There are a lot of people that read and collect comic books. I used to be one of them, but after decades in that hobby I switched over to collecting something related but more niche: original comic book art.
Original comic book art (or OA) is the actual artwork used to create the comic book. It’s usually drawn with a pencil and ink. Prices on OA can range anywhere between $60 and $600,000+ depending on a number of factors such as: artist, character, type of artwork, content and whether or not it is a published piece or not.
Here’s a quick breakdown that goes over some of the general differences.
Published vs. Not Published
Published art is exactly what it sounds like, art that was printed in a publication. Types of published art include: Covers, Splash Page – a page with one large image that takes up the entire board, Double Page Splash/Double Page Spread (DPS) – an image or images that cover two connected boards, Panel Page – a traditional comic book page.
Not Published art can be a production piece of artwork (Cover, Splash, etc.) that was never published. It can also include a Commission or a Convention Sketch.
Generally speaking, in terms of value:
Published > Not Published
Cover > DPS > Splash > Panel Page
Era
Golden/Silver Age Art – This era of art (1938 – 1967) is done on “twice up boards”, which are twice the size of the actual comic, approximately 13” x 18 “. Production art of this variety will look just like a printed comic with word balloons, sound effects, etc. on the artwork.
Bronze/Dark Age – In 1967 the artwork changed to a smaller 11” x 17” size that is still in use today. Like the artwork from the previous era this will look exactly like a printed comic book.
Modern Age – In the late 1990’s/early 2000’s publishers decided to letter the comics on computer so the artwork from this era does not typically have any writing on it, just artwork. Also, some artwork does not have the pencils and inks on the same board, but are separate, which can cause issues with collectors, since 2 pieces exists of the same artwork.
Examples From My Collection
Below are some examples of artwork from my collection, which have been organized by artist.
John Byrne
I am a big fan of John Byrne’s work on UNCANNY X-MEN, but the art from that series is out of my price range. In order to get some X-Men themed artwork from Byrne, I commissioned him to do some pieces for me. Two of these pieces are below.
John Buscema
John Buscema is a legend in the business because of his long runs on AVENGERS, CONAN and THE MIGHTY THOR. I feel very lucky to have a piece from Buscema’s THOR run in my collection.
Jim Lee
I’ve been a fan of Jim Lee since his UNCANNY X-MEN days. I think his artwork has improved since those days with his work on Batman and Superman being the best of his career. Below is an DPS example from ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN.
Conclusion
If you are interested in seeing more OA or are interested in buying some for yourself, a great resource is www.comicartfans.com. This website has art galleries that can be searched by character and artist, and will show you items for sale based on your searches. If you’d like to see more pieces in my collection, the address to my gallery is: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=26322.
