General discussion about Usagi Yojimbo, the comics, the stories, the characters, collectibles, TV appearances, Stan Sakai, Space Usagi, Nilson & Hermy, and all other related topics.
I assume something as special as the covers for UY1 were not something Stan would have sold, so you need to track down the former friend you gave them to and beat him senseless
Course, it could all be fake but I assume with a 287rating it isn't.
Lets see, now if I sell my firstborn I can afford them....tempting...tempting...
$2000, with a buy it now of $3500 is just completely ridiculous. If anyone from this dojo board bids on it, I will be forced to kill you. Am the only one who thinks this is just plain silly?
"Aragorn... Don't tell the elf about this"
"We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we Wang?"
Not really. I mean Albedo #2 went to $1000 I think one time. And 2000 of those were made. Only one #1 cover art exists. I think it's steep, but for what it represents and it's age (1987), maybe not. You can still get great original drawings and covers from Stan in the affordable range.
John H. wrote:proud owner of Stan Sakai original art.
Like John, I go see Stan at conventions and he always has a nice selection of finished drawings for sale. My greatest pickup is the Usagi Yojimbo RPG cover: Usagi, Gen, Ino, Kitsune, a Japanese castle, a ninja, and a charging samurai army on horseback. I love it.
As a comic fan who likes to own originals, I often prefer to see the artist and pay him for something rather than buy from someone else. You may not be able to acquire a historic piece like the #1 cover sold long ago, but you can still find a great example for far less expense.
I just think its silly to pay that much money for it, I know it is one of a kind, and it is very old, etc etc, but im not one of those stigma owners, who feel the need to own that cause it is the original piece. A replica piece that Stan did for me that I would pay not nearly as much for, would be just fine. By the way Todd, I think you should set up some sort of thread for people to trade their extra back issues of Usagi for ones they need. I've got a few extra fanta's and mirage's and I need a few from both of those lines, so maybe a new thread for trading? What do you think?
"Aragorn... Don't tell the elf about this"
"We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we Wang?"
I notice the auction has been ended early. Perhaps the seller made a deal off eBay before anyone bid. The price was pretty steep even for an early cover--I would not have bid. I might have traded 2K worth of art for it. Typically, I have seen Stan's cover art (11x17 inked art) go for around 350-650, but not many pieces have made it to eBay. Because it's such an early cover, I could see it going for up to 1K, but as much as I like the simple pose, I prefer a piece with background detail--I am not much for characters floating in space. The market is rather volatile, though, and on eBay especially you never know when a couple fellahs will drive up the prices on the work of a particular artist. I admit to my good fortune that Stan started selling his covers at about the exact time I started to buy original artwork. He undervalued his artwork at that time (1997 or 1998), but I didn't have much cash then either and was a neophyte in the comic art marketplace; otherwise, I would have bought much more from Stan then--But I am verrry happy at the moment with what I have. I am waiting for the day that Stan runs out of storage space for the 100+ issues' worth of Usagi story pages. Getting close Stan? I think I can find space here with me for a story or three.
I was in when saw on a link from the usagi website some guy has the artwork to albedo2.How much did it sell for?Also Iwould like to see a pic of your a oringal usagi drawing .
That must be Wily Pueo, owner of the original B&W art to the cover of Albedo #2 (in my opinion, the #1 UY collectible in existence)... Anyway, Stan still owns the original pages for that story and will never part with them... who knows, maybe Steve G. will one day reprint the issue and those original pages could come in handy!!!
when saw on a link from the usagi website some guy has the artwork to albedo2.How much did it sell for?Also Iwould like to see a pic of your a oringal usagi drawing