Baker Romance

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Wow. Great stuff!

Some fresh slabs back from Sarasota. Grades pretty much hit my predictions.

I noticed how these new slabs do scan darker. More use of the contrasting than previous scans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awsome books! I am very partial to that APC #8 though. One of my top 5 favorite Baker covers. That braless blonde I guess. Hard to find it with a nice dark blue/green cover.

Yeah, the APC 8 had grown on me, too. It keeps rising in my top Baker covers. A lot of other copies, that I have seen, have some faded or faded areas of the cover. So, I feel fortunate to get this copy from another collector years ago.

I posted this in my journal, and thought people here might find it of interest. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=63

Matt Baker Is Too Expensive

If you're a Matt Baker fan you've probably notice more of his comics up for sale lately on eBay, as well as C-Link, C-Connect and Heritage. Some of the best offerings on eBay are from bakerfan who has been listing one Baker after another for some time now.

Prices are insane. Nice looking, mid-grade comics with Baker covers that would have sold for under $300 a year ago now easily sell for twice that. I have not won even one -- not even one -- of bakerfan's auctions, even though I'm bidding more than I ever have for Matt Baker comics.

It's disheartening. I'm trying to put together a complete collection of comics with covers by Matt Baker, and I feel like it'll never happen because I'm suddenly priced out of the market. I can't emphasize enough how insane prices have become, and it seemed to happen overnight. I'm happy to have the Baker comics currently in my collection, at today's current prices I couldn't afford them. Here are a few from my collection:

Baker's art is stunning. It's considered good girl art but it's much more than that. His art captures the emotions of everyday life. If you're not familiar with his work, perhaps you can see that in these covers.

Right now though, there are too many people collecting his work. Or maybe just a few with deep pockets. So I'm out. I'm taking a break from my Baker collection. I'm not selling, I'm just going to stop chasing for new ones. It's too frustrating, and I'm concerned in the heat of the moment I might bid too much. Because I think the value of Baker comics has a fairly low ceiling. His stuff is not Iron Man or Superman or even Suicide Squad. His comics are not going to be the basis of any movies or TV shows. So I don't want to overpay -- and I think people right now are overpaying -- not when the cost of his books are approaching the cost of REAL keys.

So lately I've pivoted in my buying. I've picked up 2 keys that have been major holes in my collection. Here was my choice. I could have these 2 books, or 4 Bakers. Perhaps this post sounds bitter, and maybe I am, but I think that the story of Gwen Stacy's death and the 1st Wolverine have much more historical significance than comics with Matt Baker art, even though I love his work. Anyway, thanks for reading, and sorry for my rant.

I posted this in my journal, and thought people here might find it of interest. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=63

 

 

 

Matt Baker Is Too Expensive

 

If you're a Matt Baker fan you've probably notice more of his comics up for sale lately on eBay, as well as C-Link, C-Connect and Heritage. Some of the best offerings on eBay are from bakerfan who has been listing one Baker after another for some time now.

 

Prices are insane. Nice looking, mid-grade comics with Baker covers that would have sold for under $300 a year ago now easily sell for twice that. I have not won even one -- not even one -- of bakerfan's auctions, even though I'm bidding more than I ever have for Matt Baker comics.

 

It's disheartening. I'm trying to put together a complete collection of comics with covers by Matt Baker, and I feel like it'll never happen because I'm suddenly priced out of the market. I can't emphasize enough how insane prices have become, and it seemed to happen overnight. I'm happy to have the Baker comics currently in my collection, at today's current prices I couldn't afford them. Here are a few from my collection:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baker's art is stunning. It's considered good girl art but it's much more than that. His art captures the emotions of everyday life. If you're not familiar with his work, perhaps you can see that in these covers.

 

Right now though, there are too many people collecting his work. Or maybe just a few with deep pockets. So I'm out. I'm taking a break from my Baker collection. I'm not selling, I'm just going to stop chasing for new ones. It's too frustrating, and I'm concerned in the heat of the moment I might bid too much. Because I think the value of Baker comics has a fairly low ceiling. His stuff is not Iron Man or Superman or even Suicide Squad. His comics are not going to be the basis of any movies or TV shows. So I don't want to overpay -- and I think people right now are overpaying -- not when the cost of his books are approaching the cost of REAL keys.

 

So lately I've pivoted in my buying. I've picked up 2 keys that have been major holes in my collection. Here was my choice. I could have these 2 books, or 4 Bakers. Perhaps this post sounds bitter, and maybe I am, but I think that the story of Gwen Stacy's death and the 1st Wolverine have much more historical significance than comics with Matt Baker art, even though I love his work. Anyway, thanks for reading, and sorry for my rant.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this post. I completely relate to it in some of my collecting interests. Charles Schulz original art is the primary area I can relate, although the ceiling is higher, it is a frustrating interest, believe me.

Nice set of Bakers!

There has certainly been a substantial run up in prices in recent years -- I've played my part in helping cause it!

But it's nothing we haven't seen in other collecting niches, such as PCH.

I guess I would say that for Baker collectors, a book like CL 25 or GCE 12 is a real key. Granted many fewer people chase those books than chase IH 181, but there are thousands of graded copies of IH 181 and fewer than 20 graded copies of either CL 25 or GCE 12.

From a collecting viewpoint, that's what makes Baker so interesting -- many of the books are difficult to very difficult to next door to impossible to find, especially in mid-grade or above. In contrast, if you would like a copy of IH 181 in any given grade, you can instantly find one. It's just a question of paying the price. So far as I know, not a single copy of CL 25 or CGE 12 is currently available for sale, at least not publicly.

Will Baker prices fall back to where they were five years ago? As with any other area of comic book pricing, the true answer is "Who knows?" I'll venture a guess that enough people have been attracted to collecting him the past few years that it will be a while before they fill out their collections and drop out of the bidding when his books come up at auction.

I hear ya brothers. I started trying to finish off some of the more "undesireable" Bakers like Authentic Police Cases ect. but even those have gotton nosebleed prices. I don't know that I would settle for common Bronze though.

Nice set of Bakers!

 

There has certainly been a substantial run up in prices in recent years -- I've played my part in helping cause it!

 

 

 

I second that emotion.

 

The op states it quite well when he says his work goes beyond GGA and hits something in the human condition. The universality is strong. I find his comics way more appealing than a IH181, a book I have no love for. And is common as spit.

 

There is also a cult of personality built around him. An attractive mystery man who died young and left an impressive and scarce body of work.

 

The secret is out about Baker books and I think they will only go up. There is no going back. In a world of supply and demand, the demand will out strip the supply.

I have a friend who currently owns 27 copies of Hulk #181 with not a single one below the VF++ condition. He paid roughly $10.00-$60.00 each for them (I know, I sold him several) back in the 1980's,1990's. It's a very high priced but very common book.

I also know several Baker collectors with fantastic collections.

Not a single one has anything close to that many copies of any issue.

Apples and oranges in the collecting world.

There has certainly been a substantial run up in prices in recent years -- I've played my part in helping cause it!

I second that emotion.

One of my biggest collecting wrong steps - not throwing a lot more money at Baker when I could have. Kept waiting for prices to go down. How'd that work out for me?

There is also a cult of personality built around him. An attractive mystery man who died young and left an impressive and scarce body of work.

I wonder what % of Baker collectors know that he was black? 10%? 20%?

Clarence, we hardly knew ya (1921-1959)

It may seem an odd companion, but during his prime years at St John, Baker reminds me of Barks. Barks, of course, lived on his Oregon farm and pretty much wrote and drew whatever the heck he wanted, with only occasional feedback from his editors.

Baker wasn't quite that free and didn't, so far as I know, write any of the stories that he illustrated. He was also supposedly the artistic director (or some such title) at St John. Apparently, though, he was very rarely in St John's offices, spending most of his time holed up in his Harlem apartment drawing this great stuff. His covers allowed pretty much free reign to his creative impulses and even his story art clearly brings in elements that are not evident from the scripts -- at least from the dialog in the word balloons.

And, like Barks, he was working on the periphery of the comic biz as fans today think of it. Although, of course, both funny animal books and romance books were hugely popular in their day.

I wonder what % of Baker collectors know that he was black? 10%? 20%?

 

Clarence, we hardly knew ya (1921-1959)

 

 

Or that he was gay? (Although apparently his family disputes that point.)

I think the first photo is the only one known of Archer St John.

Archer getting a big kick out of Matt's loafers apparently. They were fashion forward in the 1930's. "Somewhat unbelievably, this fashion started with the Spaulding company when they produced shoes styled after those of Norwegian dairy farmers that had appeared in an article in Esquire Magazine."

Speaking of gay - as in happy - this is without a doubt the best comic related purchasing decision I've ever made. Sorry guys can't help it, gotta gush like it's a pic of my first born.

Blue eyes!! Thank you Ryan!

How could it not be! Spectacular as always and there's so much fun reaching out of that cover.

Wonderful piece to be proud of

Speaking of gay - as in happy - this is without a doubt the best comic related purchasing decision I've ever made. Sorry guys can't help it, gotta gush like it's a pic of my first born.

 

 

 

Blue eyes!! Thank you Ryan!

 

That's definitely my favorite Baker cover and what a spectacular painting by Ryan.

Heck, I'd probably put it in a sig line if it was mine.

Speaking of gay - as in happy - this is without a doubt the best comic related purchasing decision I've ever made. Sorry guys can't help it, gotta gush like it's a pic of my first born.

 

 

 

Blue eyes!! Thank you Ryan!

 

Superb!

Speaking of gay - as in happy - this is without a doubt the best comic related purchasing decision I've ever made. Sorry guys can't help it, gotta gush like it's a pic of my first born.

 

 

 

Blue eyes!! Thank you Ryan!

 

Great acquisition.

Speaking of gay - as in happy - this is without a doubt the best comic related purchasing decision I've ever made. Sorry guys can't help it, gotta gush like it's a pic of my first born.

 

 

 

Blue eyes!! Thank you Ryan!