“As for me, I am in pursuit
of excellence, I have no time to get old.”
~
Will Eisner
I know a whole lot about comic
books.
I know how to grade.
I know how to care for them.
I know how to take advantage
and survive a comic convention.
Yup, there isn’t much about
comics I don’t know about.
Or so I thought.
It’s safe to say that you and
I love the work that a particular artist publishes but have you ever tried to
acquire that artwork before? Hell, do
you even know how to go about it properly?
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have the answers!!! Luckily I found what I was looking for at the
‘Comic Art Con’ in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Minutes away from the Lincoln
tunnel, right next door to the Meadowlands (home of the Giants & Jets), is probably the largest expo of
comic book art that exists. It’s a dream
come true for any real comic book fan.
It’s the fifth year and tenth show overall for this convention. Vendors from all over the country and the top
auction houses come for this one-day show.
This says a lot and shows how impressive this convention truly is.
Parking is free. Kids are free. Admission is only $10 and you can see
historical pieces of original artwork from comic book history. Honestly, it’s the type of art that you hear
people talk about, or may see online, but you never expect to see it in person.
An enormous amount of
original comic book art is at this show.
Work from Ditko and
Kirby.
Pages from numerous amounts
of comics/superheroes were represented.
Prices ranged from $25 to six-figures!!!
In the grand scheme of
things, the aspect of this show that I love so much is that everything is a
one-of-a-kind piece of art.
I won’t lie to you. As amazing as I’m making this show sound, I
was a little intimidated at first. Hell,
other than knowing the type of art I like, I don’t know how to shop for
original artwork.
After being a spectator for
just an hour, those problems quickly went away.
Co-promoter Dan Gallo perfectly summed up how a show with such lucrative
pieces is the best place to learn about a whole new hobby and investment opportunity.
“By coming here, you get to
meet, talk and ask questions to vendors.
Not just any vendors, but thee vendors. You get to meet with only serious
collectors and hear the stories of their mistakes and triumphs. Best of all, no one is going to rush or
pressure you. The atmosphere is nice and
relaxed and you have time to really know the
vendors, auction houses, their inventory, ways of the trade and meet/network
with other people.”
As I perused the walls of
art, and slowly flipped through pages of work, time after time my jaw would
drop to the floor with the pieces of work in front of me.
I may sound over the top, but
it was the honest truth. This wasn’t
something I was viewing on my computer. I was seeing the original work with my own
eyes. Being able to see the work first-hand
allowed me to see notes written next to side panels, the original blue pencils
from the artist and the page information written at the top of the page.
It made the show, and the
work, that much more powerful. I talked
with long time collector Thomas Fish about the industry
and how a show like this is so beneficial than buying work online.
In Thomas Fish’s words, “If you're a collector, or you enjoy the hobby, it's
much more fun and beneficial to interact with other collectors. You get better knowledge here. You can learn first hand what goes on, what
people are looking for. Online, there's
a big disconnect. There's no personality
there and it's beneficial to come to a show like this.”
His knowledge on the median,
and the work he collects, was extremely impressive. Then he told me something
that really showed how much of a hardcore dealer
he is and how important this show truly is.
"This is the only specific
comic art show in the country. I
actually live in Northern Virginia. It
took me four and a half hours (to get to the show). I came up here last night. I don't miss this show. If I'm not out of town on business, this is
THEE one show, I can't miss.”
After seeing many art pages
well into six figures, and safely assuming someone has a million dollar piece
in a vault somewhere, it was easy to see why people from all over the country
were coming to this one show.
I was extremely excited by
this point. I wanted to know more, I
wanted to buy some art, but I still didn’t know what the hell I was doing. After 20 minutes of shopping, I knew that I
shouldn’t make any rash decisions. So I
decided to do the next best thing: ask someone with 20 years experience (versus
my 20 minutes of experience) of the trade.
Vincent Zurzolo is the COO of Comic Connect (a
site which is a much better alternative to buy/sell comic books and artwork
compared to ebay. As someone who’s
disgusted with ebay, I speak the truth.) Luckily, Vincent shared some tips on how any type of newcomer can get
into collecting vintage comics or comic book art.
"So there's a piece of
art for every budget, and there's a budget for every piece of art. What I always tell collectors that are
getting into the art market is figure out which characters you really like,
which artists you really like, and stay focused.
Make a list up of what you want to collect. You have to put a strategy
together and figure out what you want to do.
So basically figure out what
your budget is, how many pieces you want to buy a year, which characters and
artists you like…is really going to help you figure out how to build your
collection. Then after that, you need to
see if your strategies and goals are realistic and if you can make it happen.”
Vincent was giving me tons of
great tips. Then, he used the dreaded
H-word: HOMEWORK!!!
"Make sure you do your
homework at a convention. Maybe contact
them beforehand and see what types of pieces they'll be bringing to the show,
and if there's something you really want to see, you can ask them to hold it in
the morning before you show up. Never be
shy. If you're bringing pieces to trade,
use it to bargain and get a discount on top of it. That's all okay. People are extremely passionate about this
art. It's all one-of-a-kind. It's important to realize that you'll always
have that one piece. Hopefully over time,
that one-of-a-kind piece will appreciate in value.”
The Comic Art Show can really
help you make a different type of investment.
As an added bonus, it can also be a great learning experience for anyone
of all ages. Especially kids.
Jonathan Mankuta, from the
high end collectible show on SyFy ‘Hollywood Treasure’, is an avid supporter of
the ‘Comic Art Show’. He’s also a big comic
book collector and an expert of comic book art.
After showing up multiple times to this show, he truly sees how
important it is for children to especially visit.
“This is a great show for
kids because kids get to hold pages of original art used to produce comic
books. That's not something you get on ebay. It's not something you get on mail
order. This is really where all the
artwork is. Kids get to actually see the
process of what comic books are made from.
They get to physically hold it and that's really fascinating for a kid.”
In the long run though,
Mankuta admits that this is an opportunity for anyone to be engulfed in a whole
new dimension of comic books. Anyone
with just a little bit of love for this hobby will see things in a whole
different light.
"If you're new to the
comic art hobby, all you need is a love for comic books. Sometimes you want a gift for someone,
sometimes your kid has only seen Spider-Man in the movies or cartoon, maybe
your husband has old books from his childhood collection; here is the chance to
come in and find what was actually used, hand drawn, from the artist."
With so many people into
comics, it’s a matter of time before a show like this becomes the next big
thing. Yes, the original comic art
market is small, but the Comic Art Show can open the doors to the many, many, fans
of comic books.
As I said before, I was
extremely intimidated when walking into this show. Now, I can’t fucking wait for the next show
on September 22.
I’ve been a comic fan for
about 20 years. After just a few hours
of checking out the Comic Art Show, I am now EXTREMELY hooked on the original
art side of comics. I know for a fact
you will be too.
***MY YOUTUBE REVIEW OF THE SHOW***
I
first learned about Gotham by Gaslight through a “coming attractions” blurb in
a mail-order comic catalog that got delivered to my house quarterly. I’d
been so geeked by the heavy-lined cover art Mignola had recently done for Dark
Knight / Dark City (Batman #452-454) that when I read he was illustrating a
parallel universe Batman-Fucks-Up-Jack-the-Ripper story, I might have actually
squealed.
