alternative or "grunge". And I see the two scenes as really tying together a lot in that 90s era. Especially the first half of the decade.

Musicians and artists taking chances. Toward the end of the decade, artists (and a ton of musicians) saw what creatively was selling, and started aping that. And there was a flood of copycats and lookalike work trying to get some of that money. By which point the truly creative folks had moved on to the next thing, and the scene was so flooded, the next new thing came along and the decade ticked over into the next.

My .02¢ on that.

I have trouble finding Knightfall pages, pages from 90s Punisher and Wolverine (the Marc Silverstri stuff). Can't find JRJR Punisher War Journal pages. Nor early Sleepwalker or Darkhawk (I'm already "slumming" it at this point!). Forget "Death of Superman" pages from the issue. I can go on.

I fall in that age bracket and the early 90's are my nostalgic 'sweet spot' too. I think much of that material is locked up in collections and pieces that I'm interested come up rarely, like Whilce Portacio Punisher pages or anything by Mark Texeira. Sleepwalker and Darkhawk? In fifteen years of collecting I think I've only seen one Darkhawk cover and one Sleepwalker page come up.

You mention JRJR Punisher, the problem there is he only did 8 issues of PWZ interior art, 6 PWJ covers, and the Batman/Punisher crossover book so there isn't a ton of that material (although he did more issues of Daredevil, Ironman, and X-Men and that stuff is also hard to come by) . I was fortunate to pick up some great JRJR Punisher stuff from his art rep when I first got into collecting art years ago. I've also managed to get quite a few JRJR convention sketches from the early 90's on ebay.

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=17793

I liked so many 90's comics I have no issue spending money on OA from the era. The stuff mentioned so far is all stuff I would like to have, but I mainly just take what comes. I wanted a nice Joe Mad X-men page for a while, and have gotten 4 in the past year or so. I do like stuff that I doubt I have much competition for though, as I loved the series "Fatale" from the 90's. That one I have gotten pretty much all of my favorite pages from. Beautiful JG Jones cheesecake art for $100-$200 a pop. Mantra is another one. I've gotten a few pages this year that I love, but I guess my competition doesn't really exist for it. If I have a point, i guess it's this. I would rather have a good Bone page than what I've listed above, but It's probably not going to happen anytime soon. I've adjusted, and bought stuff that makes me happy in the meantime.

Many of these top dealers don't bother with 90s pages, with the exception of top-tiered artists and covers. With the exception of Anthony Synder's site, if you peruse the bigger dealers sites hoping to find 90s art, you'll be out of luck, and it'll appear like nothing is out there. On the other hand, it might be better for us if the stuff never lands with the dealers...except for Meeley Man, who's reasonable with his pricing

Thanks for the compliment and taking note of that. Good to see someone around here appreciate the efforts I make on that.

Many of these top dealers don't bother with 90s pages, with the exception of top-tiered artists and covers. With the exception of Anthony Synder's site, if you peruse the bigger dealers sites hoping to find 90s art, you'll be out of luck, and it'll appear like nothing is out there. On the other hand, it might be better for us if the stuff never lands with the dealers...except for Meeley Man, who's reasonable with his pricing

 

Thanks for the compliment and taking note of that. Good to see someone around here appreciate the efforts I make on that.

+1 on James. He's the only seller I follow on social media, because he has stuff from that early 90's era, his prices are reasonable, and he's lightning fast with communication.

Now if only terry would send you some more stuff...

Many of these top dealers don't bother with 90s pages, with the exception of top-tiered artists and covers. With the exception of Anthony Synder's site, if you peruse the bigger dealers sites hoping to find 90s art, you'll be out of luck, and it'll appear like nothing is out there. On the other hand, it might be better for us if the stuff never lands with the dealers...except for Meeley Man, who's reasonable with his pricing

 

Thanks for the compliment and taking note of that. Good to see someone around here appreciate the efforts I make on that.

 

+1 on James. He's the only seller I follow on social media, because he has stuff from that early 90's era, his prices are reasonable, and he's lightning fast with communication.

Now if only terry would send you some more stuff...

Patience, grasshopper, patience.... I know things, that you have yet to learn (i.e. there is some stuff on the way soon ).

I do like stuff that I doubt I have much competition for though, as I loved the series "Fatale" from the 90's. That one I have gotten pretty much all of my favorite pages from. Beautiful JG Jones cheesecake art for $100-$200 a pop.

It's that you do don't have any competition for those pages, it's more of a case of limited competition. I'm always on the lookout for the right Fatale piece, and I know of another collector who's on the hunt as well.

It doesn't matter what era you love, or how small a comic's circulation, it seems there is always someone interested in whatever it is you collect. In the '90's, I fell in love with Elizabeth Watasin's artwork from Charm School, which couldn't have had a large fan base, but I've had to fight to get the pieces I have.

I know that collecting New Warriors pages from Mark Bagley's run is getting harder and harder. There's about 3 of us main collectors and more and more others that are joining in.

Yes, I find some panel pages, but I'm getting pickier about the pages now. It makes it even harder for me. I want something splashy, with the main characters in costume. blah blah blah

The only 90's art I collect is Bagley New Warriors art.

Man, I know so many people who collect New Warrior Bagley art, I never read the series is it that good?

As far as I know there really are not that many Invsibiles collectors out there. I decided to really try to focus my collection and cut down from over 150+ pages down to the few i have now, and trying to trim down to really about 20. In all my sales though, I've had only a handful of repeat buyers and the only pages that I have seen change hands have been Quitley ones.

The bad part is a lot of the best pages are locked away and have been since before I started collecting in the hands of 1 or 2 people and don't think they'll be going anywhere in the near future.

As far as I know there really are not that many Invisibles collectors out there.

That might be because you can't see them.

You can add me to the list of Bagley New Warriors collectors. It really is tough out there. I'd happily call it a day if I were ever able to get my hands on a cover.

Man, I know so many people who collect New Warrior Bagley art, I never read the series is it that good?

After X-Men, it was my favorite series back when I was 11. I recently re-read the entire Bagley run (#1-25) and while it took a few issues to get going, for the most part it held up nicely. It's nothing ground breaking, but the characters are likeable and the stories are a lot of fun. It reads kind of like a New Teen Titans for the 90's. However, if you weren't born between, say, 1976 and 1980, your mileage may vary.

+1 on James. He's the only seller I follow on social media, because he has stuff from that early 90's era, his prices are reasonable, and he's lightning fast with communication.

Now if only terry would send you some more stuff...

Your wish has been granted, grasshopper. Head on over and check it out.

http://www.comicartshop.com/ComicArtShopsByCat.asp?GCat=3287

You can add me to the list of Bagley New Warriors collectors. It really is tough out there. I'd happily call it a day if I were ever able to get my hands on a cover.

 

Man, I know so many people who collect New Warrior Bagley art, I never read the series is it that good?

 

After X-Men, it was my favorite series back when I was 11. I recently re-read the entire Bagley run (#1-25) and while it took a few issues to get going, for the most part it held up nicely. It's nothing ground breaking, but the characters are likeable and the stories are a lot of fun. It reads kind of like a New Teen Titans for the 90's. However, if you weren't born between, say, 1976 and 1980, your mileage may vary.

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head. The idea that you had basically a kid version of Green Lantern teaming up with a guy on a skateboard wielding sticks. Plus you add Firestorm from the Amazing Spider-Man cartoon in the 80s and Speedball. It had the right amount of wackiness and relateability to it for some reason. If you have some Bagley pages feel free to show me! you can check out my stuff here: New Warriors

As far as I know there really are not that many Invisibles collectors out there.

 

 

 

That might be because you can't see them.

 

 

 

To put a different angle on that whole idea that dealers today don't deal in 90s art idea... back in the 90s they did. Just as today, most of them rep certain artists and deal in their current art now.

 

The short answer is they sold that stock 20 years ago.

 

OP mentions Kelley Jones on Batman, for example. Mitch used to sell some of JK's Batman pages through GC. Albert Moy had pages too. Others had pages at the time as well. Prices were in the $50-200 range for panel pages, with splashes being more. Not going to see them for those prices today with Batman on the page, but they do exist and pop up from time to time. Mostly from individuals selling them via eBay or classifieds on CAF. Occasionally Heritage. Like with anything else of quality, you gotta dig for the deals, or hold your nose and hit buy if it's something you gotta have.

 

Kelley did keep a certain amount of his work as well, so it's not all floating around out there that I'm aware of.

 

Terry Moore sold me a page from SiP #5 in '96 at Chicago Con. He'd just drawn it and told me it was bittersweet selling it.

 

Bought Madman pages directly from Allred at Philly and Baltimore in the mid 90s.

Bought my Sandman and other Vertigo work mostly directly from artists as well.

 

In fact, the way I see it, the 90s were the era in which comic art collecting went from a handful of folks dabbling or seriously collecting and turned into a thriving comic underground niche. Especially the latter half of the decade as more and more folks made use of this new thing we call the internet, and it no longer required that people make phonecalls, scour ads in CBG and the like, or be in attendance at every convention to get first crack at whatever was brought to that show.

 

Toss in the beginning of eBay, where the OA section of the site was literally just 2 or 3 pages of listings for EVERYTHING being offered (no BS color prints, no wannabe comic artist doodles, just pretty much published material), and things just kind of blew up by the time you hit 2000.

 

I think a lot of that Indie work sold to people piecemeal who were into the scene for a time. Maybe happy to just have that one piece of their one favorite story, and never got the whole collecting bug. Perhaps keeping it for nostalgia for the time they got out of High School, got their tribal tattoo and nose pierced, went to Lillith Fair, saw Chasing Amy and grabbed a cool page from SiP. And unless they hit eBay and happen to discover the pages bring money now, it'll just stay on a wall or in a closet. Dealers don't seem to seek most of it out because with a few exceptions, the margins just aren't there for the indie work. What can I say? People want hair metal and boy bands (McFarlane & Liefeld on Spidey, Youngblood, and whatnot).

_________________________________________________________________

 

As an aside to the art buying, for me there was a ton of great comics in the 90s.

I think it was a massively creative era, just not so much for the Big 2.

 

Other than KJ and Beatty's work on Batman, or the killer folks producing the Batman Adventures books, if you wanted good work from DC, you actually looked to Vertigo. Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade the Changing Man, Swamp Thing. Along with books that have become industry mainstays like Hellboy and Bone, one looked to the indies and self published work. I'd stick the first few years of Stray Bullets up against just about anything. Especially that first year. It's what got me back into comic buying after a several year hiatus.

 

Jeez, and then guys like Burns on Black Hole. Clowes, Ware, Tomine.... great great artists left and right. If you were at all inclined towards truly great artwork and thoughtful, quirky or imaginative stories, I don't see how anyone would be hard pressed to find something to like, unless it just had to be guys in pajamas.

 

But then, if someone was really fixated on the vapid gyrations of hair metal, or the squeeling glee of boy bands, you really didn't care for the early 90s explosion of what was quickly labeled as alternative or "grunge". And I see the two scenes as really tying together a lot in that 90s era. Especially the first half of the decade.

 

Musicians and artists taking chances. Toward the end of the decade, artists (and a ton of musicians) saw what creatively was selling, and started aping that. And there was a flood of copycats and lookalike work trying to get some of that money. By which point the truly creative folks had moved on to the next thing, and the scene was so flooded, the next new thing came along and the decade ticked over into the next.

 

My .02¢ on that.

 

Eric makes some really great points in this post. There was a lot that I didn't consider which now makes so much sense once it was pointed out to me.

I started off this posting saying that I'm still trying to figure out my focus. Right now I'm buying a lot of art that either is aesthetically pleasing or touches the nostalgia, but a lot of the time it's about opportunity and if do I have the money for it. Reading everyone's opinions and experiences I think I could scratch off a purely 90s focus. Collecting 90s art is no less accessible, inexpensive, or competitive than artwork from other eras. In fact, I have learned that if I do see a 90s piece that I like, or maybe even on the fence with it, to snatch it up if the price is right. It may not pop up again. One of my collecting philosophies has been, "I rather have the option to sell later, then regret not buying now."