The good old days (from 1985 catalog)

Hard to decide how to spend my '80s era ~$500 if it's this or the Swamp Thing page...  It's interesting to see how high this price is, actually, for a mid '80s sale of a '70s era Jones page compared to other great pages you've posted.  My impression from meeting the artist in the '90s was that Jones was unhappy about the lack of interest/appreciation of his art, but few pages by other artists back then would fetch this much.  Of course, Jones had other troubles besides art prices, but he attributed his unhappiness at the time in part to the great excitement around new (and less skilled) artists while he and other pioneers were enjoying less fanfare.  It did mean I got more time to talk to my heroes one-on-one in that era, so there was a silver lining for the true fans...

When I think about all the stuff I passed on in my first ten years of collecting, it would be easy enough to blame it on the usual suspects.  Lack of experience, lack of appreciation, and price (in certain cases).  But this blanket excuse doesn't apply to everything.  I was a huge Neal Adams fan even back then.  But I didn't buy a single Adams piece in those first ten years.  Why?  And after 40 years of collecting, I only have two.  At the same time, this helps explain why I shied away from guys like Kirby and Ditko.  Compared to Neal's pretty pictures, their stuff was so weird looking.  Not sure if Berni and Jeff fell into that category back then, since I probably didn't get my hands on The Studio book until later.  Although I did by then have a copy of Frankenstein, which (like eveyone else) I loved.  Anyway, not sure if this is a valid explanation, but of the four Studio artists, I think no one blurred the line between comic art and fine art more than Jones.  It might also explain why the other three experienced more success with their early comic work than Jones.  Hence the lack of interest and appreciation from COMIC fans.  At the same time, after I saw The Studio book, in recalling some of my conversations about it with friends, the consensus was that, among the four, Jones was  the most talented and the most visionary.  I believe even the other three studio mates felt the same way about him.  Maybe it was this consideration that influenced the price.  Who knows?  

When I was talking with Jones at his table at that 90s era Comicon, a lusty cheer went up for the appearance of Rob Liefeld across the hall, and it relly darkened Jones's mood as he stood there feeling unappreciated by most fans in the massive hall.  I told him my honest opinion that he (Jones) was among the top handful of all-time greatest comic artists, but I realized my efforts lift his spirits backfired when he pointedly responded with, "I am NOT a comic artist!"  He went on to claim that he had never really worked in comics etc.  I think he viewed Idyl as a mix of poetry and fine art rather than comics as such, for example. 

To me (and I bet most folks on CAF), comics are a high form of art --- in fact, I enjoy and appreciate comics more than any other storytelling medium.  The acceptance of comics as high art in mainstream culture really started a bit later and of course it's ongoing. 

As for my buying habits back then, I asked Jones to sign a few prints and books, but I wouldn't spend more than ~$100 on OA unless it was by Frazetta.  Thus, I'd pass by scores of published pages and covers by all the comic greats, and then drop the equivalent of 6 month's rent on a little Fritz drawing at a time when I could barely afford to eat out once or twice a month, fix my car, or even go to a movie.  For better or worse, as a collector I had focus and discipline...  I did pick up one inexpensive Colan page when I met him at a 90s con, but that was largely because he was right there in the flesh with a mess of affordable pages in front of him.  I grabbed an affordable sketch by Jones (at Mitch's booth?) back then, but nothing major.  

I remember picking up The Studio at a mainstream bookstorre in the late 70s and feeling my brain explode.  Kaluta made the most immediate impression on me, then I began to appreciate Windsor-Smith, then Wrightson and Jones.  What an amazing group of artists!  After Frazetta, Wrightson was my favorite comic artist for years after than and I spent ~$75 in 1982 greenbacks to acquire A Look Back, which remains a favorite on my art shelf, but I've never bought an original.  Someday!

Had to chuckle when you mentioned Liefeld in your story, because under any other circumstance, his name wouldn't even belong in the same conversation as Jones.  But point taken.  I don't think I got my copy of The Studio until about 1985-86.  It's such an incredible treasure trove that every time I go through it, my favorite changes.  Like you, I may have started with Wrightson (probably influenced by already having seen Frankenstein).  Currently, I think it's BWS.  But if push came to shove and I could only have one piece from the book, it would absolutely be either Blind Narcissus or Age of Innocence.  Hands down.  Anyway, if you're a Wrightson fan, Friday will be my final posting for The Good Old Days and I think you'll like it.  So stay tuned.

By the way, I totally sympathize with you about the limited spending of our early collecting days.  I have the same opening line for every collecting "origin story" I tell.  And that is, when I started collecting, I was sweeping floors for $3.10 and hour.  You do the math.  When you talk about spending a $100, for me that was a week of sweeping.  AFTER taxes!  LOL