Capullo: Court of the Owls - Wise Investment? - Page 7

Mr. Machismo · 03-21-2017, 06:54 PM

Capullo didn't say art is like family but it's like losing a moment of time to him, and that the price is what it would take for him to be okay parting with it. My sense is he's not super materialistic, his bills are paid, and doesn't need the money like some other artists.

@Aric -- Court is widely considered one of the greats, and the best Batman story of the past 20 years or so. It's okay not to dig it, but to expect prices are going to plummet because you personally didn't like the story, well...I'm not a fan of Watchmen, but that doesn't mean the pages are going to get any cheaper lol.

The primary thing that's being missed here is the audience, and the significant Court had to them. Current OA collectors are older, and how often do stories nowadays connect with you like they did Long Halloween, Dark Knight Returns, McFarlane Spidey, Watchman, etc.? I bet not often, if at all. Ask the younger generation (15-30s), and Court will rank way up top, beyond Hush or anything else mentioned here because many of us didn't grow up with those stories. The sentiment towards Capullo/Snyder is going to be RADICALLY different between generations. To think that the artwork is going to plummet in the future, at a time when younger readers who entered or returned to comics with Court will start having more exposable income to spend, is to completely ignore new readers and their potential buying power.

A quick look at fan communication on Greg's Twitter or discussing his work and its influence with the current generation of comic artists (Fabok, Del Mundo, Ottley, etc.) will quickly expose that Capullo is THE artist working today. Older generations are not going to understand that. If the buying audience in 5-10 years was the same people it is now, I might agree with some of the comments here. But it simply won't be. And if the OA hobby doesn't garner new interest, then it's not Court that's in trouble -- it's everything.

aric · 03-21-2017, 07:15 PM

I don't expect prices to plummet because I don't "dig" it. The issue isn't whether I like it or not (I did like it by the way which I mentioned above). I think prices will come down because they were too far above market value (for current pages by big name artists) when they were sold. Folks may have been willing to overpay because they got caught up in "needing" a Bat page by capullo (been there and done that with some artists). the market to adjust in a few years. I get that you were wowed by this tale. We all connect to some stories. But it ain't DK or the Killing Joke or even Hush

aric · 03-21-2017, 07:18 PM

And I don't think it's a generational thing. I've followed his work since Spawn. Many have. We aren't out of touch. We simply don't think he's Jim lee or Todd McFarlane. And if you weren't around when those guys were big you can't relate to just HOW big they were. No one today has the popularity they did in their heyday. It's not even close

**MONSTER** · 03-21-2017, 07:28 PM

15-30 year olds? Are teenagers reading comics nowadays? I just don't know how many people will be nostalgic for Court of Owls in 20 years. I hope I'm wrong and there are tons of people discovering these stories in trades and there is a demand for comic art in 20 years.

I'll be in my early 60s then so I need someone to buy all this stuff from me. :-)

aric · 03-21-2017, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MONSTER

15-30 year olds? Are teenagers reading comics nowadays? I just don't know how many people will be nostalgic for Court of Owls in 20 years. I hope I'm wrong and there are tons of people discovering these stories in trades and there is a demand for comic art in 20 years.

I'll be in my early 60s then so I need someone to buy all this stuff from me. :-)

What's that sonny ?

Mr. Machismo · 03-21-2017, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MONSTER

15-30 year olds? Are teenagers reading comics nowadays? I just don't know how many people will be nostalgic for Court of Owls in 20 years. I hope I'm wrong and there are tons of people discovering these stories in trades and there is a demand for comic art in 20 years.

I'll be in my early 60s then so I need someone to buy all this stuff from me. :-)

I hope so, else it's a little concerning for 30+s to be emoji-swooning Capullo Army members xD

aric · 03-21-2017, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Machismo

I hope so, else it's a little concerning for 30+s to be emoji-swooning Capullo Army members xD

I'm so old I need this post interpreted for me

madmanny · 03-21-2017, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aric

I'm so old I need this post interpreted for me

The answer is 42.

BillC · 03-21-2017, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MONSTER

15-30 year olds? Are teenagers reading comics nowadays? I just don't know how many people will be nostalgic for Court of Owls in 20 years. I hope I'm wrong and there are tons of people discovering these stories in trades and there is a demand for comic art in 20 years.

I'll be in my early 60s then so I need someone to buy all this stuff from me. :-)

I haven't read new comics since 1995 but from what I understand, when Watchmen was coming out in the mid-late 1980s (as that series was brought up in the thread) comic readership was at a high level. From what I understand comic readers now are only a small fraction of what they were at that point. More people reading Watchmen= more people potentially after the art. I would imagine art collectors will wean down in numbers as new collectors/readers may be into new stories where physical art doesn't exist. Add to that smaller readership, so the numbers entering the hobby wont likely match the numbers exiting the hobby.

I would imagine in 20 years we'll definitely be seeing that decline realized. Not that A level art will be cheap per se. At any rate I certainly hope I am not actively collecting at that time.

Punisher1919 · 03-22-2017, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Machismo

Capullo didn't say art is like family but it's like losing a moment of time to him, and that the price is what it would take for him to be okay parting with it. My sense is he's not super materialistic, his bills are paid, and doesn't need the money like some other artists.

@Aric -- Court is widely considered one of the greats, and the best Batman story of the past 20 years or so. It's okay not to dig it, but to expect prices are going to plummet because you personally didn't like the story, well...I'm not a fan of Watchmen, but that doesn't mean the pages are going to get any cheaper lol.

The primary thing that's being missed here is the audience, and the significant Court had to them. Current OA collectors are older, and how often do stories nowadays connect with you like they did Long Halloween, Dark Knight Returns, McFarlane Spidey, Watchman, etc.? I bet not often, if at all. Ask the younger generation (15-30s), and Court will rank way up top, beyond Hush or anything else mentioned here because many of us didn't grow up with those stories. The sentiment towards Capullo/Snyder is going to be RADICALLY different between generations. To think that the artwork is going to plummet in the future, at a time when younger readers who entered or returned to comics with Court will start having more exposable income to spend, is to completely ignore new readers and their potential buying power.

A quick look at fan communication on Greg's Twitter or discussing his work and its influence with the current generation of comic artists (Fabok, Del Mundo, Ottley, etc.) will quickly expose that Capullo is THE artist working today. Older generations are not going to understand that. If the buying audience in 5-10 years was the same people it is now, I might agree with some of the comments here. But it simply won't be. And if the OA hobby doesn't garner new interest, then it's not Court that's in trouble -- it's everything.

The state of the market will be very interesting in a few years, and I hope that new readers are hopping on board, but I think the issue isn't just that Capullo's prices are high, it's that they're on an entirely different level. I don't recall anything this recent being offered at prices like this. In doing that, Capullo has essentially said only the top 1% of collectors can own my art....doesn't seem sustainable over time, but who knows.

I just still have a hard time believing that Greg isn't just trying to make money on it...honestly, that's what gets me the most on this whole thing. I know how much I love my favorite artists and often times I look at their work and their actions with rose-colored glasses on, but we just need to remember that these guys are driven by the very same things we are and the prospect of making 500K off of one months work would be very appealing to me too. He can say all he wants about what his art means to him, but like JG said earlier, he put a price tag on it.

Time will tell if Capullo holds up as a legend in the industry, but we need to remember that even if Court of Owls stands up as the best Bats story ever told, there's still 50% of the readership that is only Marvel and that has probably never read a Capullo bats book. Its tough to call Capullo the artist of this generation when half the readers in the industry haven't read his stuff. That's why Jim Lee is Jim Lee...the Marvel folks know him for his X-Men, and the DC Folks know him for his Bats.