I don't suspect I'll get too many arguments when I suggest that John Buscema was one of the true masters of the medium. He had the dynamics of Kirby crossed with the illustrative prowess of Neal Adams. He and John Romita were the primary movers of Marvel product after Jack Kirby left the building. Buscema's runs on Avengers and FF and Thor are legandary now having gone down as absolute classics.
But when it comes to valuation in the marketplace it seems that John Bucema's work tends to lag behind some of his contemporaries. This Avengers 55 page (below) traded hands in 2010 at the 2500 level. At the same time Romita Spider-Man pages were trading for 10k. Kirby small size pages on Cap, FF and Thor were between 5-10k as well. The Buscema pages are still lagging in value today and are a great place for a collector to find value along with quality.
This Avengers 74 page (below) sold in the August 2012 Heritage auction for $4481. Still lower than the Romitas or Kirbys, but it seems there is a little catch up going on as this is one of the higher sold pages I have seen on record.
The Avengers 78 cover (below) sold for 23k in the November 2011 Heritage auction. It feels like a bargain once again when we consider that Romita Spider-Man covers from this period are going in the 40-50k range. Same with the Kirbys.
I bought this Conan 124 cover (below) at the August 2010 Heritage auction. At the time I felt that the cover should have been 8-10K. I liked the image a lot, it's one of my favorite Conan covers, so I chased up to 14300 and pulled it down. I felt like it was such a good cover I could put my money where my mouth was and overpay. A few people did make fun of me at the time. I've always felt that if you buy the best of something you may overpay--but not for too very long. Prices seem to catch up faster on the best pieces.
This cover, Avengers 44 (below), is twice up. It went for the shocking low price of 19k due I think to the Vince Colletta inks. Still, it's a truly great cover that was an absolute bargain at the Heritage May auction in 2010.
This Avengers 105 cover below traded not too long ago on Burkey's site for 12k. 12k for a classic Avengers cover from the 70's that rocks. That's less than you'll pay for panel pages by Romita or Kirby.
Someone got a deal and you can too...if you keep your eye on the Buscema market. I think there are a lot of bargains to be had keeping your eyes peeled in this arena--even in this apparent market of escalating prices! Certain Conan pages by Buscema can be had for less than $200, still. That's the price of pages drawn by some newer artists yesterday.