If you still have doubts that original comic book art and old comic books can bring in a lot of money, take a look at the $6.3 million payday Heritage Auctions had during its February vintage comics and comic art auction.
A high-grade copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 (Marvel, 1962), CGC VF+ 8.5, sold for $155,350 during the first day of the sale. It was followed by Frank Frazetta’s oil painting Thor’s Flight, published on the cover of the paperback edition of Thongor in the City of Magicians by Lin Carter, which also sold for $155,350. Likewise a four-page complete story of original art by Underground Comix master Robert Crumb, closed at $155,350.
Batman fans had much to choose from as the first edition of Batman, CGC VG- 3.5, sold for $143,400 and a copy of Detective Comics #35, CGC VF- 7.5, sold for $119,500.
Several important collections performed well, as the Ethan Roberts Estate Collection of comics and comic art sold for a combined $1.2 million, as artist Alex Raymond’s original art for a Flash Gordon comic strip dated Oct. 27, 1935 sold for $131,450. The collection featured two important examples of original cover art by genre masters Bernie Wrightson, as his cover art for Swamp Thing #6 sold for $58,555 and the original cover art for The Amazing Spider-Man #259 sold for $33,460.
A small selection from the landmark collection of American cartoonist Richard Felton Outcault – considered by historians as the father of the American comic strip – realized more than $100,000 led by a Buster Brown Sunday comic strip original art dated Oct. 29, 1916, which sold for $35,850.
That is just the tip of the iceberg for Heritage Auctions, who said the auction exceeded the company’s estimates by more than $1.2 million.
It should be noted that a bulk of the money did not come from single issue comics, but instead from the sale of original art, including Captain America Comics #68 by Ken Bald that sold for $77,675, and an original Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes strip from 1986 that went for $71,700.
What is the big take away from all of this? The next time you see your favorite artist selling their pages online, grab them now, and maybe someday, you’ll have a major payday as well.
