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Introduction:<\/strong> You\u2019re about to read the first guest post on ComicArt.Tips, written by the collector known in the hobby as \u201cRabid Ferret\u201d. Here he explains his favorite tip for new original comic art collectors, a worthwhile research technique you can apply to your favorite artists to help know when it\u2019s time to bid strongly on a piece you don\u2019t want to lose. In this example he walks through Jim Lee\u2019s Uncanny X-Men run and helps you realize that having big pockets is probably not enough\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019re here for the first time, please remember that this blog is very rarely updated, cause the time I have for writing about original art is spent every week for the Original Comic Art Tips newsletter<\/em>, where I review auctions and auction results.<\/p>\n You can subscribe for free to the newsletter on the home page<\/a> and never lose pages like these anymore. You can also read a complete archive of the newsletter<\/a> (dating back to October 2017) if you want. See you there next Friday!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Researching an Artist\u2019s Run<\/strong><\/p>\n When Francesco asked me if I had any interest in writing an article one topic jumped immediately to mind; the tip I give to every new collector entering the hobby that I always feel is overlooked.<\/p>\n Research<\/strong>. More specifically, sitting down with an artist\u2019s run and doing the legwork to know what pages exist.<\/p>\n One of the most common problems in this hobby, especially for new collectors, is that they assume a lot based on memory. \u201cI loved McFarlane<\/strong>\u2019s Amazing Spidey run! I know it by heart!\u201d But do you really? How many issues did he work on? How many pages did he draw? Of those pages, how many were any good? How many had Spidey? How many were all Aunt May? How many did Todd ink himself? How many splashes did he do? How many DPSs?<\/p>\n Chances are, you probably don\u2019t know these answers and are relying on memory to fill in the gaps. And when you get into the weeds of reality, you start to get surprised.<\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n Let\u2019s walk through an example.<\/p>\n Back in the \u201990s, there was a popular fellow named Jim Lee <\/strong>who did some work at Marvel. Maybe you\u2019ve heard of him?<\/p>\n His big breakthrough came on Uncanny X-Men alongside inker Scott Williams. It\u2019s a classic run with some epic issues. His first issue is Uncanny 248. The famous changeover when Whilce Portacio took over is Uncanny 281. I suspect a lot of folks who haven\u2019t opened the books recently think \u201cJim Lee must\u2019ve done 33 issues of X-Men\u201d. Maybe there were a few fill-in issues here or there, but he did a good solid run\u2026right?<\/p>\n In fact, Jim only drew 15 issues. 248, 256-258, 267-277. He did covers for 22.<\/strong><\/p>\n The rest were a variety of artists including Marc Silvestri, Paul Smith, Andy Kubert, Rick Leonardi, and Mike Collins.<\/p>\n There are also some caveats:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So those 15 issues he drew? That represents only 337 pages of interior art. That includes all the talking heads, titles, establishing shots, and everything else NOT on your wishlist.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jim Lee Wolverine Original Art<\/strong><\/p>\n Now let\u2019s delve deeper and use the example everyone cares about \u2013 Wolverine.<\/p>\n Would you guess that of those 15 issues there were 5 that didn\u2019t have a single panel of Wolverine in them? And that the ones that did often found him in his Patch persona?<\/p>\n In fact, of the 337 interior pages he did, there are only 94 with Wolverine. That sounds decent, but keep in mind that includes the weak pages with the back of his head or him standing in a crowd or being out of costume sitting at the bar.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n \n Jim Lee X-Men Original Art \u2013 Wolverine Out of Costume<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n If you narrow it down to pages with Wolverine in costume the number drops to 48.<\/p>\n If you want him in costume and not the back of his head? Now you\u2019re down to 28 pages.<\/p>\n And if you want to filter that to the best pages? The claws out, fighting berserker Wolverine that we all want? Roughly 22.<\/p>\n Oh, and when I say \u201cin costume\u201d, that includes his blue\/yellow team costume. Want the maroon and orange costume? The list thins out even more to roughly 13.<\/p>\n So to summarize quick \u2013 Jim Lee, one of the biggest names in comics history, famous for his rendition of Wolverine \u2013 has a grand total of 13 great maroon costume Wolverine pages in his entire UXM run.<\/p>\n And this isn\u2019t filtering by style or inker; this includes things like the Dan Green inked page 1 from UXM248.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n \n Jim Lee X-Men Original Art \u2013 Good Wolverine Example<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n Were those the numbers you were expecting? I suspect not.<\/p>\n And this is really only the first step.<\/p>\n From here I usually rank them, putting together a spreadsheet of what my favorite pages are and separating them by tiers of quality so that I have a clear sense of what exists and where I draw the line on what I want to own.<\/p>\n For some artists, I extend this exercise to multiple titles. For Todd McFarlane<\/strong>, I did it for Incredible Hulk, Amazing Spider-Man, and Spider-Man. For Rob Liefeld,<\/strong> I did New Mutants and X-Force. For Whilce Portacio<\/strong> I did Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and Punisher.<\/p>\n In Jim\u2019s case this topic could quickly spiral into a career-spanning list of all his Wolverine art that would extend to X-Men, Punisher War Journal, and various covers for Wolverine, Alpha Flight, trading card sets, and more.\u00a0Since this article was meant as an example of how to break down a specific run from any artist, we encourage readers to do their own continued legwork<\/p>\n For some artists, after doing this I realize that I can\u2019t afford any of the original art that I love. For others, I realize that I could afford all of it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n But doing this legwork and intimately knowing the artist\u2019s work is incredibly important in this hobby for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n First, it helps you understand the rarity of some artists and their work. There are 337 Lee UXM pages. There are 2000+ Jack Kirby <\/strong>FF pages. If you have an A-list Lee and an A-list Kirby side by side, it\u2019s worth knowing that you\u2019re more likely to see another A-list Kirby before you see another A-list Lee. There just aren\u2019t as many of them. (If you\u2019re a 90s collector, almost every artist from that era is in that same 10-20 issue window.)<\/p>\n Second, this helps you to recognize the great pages when they surface and understand what you\u2019re looking at. I\u2019m a huge McSpidey <\/em>fan. For my personal taste there are roughly 75 pieces between ASM and SM that fit what I\u2019m looking for, and that includes covers and pinups. But some are not as flashy as you\u2019d think, and when they surface they often go under the radar. I chuckle when I see people brush off a piece for some tiny defect, not understanding that they won\u2019t see a piece this good again for 5-10 years!<\/p>\n Third, and probably most important, it helps set you up for success in knowing when to chase something that is higher on your list than your nostalgia-brain would\u2019ve thought. Know your rankings before the opportunity arises. That way, when that gem appears that you ranked a top 10 piece you know to break the bank and sell something to help acquire it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So there\u2019s my best tip to new comic art collectors \u2013 don\u2019t rely on your memory and nostalgia to guide you, but do the research on an artist and their oeuvre. Go through the issues, rank the pages, and be prepared to recognize the best stuff when it surfaces.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Oh, and if you\u2019re curious what practical use I made of this? I did this exact exercise in 2017 when I decided to chase an epic Jim Lee Wolverine page. I boiled my list down to 10 pages I considered the best of his run, including things like the UXM268 Captain America splash and the UXM269 Magneto splash, and then inched down the list seeing what might wiggle free. I ended up getting this piece<\/a> that I\u2019d rated my 5th favorite page in the run.<\/p>\n Happy collecting!<\/p>\n\n
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