99% of my collecting is Daredevil art...not to be quirky, but to at least put some sort of restriction on my collecting.  Even with the DD only policy, I still seem to manage to buy more art than I should! 

Now that I've started a "beefcake" collection as well as DD, my wallet is starting to get angry with me.  :)

Can anyone tell me why the original art for newspaper strips (a) is/was drawn so large and (b) is often so under-appreciated by art collectors? 

Newspaper strips used to be reproduced a lot larger than they are now. A full or a half sunday newspaper page.  The size of the original art has been slower to shrink than the printed strips. This page is from 1969. Also, an artist I know tells me that if you use primarily brush on a page, it helps to have a larger original-to-print ratio. It makes the brush work look "thinner". I was amazed when looking at this original art page to discover that Frank Robbins' work had heavy use of dry brush on rough paper. In print his artwork has always looked so slick.

As to why it's under-appreciated? A lot of the comic "book" and "strip" audiences don't overlap much. The obsessive collector mentality is better served by the comic books. Most of the truly great newspaper strips are barely even collected in books.  I've met people who'd trade a page like this for a Rob Liefeld page in a heartbeat.

Gerry, I was horrified to hear how you were treated.

I've no idea why so many artists ask for funds first. Not a practice I follow with.

The number of people I've found that are shocked that payment isn't required until after the work is complete, have in fact had me question my methodology in the past.

I recall one commissioner who, so bent on paying, deposited funds into my account, even though I had outlined the process. He took his business elsewhere when I refunded him, reitterating where payment came in the process. Strange. Within 24 hours I was up and down and the only winner was paypal, who take a fee for transactions! One bad story though and commissions an dry up fast.

I'm still agast dude. Chin up. What, what.

There is an astonishing amount of snobbery in original art collectors. People often seem determined to appear "quirky" by collecting only a narrow range of subjects, styles, or even formats.

***

 Lucky for me! I was shocked that only 1 other person bid on the Joe Kubert strip that I bought last month. I guess that explains why.

>>There is an astonishing amount of snobbery in original art collectors. People often seem determined to appear "quirky" by collecting only a narrow range of subjects, styles, or even formats. My own collection runs the gamut, from comicbook pages (Silver Age mostly), to covers, to strips, to Sundays. Color, black and white. If I like it, I buy it,

JB, I know MANY original art collectors and I don't know ANY that fit your description.  Most collectors have a real passion for what they collect and why they collect it.  I started out like you, buying anything and everything from silver age art, strip art and on up to present day artists.  It took me a few years to whittle down my collection to the few things that I'm passionate about.  Yes, it's a narrow range now, and maybe quirky to the outsider, but I love every piece (many of them by you!) ;)

Found this on my doorstep today.  :)  This is one of those piece you just gotta see in person to really appreciate. 

The idea behind this piece was to feature all the tragic deaths that have plagued DD/Matt's life.  Behind them all...a laughing Mephisto.  Jeremy took the idea and run away with it.  :)