Are lettering and "text balloons" not part of the art??

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Just beginning to think about beginning to begin thinking about beginning to think about buying some OA. With that in mind, your thoughts please:

I was at a convention recently with someone who appeared to be knowledgeable and well known in the comic OA world (upon further research he does seem well know-coonected). He was showing me a piece by an artist I'm thinking about buying. For a lack of better/learned language, some "text balloons" were missing from page. I said, "The word balloons are missing." He responded something like, "Well, you can just make copies of the balloons and paste them in there. People don't collect the art for that."

Is this true? Isn't lettering an art? Aren't the words part of the art?

Thanks from a Noob OA collector thinking about thinking about thinking….

I for sure prefer the page to have them if they were produced with word balloons. That said, I would not pass on a page that I liked just because it was missing a word balloon or two. I have a couple pages that have balloons that have fallen off but it doesn't cause me to appreciate the art any less. That's my

I believe that lettering is part of the page and I prefer to have it.

That said, the loss of original lettering bubbles does not generally impact the value of a page. I have one page that lost a balloon and I've had someone with skills offer to replace it for $50 (panel 2 of the first page in the image)..

So, while all balloons are better don't expect to get a price reduction because one or more is missing.

BTW, newer art has no lettering. Most of it is added by computer these days.

But wasn't lettering a thing? I mean back-in-the-day people were credited for lettering, no?

I for sure prefer the page to have them if they were produced with word balloons. That said, I would not pass on a page that I liked just because it was missing a word balloon or two. I have a couple pages that have balloons that have fallen off but it doesn't cause me to appreciate the art any less. That's my

+1

saves me from typing

Malvin

This was talked of in a few of the larger, more recent threads that were mostly about modern collecting.

The consensus there, as it appears to be forming here, is that people want it, but if it isn't availale, they won't kick an otherwise nice page out of bed

Yes, it was and is.

John Workman's lettering is a thing of beauty as was that of Ira Schnapp to name two.

This was talked of in a few of the larger, more recent threads that were mostly about modern collecting.

 

The consensus there, as it appears to be forming here, is that people want it, but if it isn't availale, they won't kick an otherwise nice page out of bed

Yep.

For what it's worth, there are lots of combinations "out there." Here's a list and my opinion on relative value:

I think my revised order would be (most expensive to least expensive):

• Pencils, letters, inks (100%)
  
• Pencils & inks (90%)
  
• Digital pencils and physical ink by same artist[90%]
  
• Pencils only (60%)
  Because the penciler told the story though the inker wins on details
  
• Digital pencils & inks by different artist (40%)
  Ahead of blue-lines because pencils don't exist
  
• Blue-line inks (40%)
  The published image
  
• Digital one-of-a kind prints (not much from me, but maybe something)

Of course, this assumes that you could get the same page from the same artist(s) in each form which you can't. Still, it is more or less what a consensus of people think about relative values of similar pages from the same art team.

Thanks all that took the time to respond.

Yes, it was and is.

 

John Workman's lettering is a thing of beauty as was that of Ira Schnapp to name two.

Doing the lettering for my commissions with Gary Martin

Yes, it was and is.

 

John Workman's lettering is a thing of beauty as was that of Ira Schnapp to name two.

 

Doing the lettering for my commissions with Gary Martin

That's great, MIke!

I prefer comic art with word balloons and I have had a number of pages I have owned over the years that are missing or the word balloons are starting to come off. That does not really effect if I buy the page or not. There is a story from Bizarre Adventures #27 which I have found many of the pages are missing some or all of the balloons. I own 4 pages from that story and have recreated the balloons on two pages, the other two I have not gotten around to fixing.

Here are two examples of ones I have restored:

And one I have yet to restore