NYCC - Oh Yeah! (and a David Wenzel watercolor as well!)

So I did it. I have talked and talked and postulated and posed and blah blah blah blah. In this very blog I have written how "I could sell 50 pieces and buy one big piece if I could. I would do it in a second. And maybe more than once." Well, I have 33 pieces in the current comiclink auction, all smaller things. It is not a featured auction now after all is it. Seven still have no bids after the auction opned yesterday but that is okay; one of those only cost $5 after all! But many cost a hundred and some more than that, but that no longer matters. If I get $50 each on average I will be disappointed but content. If I get $100 on average I slightly exceed expectations. So let's see what happens.

I had not expected to do much with that money, maybe some bills and a bit of Christmas gift money. Well, it turns out the gift it for me myself and I. Earlier this week Mitch from Graphic Collectibles announced that he would have some Frank Miller art for the show. I immediately freaked and considered my options. I like to improve my choices and options in life, so I knew that I would be remiss if I saw something I liked and had not made effort to be ready to buy if possible.

So I emailed the comicart-l yahoo group list and announced I would sell some things if anyone was interested. Two people were, and 3 sold pieces later I had some cash to play with. Combined with my convention budget I was now financially armed and certainly dangerous. Dangerous indeed, although to whom is could be debated for quite some time, so it is best to move on..

Along the way Mitch had chimed in and told me he would work with me. Of that I was already confident, but now that it was stated I was primed. Locked and loaded. But this meant complications for sure.

You see, I already had my money spent once in my mind before Mitch even made his announcement. So I decided I had to prioritize and FM was gonna rule the day. I know Bechara may not like it, but we both know he has art I want and I have money he certainly would not mind possessing in return. But if you had a dealer holding something you want, behind Conrad would be Bechara because the online presence is low to nil. So Bechara could wait, especially when he has a few pages I will eventually own I think; if the first choice sells the second or third will be there.

Then I can just track down the first or second choice and buy it later from the person who buys it from Bechara. patience is indeed a virue.

And I emailed a few of the artists I was after, of which there were few due to my deepening trend away from convention sketches. But low and behold Andy Mac could not provide an art attack as he IS NOT ATTENDING!, and Sean Chen just had a newborn so he was not drawing at home currently (and no longer does con sketches as he wants to do quality for the money).

So that left my primary target, David Wenzel. If I passed on the Bechara art I could go bigger on Wenzel and still have a shot at a FM stunner. Perhaps, perhaps at least. yeah maybe.

So after getting to the show yesterday I made a beeline for Mitch. He was in the process of selling at least the second piece, a Sin City page. Then a large Batman sold off the wall, 12K. The Lana I wanted was out of my range at 7.5K. But wait, what's this here? After asking about the possibility of Elektra Loves Again art Mitch filled his portfolio to a page. 15K. Oh well, but it was beautiful, and more importantly for me I had access to the portfolio. It had been there open but inaccessible as Mitch did business. I pounced at my chance and as I talked about the art with a fellow viewer I saw the one for me. It had been between three pages, and I almost went with Catwoman Carrie page (with killer dialogue) but the paste-up over her mouth actually said "I think it is a NO for me" in Heidi Klum's voice. So between the two others, both the same price, I decided to go drink with John - new friend John from London -and let fate (and intervening buyers) help decide. I told Mitch my buying plan, he agreed to my terms easily and as a true gentleman and off I went.

okay, gotta go watch agents of shield on tivo with my wife and daughter. finished tomorrow