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Can high-dollar "cover artist keys" maintain their value?
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104 posts in this topic

I probably shouldn't be anymore, but I'm still surprised at the increasing prices that covers by artists like Hughes, JSC, Dell'Otto and others can command. Even those that aren't "rare" variants or particularly low print runs can see high prices. For a book that's not a storyline-based key issue, it seems that those are some crazy numbers. I'm not sold on an issue being considered a key just because people like the cover image.

 

Can these prices for cover artist keys be maintained longterm? What happens if/when an artist retires and isn't in the limelight anymore...will those prices falter accordingly? If a character falls out of favor or is no longer important, that character's key issues typically lose value...will the same thing happen to an artist if his work isn't hyped anymore?

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My feeling is a little more nuanced...

 

I think keys and storylines will still be the dominant drivers of market value, but I think the "cover artist bump" is also here to stay.

 

Partly, this is because the act of stabbing a book changes its nature (the medium is the message, and all that). While the book's content is still present within the slab, it cannot be accessed... this simple fact has the net effect of making the accessible portions of the book more important - things like wrap, cover gloss and (especially) cover art. Some deride this as a card collector mentality, but I think the physical nature of the medium is a better explanation.

 

At the same time, cover art was historically a driver of book value... if you go back to the early days of fandom in the 1960s and 1970s, there were a host of popular artists whose covers commanded premiums on the back issue market... guys like Schomburg, Frazetta, Baker, etc. This accelerated in the 1970s with popular artists like Adams, Wrightson, Steranko, etc. If you look at Overstreet, you'll see relics of this era with notations for cover art by many of these folks.

 

In the 1980s and 1990s, focus shifted to interior art (Byrne, Perez, then McFarlane, Lee et al) and the rise of writers (Moore, Gaiman).

 

In my mind, the rise of stabbing returned the hobby to an increased focus on cover art - but it did not create a new phenomenon, merely revived a dormant trend.

 

Having said that, I do think some current prices are out of whack, and reflect a bit of a Franklin Mint mentality - but hey, people can collect what they like.

 

I also think the trend does involve older and inactive artists... 1970s Neal Adams covers are hot, as are Schomburg covers, and there's some guys like Dave Stevens whose stuff is still very sought after...

 

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We've sort of talked this in to the ground in one form or another. I haven't seen a new angle on it in a while. People often bring up the Adams or whomever covers of the past - I don't doubt that a nice cover can bring some amount of bump, especially in the day of slabs, but when we're talking about 'high-dollar' as the title states... no.

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One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these books inevitably end up absorbed into personal collections over time and the availability of them on the market starts drying up a little bit, and this can sustain some prices just by the supply dropping commensurate with the demand.

 

But, I might be totally wrong too.

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Oh, and my opinion is 'no.'

 

x 2.

What % of eBay value will your LCS offer you in trade if you bring in your hot new covers to them, as they certainly will not want to pay you cash? Sorry, but there are too many of these chase or Variant covers being released every Wed. to maintain any value 2 years from now.

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My feeling is a little more nuanced...

 

I think keys and storylines will still be the dominant drivers of market value, but I think the "cover artist bump" is also here to stay.

 

I think it's that "bump" that has me questioning all of this. If there's a key issue due to a first appearance, and that has a brilliant cover, then sure, I get the increased value. But a comic that's $200+ solely because of the cover? I'm not so sure about that.

 

I'm a Hughes collector. Love his art. But I hesitate to buy a graded comic for $100+ just because of his art. Not when it's just another ho-hum issue of Catwoman or Wonder Woman.

 

I can appreciate the argument that the issues are "drying up" or finding their way into PCs. I can also appreciate the fact that art collectors buy for covers more and more instead of the story. I just don't understand some of the prices.

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I think my answer is 'depends', as it is with most collectibles.

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My feeling is a little more nuanced...

 

Likewise.

 

I agree with your overall view about the rise of cover art interest correlating with slabbing.

 

I think SOME of these books will be long term winners. People will need to pick carefully, though. There's only so much room for high dollar key books.

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My feeling is a little more nuanced...

 

I think keys and storylines will still be the dominant drivers of market value, but I think the "cover artist bump" is also here to stay.

 

I think it's that "bump" that has me questioning all of this. If there's a key issue due to a first appearance, and that has a brilliant cover, then sure, I get the increased value. But a comic that's $200+ solely because of the cover? I'm not so sure about that.

Agreed on this. Assuming the incentive variants aren't downright ugly, those will probably be the preferred covers for keys and as such, can expect to demand higher premiums.

 

There will likely be some covers that will maintain value or appreciate solely for the cover art.

 

However, given just how many variants are released week in and week out, I expect the vast majority will be near worthless as is the case with most comics.

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Ultimately, I think that the variant covers for key books will hold value. With the exception of a very few, the cover variants that exist for the sake of there being a variant will long term fail.

 

Now these are in a deferent category than the people who are now searching out covers for artists, that were often done earlier in their careers, but are the original cover for the comic.

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For me, the question about variants doesn't even come into play with the basic question. I'm talking regular covers with amazing cover art. Variant "rarity" helps drive the prices for those books. The question more revolves around regular comics that aren't keys yet still command decent prices.

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For me, the question about variants doesn't even come into play with the basic question. I'm talking regular covers with amazing cover art. Variant "rarity" helps drive the prices for those books. The question more revolves around regular comics that aren't keys yet still command decent prices.

 

For artists that are big names, I think some of them will hold up. Artists like Hughes and Campbell have a large following, and certain of their covers (regardless of the interior story) have become iconic. Covers like Catwoman 51, Harley Quinn 1, Superior Spider Man 20, and a few others, are not going to crash. But there are very few artists I can think of where fans collect the artist over the book.

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One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these books inevitably end up absorbed into personal collections over time and the availability of them on the market starts drying up a little bit, and this can sustain some prices just by the supply dropping commensurate with the demand.

 

But, I might be totally wrong too.

 

+1. This is more along my though process as well. Books going into PCs and not being up for sale, do/can create a 'market thirst' when it does pop up for sale again after a long time. If it's another long wait until the next sale, the same could happen again, creating a new trend and market value. But with these collectibles, some of them can drop a bit if too many copies are readily available and seller(s) are looking to move on from the book for whatever reason.

 

So, I'm gonna say 'yes' to the OP's question because, so far they (mostly) have. The real question isn't 'can' they, but 'will' they.

 

 

Jerome

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One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these books inevitably end up absorbed into personal collections over time and the availability of them on the market starts drying up a little bit, and this can sustain some prices just by the supply dropping commensurate with the demand.

 

But, I might be totally wrong too.

 

+1. This is more along my though process as well. Books going into PCs and not being up for sale, do/can create a 'market thirst' when it does pop up for sale again after a long time. If it's another long wait until the next sale, the same could happen again, creating a new trend and market value. But with these collectibles, some of them can drop a bit if too many copies are readily available and seller(s) are looking to move on from the book for whatever reason.

 

So, I'm gonna say 'yes' to the OP's question because, so far they (mostly) have. The real question isn't 'can' they, but 'will' they.

 

 

Jerome

 

The variant craze is not that old. I know many think it is here to stay, but I think it'd be one of the first things to go if the market as a whole got into significant trouble again.

 

On another facet, I think these things being so relatively rare also hurts their long term prospects. I think to a certain extent people still desire what they see - never seeing one of these books at a con, in an LCS on a wall... only even knowing it exists because of a few eBay sightings every other year and forums like this one, I think that hurts a book in the true long term. But then again... the real high end of this market only needs a few people with deep pockets to be invested in it so maybe an infinite game of hot potato could happen :shrug:

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One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these books inevitably end up absorbed into personal collections over time and the availability of them on the market starts drying up a little bit, and this can sustain some prices just by the supply dropping commensurate with the demand.

 

But, I might be totally wrong too.

 

+1. This is more along my though process as well. Books going into PCs and not being up for sale, do/can create a 'market thirst' when it does pop up for sale again after a long time. If it's another long wait until the next sale, the same could happen again, creating a new trend and market value. But with these collectibles, some of them can drop a bit if too many copies are readily available and seller(s) are looking to move on from the book for whatever reason.

 

So, I'm gonna say 'yes' to the OP's question because, so far they (mostly) have. The real question isn't 'can' they, but 'will' they.

 

 

Jerome

 

The variant craze is not that old. I know many think it is here to stay, but I think it'd be one of the first things to go if the market as a whole got into significant trouble again.

 

On another facet, I think these things being so relatively rare also hurts their long term prospects. I think to a certain extent people still desire what they see - never seeing one of these books at a con, in an LCS on a wall... only even knowing it exists because of a few eBay sightings every other year and forums like this one, I think that hurts a book in the true long term. But then again... the real high end of this market only needs a few people with deep pockets to be invested in it so maybe an infinite game of hot potato could happen :shrug:

 

I think some of the responses coming in now are misinterpreting the original question... it's not whether variants will retain their value, but whether books with covers by certain artists will retain their value. These are sometimes variants, but frequently are not.

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