The re-creation (not re-imagination) of the entire Cerebus #1 will be called "The Ultimate Cerebus" (super-secret ninja sneak preview below - I cannot tell you if the cover to Ultimate Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing will be used for the Ultimate Cerebus #1, I can only tell you it was included along with the fax from DVS).
And here is the $10,000 question. Or is it the $20,000 question? What if the person who has the re-creation of page 1 (and I think we all remember who that is) had right of first refusal on the entire re-created book? The cover and 21 more pages?
What is a realistic offer to make for that... if one was given the, whaddyacall, right of first refusal? What is the open auction market going to be on these pages when no one except the owner of page 1 has the chance, at the moment, to have the complete book? What are the benchmarks for that?
Let's review some relevant facts:
(1) the original art to actual issue #1 page 1 was sold, privately, for $11K
(2) the other 5 pages from actual issue #1 that I know of sold for an average of $2200 each
(3) the re-creation of issue #1 page 1 sold for $1800
(4) and the only entire book of art that I know of (without the cover) was issue #4, which sold for $11.5K about 10 years ago in the Beguiling auction (where, one might recall, the Synchronicity triptych went for $10.1K)
Let's hear your thoughts on this.
9 comments:
Thoughts:
Recreations should be done very, very sparingly.
If at all.
And they should be ‘worth’ very, very little.
Isn't that cover just the Guide to Self-Publishing retailer incentive cover?
I was just wondering not long about if Dave was planning on doing more "Starting All Over Again" bits. Of course, it's not really "Ultimate" as the term is often known nowadays, since it's all just a page by page recreation without any major alterations beyond Dave's improved artistic ability. I guess it's sort of like how Peter Laird redid the tone and reinked TMNT #1 a few years back. Except more labor intensive.
But still, it would be interesting to see if only for any "improvements". It certainly looks "better". As for how much it should cost and who should get it, beats the hell outta me. Is it going to be published? I'd assume it'd be worth less if it's just sold as art.
>But still, it would be >interesting to see if only for >any "improvements". It certainly >looks >"better".
Well, whatever better (or “better”) means...
Art being subjective and all, but that horse is _not_ very well drawn. The guy in the background has bizarre anatomy (as if Dave were trying to draw in his younger style but ink it with his photo-tracing way) and Dave’s faces, especially of late are rather…odd.
Not too mention, as Dave recently self-stated and it’s abundantly clear in many pieces; his perspective is not very great.
I agree that the difference between re-creation and re-imagination is enormous. Look at what Dave and Ger did for me on those two re-imagined pages from Issue #29, including the dialogue.
All that said; I'd come over to your house to read it! ('cause I sure as heck couldn't afford to buy 'em).
It sounds as though Dave *is* going to publish this as a special edition, once it is done. The real question (and no one is playing) is assigning worth to the pages. I don't think you can go by the price I paid for page 1 because it's page 1, for Set's sake, and set me up to be the only one who could be on the receiving end of an offer to get the rest. Now that #1 is gone, and you are looking at the recreation of page 2... just what would be auction price of that be? I have a dollar figure in mind for what these pages are going to average, and it is less than $500.
>It sounds as though Dave *is* going >to publish this as a special >edition, once it is done.
I’d take a wild guess that it will be POD as there really can’t be a wide interest in this…
And yes, I’d say wayyyyy less than $500 per page.
I kinda would like to see Dave fully draw "The Challenge" story as seen on Margaret's site.
I suggested that Ultimate Cerebus should be Treasury Sized!
What do you think?
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