Batman Dark Victory Issue 10 Page 17 By Tim Sale

The page that (almost) never was.

Every collector has likely experienced this familiar scenario: encountering a coveted piece of art at the wrong moment, hesitating, then regretting it later.

I remember when I first saw this page on the Heritage preview for their November 2020 auction. I was fairly nascent in my collecting career, owning only a handful of commissions at the time and no published pages. I actually didn't even have an account with heritage yet, but it didn't matter...I was determined to get this page. When the auction started, I bid instantly. I was excited, and rightfully so...I mean I WAS winning. Even when the live auction started, the price had risen slightly, but was below my max bid. When my lot came up, I'm pretty sure I was winning for only a second before I got outbid. The price was steadily increasing and by time it closed...it was double my max bid, not including the juice. I was stunned. I was winning the auction for the last 30 days and then got outbid in the last 30 seconds.

I always kicked myself for not fully commiting. I was uneducated on the market, but vowed I'd be prepared next time. About 1.5 years after the auction, I was browsing the Heritage app and saw the same page in the "sold" section. I clicked on it, and there was a green "make offer to owner" tab. I didn't know this was an option, so I sent along an offer..and a prayer. It was declined. A couple of days later, I sent another offer....waited a few days...it was declined. I went back and forth with the mysterious owner over the next few months. Every offer I sent was either declined or outrageously countered. I kept pushing my max...and when I would offer what he countered months prior, he would still deny it. I was desperate and decided to send along one final offer. He countered with a higher price of course, trying to squeeze out just a bit more. I did not want to let this page get away again...I decided to sell some art to add this to my collection. When the funds were available, I went to confirm the offer but it expired. I sent another offer, what I thought was the agreed upon price from the offer 2-3 days prior, and guess what...he wanted more. I declined the offer and accepted that it was not meant to be.

A few months later, I was browsing CAF, and lo and behold someone posted the page. I couldn't help myself. I messaged the owner and introduced myself as the crazy guy from Heritage. He was the one who outbid me on heritage roughly 2 years ago..., the mysterious owner who led me on a wild goose chase. We laughed about it, exchanged compliments towards each other's gallery, and found out we had very similar tastes. He was a fan of Tim's work. He mentioned he would only sell if he had another TS page to replace it. I didn't push it any further...what I sent him was my best and final offer. It wasn't meant to be, and I was okay with that (or at least I think I was?). Anyway, this next part is crazy...I log into CAF one day (now 3 years after the original Heritage auction) and there was a message in my inbox...

"Hey Sonu, am contacting you to see if you are still interested in my dark victory 10 page"

My eyes widened...is this actually happening!? My first thought was "wait, is this the same page?". Then I thought "this is my last chance to own this", followed by "how much is this gonna set me back?". Luckily, he was interested in two of my pages, so we were able to make a trade plus cash deal. Funny enough, the value of the trade/cash deal we agreed on cost me less than what my best offer was on Heritage a year ago.

What's there not to love about it. A page with the three big players of Dark Victory. Dent, Gordon, and Batman. A page with all the hallmark's of Tim's style. Deep flowing and heavy inks with clever use of negative space. The absence of ink conveys how dark the sewers really are and how bright the flashlight is as it bounces off the wall. Your eyes are drawn to Gotham's "white knight" being arrested in the first panel, and the prominent bat symbol on the chest in the second panel. I want to highlight the composition of the page. The choice of two vertical panels at the climax of the chase literally shows how deep the sewers go, how deep Gotham's underbelly really is.

I know this is comic ART fans, but who isn't captured in the moment in the last two word bubbles, "it is becoming harder to remember...when we were all friends". How far they've strayed from their "deal" on the rooftop years ago. Batman's monologue in the opening pages of Dark Victory ring true..."We had won the war...but lost Harvey Dent..".

It took three years to add this to my collection, and an additional year to post it on CAF, but I'm glad to share it now. Every time I look at it, it serves as a tangible reminder of the ups and downs of collecting, as well as a testament to the persistence and dedication required to achieve a collecting goal.