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08-07-2006, 05:32 PM
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WW: CHICAGO: JEPH LOEB TALKS AUCTION
 “I was thinking maybe $25,000,” Jeph Loeb said on Sunday when asked by Newsarama about how much he figured the Sam Loeb Charity Auction of the original art from Superman/Batman #26 would bring in. “If I didn’t have to be conservative in an estimate beforehand, I would’ve thought maybe $40,000. I figured we’d sell the Jim Lee piece; we’d sell the Arthur Adams one – the obvious ones. But the Mike Kunkel page went for $3600 dollars. We could never have guessed that.”By the time it was all said and done, a member of the audience, who’s been keeping track of all the pieces and the cumulative total handed Loeb an index card with all the final prices on it, along with the grand total: $72,050. “It was Ed McGuiness’ best day ever,” Loeb chuckled as he looked down the list Sunday afternoon, pointing out that while McGuiness’ first page sold for $1300, the final page of the issue, which he also drew, went for a whopping $8100. The Pat Lee cover to the issue sold for $4100, while the two Michael Turner covers (yellow and black) went for $4500 and $6000, respectively, with an unused sketch for a possible cover by Turner went for $1000. Other interior pages: Jim Lee’s spread: $7000, Mike Kunkel: $3600, Arthur Adams: $3000, Ian Churchill: $4200. Additionally, a handful of copies of the issue, signed by all the members of the creative team were auctioned, going for between $550 and $900 each, while a sketch of Superboy, drawn by Turner that morning for the event, sold for $2700.  The auction, again, went to the The Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund, which will select one student each year at Sam's High School -- North Hollywood High Magnet Program -- and present a $10,000 award for the boy or girl, “Who best captures what Sam was all about -- Brilliant. Funny. And has a healthy disrespect for authority,” Loeb told us last week. For our original article on the issue, click here.Co-hosted by Loeb and actress Erica Durance (Lois Lane from Smallville), the auction was held Saturday afternoon at WizardWorld: Chicago to a standing-room only crowd, which could have easily filled a room twice the size. Even by Sunday afternoon, the auction was still a blur for Loeb. “I could barely keep up the math in my head of the piece we were auctioning, and Jim McCann, who’s the marking guru at Marvel, took his own time and put the pages together in a Power Point presentation, Dave Mandel was running it all on the money side, and of course – Erica – she was running around with the pieces and showing them, and really making people feel great about what they were doing. It almost looked like we were organized – for flying by the seat of our pants. “It was one of those things like you’re running a marathon as best you can, and you have no idea what time it is. Then, when you finish, you find out you were a half hour faster than you ever thought you would be. The people that came gave more with their hearts than with their pocketbooks, and in the end, we raised more than $72,000. It was just…” Loeb trailed off, still moved by generosity of those who bid, and the event itself. “It was all such an honor to my son, and to the program,” Loeb said. “The people at WizardWorld could not have been more amazing. They had set up an appearance at the Chicago NBC station so I could appear during the Today show, doing my thing, talking about the auction. It was truly surreal. As with most things, Sam would’ve found it very funny, and probably would’ve been sitting there, laughing his ass off at what a jerk I was being. If not there, certainly at the auction.”  The bidders were a healthy mix of fans and professionals, as Loeb said he saw Geoff Johns bidding on the Jim Lee pages (they got away from him), and Rob Liefeld won the second Turner cover to the issue. “I couldn’t be happier, because I know Rob wants to put it in his kids’ room,” Loeb said.And the money (which will also include contribution jars that were on the table any time Loeb had a signing) is real, not promised donations, which were a worry for Loeb, early on. “I had this nightmare, because I remember watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon once, and some guy had called up and said that he was going to give a half a million dollars. He was there and Jerry hugged him, and it turned out the guy was a complete fraud. I’m not making any judgments about anybody, but I was hoping that the people had the money, and in the end, every single person came through, 100%. It’s just so amazing. Everything lined up.” Big-picture wise, Loeb said that he’s hoped that, through all channels, he’d be able to raise $100,000 for the fund – and he’s already overshot that mark. “The scholarships are $10,000 a year, and raising over $70,000 – that’s seven years’ worth of scholarships. That’s seven kids whose lives are going to be changed just thanks to that two hours on Saturday afternoon. But even before that, we’d raised over $60,000 between the artists and writers who donated their fees from the issue, as well as people who sent in money when they heard about it and were just incredibly generous. My goal had always been to reach $100,000, so we could give out 10 scholarships in ten years. It never occurred to me that we will surpass that number, and we’re not even done yet, because Marvel is making a substantial contribution from Onslaught Reborn, which is one of the reasons why I did it, and that hasn’t even come in yet. We also haven’t seen any of the royalties of the DC book, as all of the writers and artist gave up their royalties in order to pay the fund. It’s one of those things where we have what my grandfather used to call as a ‘high-class problem’, which is we may have to give out more than one award a year.”   And, with the projects mentioned above – and the total it will bring in - that will be it. Asked if he was looking to make an issue such as this, with the accompanying acution an annual event, Loeb answered with a quiet, “No - please. “The reason I did that issue, and the auction and everything else was because I lost Sam. This was in many ways, a kind of closure on that front. And it went so amazingly well – it was like a party. This very much is the end of the road. Putting this book together, as much as I loved it, and in doing it, I came to terms with the fact that it was the perfect comic, done for all the wrong reasons. “As much as I would like to stay with the school and do all that…it is about changing a kid’s life, but it’s also about creating a memory of Sam, and the last page of Sam’s story, Robin comes to a conclusion which is that they say when you lose somebody, if you keep telling stories about them, people will never forget. And the last moment is him saying, ‘Okay, I get it.’ I got it, too. The whole point of doing all of this is that people will have Sam stories. I know that there are Newsarama readers with Sam stories, if, from nothing else, following this story over the last few months. The people who were in the room for the auction – they now have Sam stories from that crazy good time we all had on a Saturday afternoon. It was important to me that these kids go on to school, and eventually they were going to say, ‘I got this check because of this kid,’ and his memory would live on. “Everyone at the auction was so into what was going on, and really understood Sam’s spirit, and how much he found the funny in life, and, one more time, I can’t thank Erica enough. She made it an adventure. She’s a terrific actress, and I loved her as Lois on Smallville, she came in her on her own dime, she gave up her personal appearance fee, and did this all on her own, because she knew and liked Sam and was a fan of his, and I just can never thank her enough. “Oh, I think I found a whole new profession – the auction block calls to me. It’s the only place where I can talk as fast as I want to and people have to keep up.” For more information check out www.SamLoeb4.org Newsarama's WizardWorld: Chicago '06 coverage is sponsored by ValiantFans.com, home to the fans of the VALIANT Universe.  |
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08-07-2006, 05:52 PM
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#2 |
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That's great news.
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08-07-2006, 05:53 PM
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#3 |
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I'm glad to see this went better than they expected.
I would like to see a complete run down on which page made what. |
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08-07-2006, 06:08 PM
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#4 | |
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Quote:
From ComicBookResources.com: Page 1 Ed McGuinness - $1300 Page 2 and 3 Jim Lee - $7000 Page 4 Tim Sale - $1500 Page 5 Tim Sale - $3000 Page 6 Pat Lee - $600 Page 7 Pat Lee - $450 Page 8 Carlos Pachecho - $1500 Page 9 Mike Kunkel - $3600 Page 10 Duncan Rouleau - $800 Page 11 Ian Churchill Norm Rapmund - $4200 Page 12 Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund - $1700 Page 13 Rob Liefeld - $1000 Page 14 Joe Maduiera - $3100 Page 15 Art Adams - $3000 Page 16 Joyce Chin - $1100 Page 17 Jeff Matsuda - $1100 Page 18 Jeff Matsuda - $1100 Page 19 Carlos Pachecho - $1000 Page 20 John Cassaday - $1400 Page 21 John Cassaday - $2700 Page 22 Ed McGuinness - $8100 Original Pat Lee Cover - $1000 Michael Turner Cover Sketch A - $4500 Michael Turner Cover Sketch B - $6000 Michael Turner Unused Cover Sketch C - $1000 Michael Turner Superboy sketch done for the auction - $2700 Autographed books: $550, $750, $850, $800, $750, $900 and $750 My girlfriend and I tried to get through the hallway about half an hour before the auction started, and you could not move in the hall it was so congested with people waiting to get into the auction. It was pretty surreal. |
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08-07-2006, 06:16 PM
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#5 |
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I'm surprised the Jeff Matsuda pages didn't do better, since he really doesn't do comics anymore. If I had two paychecks I could stick together I would have went for those.
Not surprised how low Pat Lee's pages went for. I wish Marvel and DC would stop giving this deadbeat work. |
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08-07-2006, 06:32 PM
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#6 |
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as a HUGE fan of Mike Kunkel, I'm thrilled to see that his page went for so much! And for such a great cause. Congrats to all involved for producing such a powerful piece of work.And congrats to the bidders, for being so generous for this cause.
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08-07-2006, 06:40 PM
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#7 | |
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yeah, it was a real deadbeat move of him to donate his work and royalties and original art to a charity auction. |
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08-07-2006, 06:53 PM
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#8 |
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[quote=Beheader]I'm surprised the Jeff Matsuda pages didn't do better, since he really doesn't do comics anymore. If I had two paychecks I could stick together I would have went for those.
As a now proud owner of one of those pages (page 2) I must say I am totally thrilled to have been able not only to have support this charity, but been able to afford and aquire this wonderful artwork to give to my own son someday. Everyone was so great, and Erica was a big part at getting me, and I think others, to bid and feel good about it. You could really tell she was into this event and what it meant for the Loeb family. And, (unfortunately for you Beheader  ) this piece will be hanging on my son's wall until he reaches 18 (16 years from now) when he can make a decision to sell or keep it. Framed along with the issues Mr. Loeb signed for me and an article about Sam and his story. As a father, I just knew I wanted to be a part of this auction and the charity that it supports. I think the Loeb family should be rightly proud of their son, and all the lives he touched and continues to touch in his wonderful example. No father could ever be prouder Mr. Loeb.RS |
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08-07-2006, 07:13 PM
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#9 | |
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Yeah.. great.. He should donate some money to the people he shafted at Dreamwave. Congrats on the art RS. |
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08-07-2006, 09:18 PM
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#10 | |
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You're definitely right that the fact that he contributed to this auction should in no way be undermined. Especially because it was a rousing success. But definitely take note of the fact that Pat Lee's pages had the lowest winning bids out of all them? Yeah the fans spoke up there. Course the pages could have been unimportant material on them also (haven't read the issue yet. So far behind.) But people haven't forgotten what Pat Lee did. This was no doubt at least one small way of letting him know. But again, it shouldn't diminish the wonderful results of the auction. |
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08-07-2006, 09:25 PM
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#11 |
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God, I wish I could have afforded one of those two Tim Sale pages. Usually, I couldn't imagine paying large dollars for original pages. But between it being Sale (my favorite penciller) and for a good cause, I'd have been more than willing, if I had the money.
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08-07-2006, 09:46 PM
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#12 |
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That's really great! and I hate to be a downer on this but was there some deal between Loeb and Wizard to do this auction at Chicago? I mean Chicago is notorious for not having the benjamins like Californians do...I bet Loeb would have topped the $100K mark easily if he did this in San Diego - and I think raising money and awareness is what this is all about?
Not that Pat Lee is a deadbeat, but it was surprising to see the cover go for so little. $1000 seems like a normal auction price and not one going to a good cause. |
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08-07-2006, 11:28 PM
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#13 |
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Auction was awesome in every respect
My wife, daughter and I were lucky enough to attend the auction (having sat outside the room for an hour to ensure we got good seats) and had a fantastic time. Jeph and Erica were both extremely entertaining, and the bidders in the audience exceeded most expectations. I bid on the 2 Whedon/Cassaday pages but each got above my ~$1200 limit that I'd set for myself. I was amazed that the final page went for more than the Jim Lee double-page spread, but as eBay shows us on a regular basis: all it takes is two bidders who really, really want the same item and the sky's the limit! (I won a Mike Mayhew sketch of Wolverine the next day during the Marvel Trivia panel, so I can't really complain too bitterly about missing out on the Cassaday pages... although either one of those pages would've looked nice beside my framed PLANETARY page showing the Wonder Woman-archetype and her mother, by Cassaday.)
I snapped a few photos so hopefully they'll show up here (never actually posted images before so I'm keeping my fingers crossed). Erica was as lovely in real life as she looks on Smallville and twice as lively, and I was lucky enough to be able to talk to her a few times during the auction and shake her hand after it was over. Yes, it was a good day! |
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08-07-2006, 11:35 PM
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#14 | |
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He didn't pay a whole lot of artists thousands each, but instead used that money to buy not one, but two BMWs. That, my friend, is a deadbeat. Anyway, I hope they do this kind of auction every year. And Erica is damn hot. I'd probably give her every penny I have if she asked.... even for that bum Pat Lee's pages. |
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08-08-2006, 01:09 AM
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#15 |
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Would anyone be aware if there is an email address that would allow me to contact Jeph on this matter?
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08-08-2006, 01:17 AM
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#16 |
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Hey, while I am thinking of it, I am looking for a pic of me winning! I was wearing a brown tshirt with a white long sleeve shirt under it. I was there alone, and didn't have anyone to take a pic of me and Erica! Arrgh. So, if anyone by chance snapped a pic of that I would be eternally grateful.
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08-08-2006, 03:49 AM
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#17 | |
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That's fantastic. Just fantastic news. Kudos. Have a good day. John Cage |
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08-08-2006, 04:04 AM
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#18 |
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Dammit, I wish I'd been able to make it to Chigago; I would certainly have been one of the bidders. Still, congrats for your fundraising efforts, Mr. Loeb.
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08-08-2006, 10:37 AM
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#19 |
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And, (unfortunately for you Beheader ) this piece will be hanging on my son's wall until he reaches 18 (16 years from now) when he can make a decision to sell or keep it.
are you serious? your kid can't make a decision about a piece of art put on his wall as a 2 yr old until he's a legal adult? |
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08-08-2006, 10:47 AM
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#20 | |
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Any further discussion on that topic (given its ability to take over threads) will be deleted. MattB |
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08-08-2006, 11:21 AM
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#21 | |
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Nope. I am not going to have him regret a poor decision at age 15. Besides looking nice, the purpose of getting this item is to serve as a reminder to him of what he can accomplish no matter what the hardships in his way. It is meant to inspire him as he grows to adulthood. It is not a toy for him to decide he doesn't want to play with, or something to make a easy buck so he can buy the latest video game console. . |
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08-08-2006, 11:59 AM
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#22 |
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Does anyone know what happened with the Tim Sale pages at the back of the book (the 5-pager)?
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08-08-2006, 03:34 PM
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#23 |
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Fantastic news. I'm glad to hear that the auction brought in that much!
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08-09-2006, 02:55 AM
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#24 |
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This is awesome. The comic community has some really great people in it. On the collectors end...most of those guys have their heart in the right places. They really come up big when they are called upon. I'm happy for the loeb family,that a little creative piece of their son's life can affect and advance others is really awesome.
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