Jim Lee DC Characters Original Art for Charity – auctions 11-20

Published on 27 Aprile 2020 by Comicart.tips On Original Comic Art Articles and reports

Yesterday the auction for #20 of 60 “Batman by Gaslight” drawn by, you guessed it, Jim Lee, ended for more than $14,000, so it’s time for a second recap.

If you’re new to this, you can read the first post on this series of 60 pieces of original comic art that Jim Lee is drawing in 60 days. Proceeds will go to help closed comic book stores during the Covid-19 pandemic, and all of these drawings will probably become DC Comics covers in a near future.

Read part 1 of 6 here.

Auctions are going every day, so if you want to see what’s being auctioned right now here’s a link to:

Jim Lee’s ebay page.

Many top comic book artists are also sending original drawings for this auction, so the raised money will grow even more.

The record is still with #9, “Batman: Red Rain“, sold for $17,300 on April, 12, but the average price has grown since the beginning, so the total price paid for auctions 11-20 is $120,168. Well done Jim!

This time prices vary from $8,800 to $15,100, and the total price paid for the first 20 auctions grows to $207,697.

What will happen next?

In the next weeks we can expect lower end prices, since he decided to do detailed head sketches for auctions 21-40 and these will probably not end up as covers. Here’s the announcement from Jim’s Facebook page:

“Day 21 brings ZSASZ! The first Sketch of twenty headshots (sketch numbers 21-40) of my overall quest to do 60 sketches over 60 days! This image of one of Batman’s most psychotic villains is done in pen and ink with whiteout on 9×12” board. Proceeds to benefit comic stores in need via Book Industry Charitable Foundation!”

These last pieces are all very detailed, with full/multiple figures, I can imagine keeping that pace for 40 more days must be too much, even for a superstar comic artist.

But let’s see some original comic art!

#11 of 60: Deadman – sold for $11,188

This one is really great, one of my favorites so far, love the crosshatching on the figure and the pencil background. The faces look real enough to be portraits.

“Original Sketch Of DEADMAN By Jim Lee 9”x12”. My homage to the great Neal Adams cover to Strange Adventures #207!”

#12 of 60 The Grim Knight – sold for $15,100

As you can probably guess the various versions of Batman Jim Lee has drawn (3, for now) are the top paid auctions, this is the higher price of #11-20.

“Original Sketch Of The GRIM KNIGHT by Jim Lee 9”x12”. Day 12 of 60 brings us the Grim Knight, a dark Dark Knight from DC’s Multiverse!”.

#13 of 60 The Red Death – sold for $8,875

Really like this one, a classic pose and bones everywhere, but it’s the first time I see this character and I’m probably not the only one, since this was the lowest price between 11-20.

“Original Sketch Of The RED DEATH (Batman) By Jim Lee 9”x12”. the RED DEATH from the amazing epic Dark Knight: Metal. A fusion of the Flash and Batman from the Dark Multiverse—this vigilante is the fastest and deadliest “Batman” alive. Or the most dramatically lit!”

#14 of 60 Grifter and Zealot from Wildcats – sold for $12,100

Not a sketch, as was the plan in the beginning… this one is a full illustration with 2 characters, a monster and background. Change the characters to Batman and Catwoman and it would sell for $20k. I was a big Grifter fan as a kid, so this is probably the one I’d bid on after selling my car..!

#15 of 60 Sandman and the Endless – sold for $13,200

Jim Lee is not the first artist you’d think of if you needed a Sandman cover, but he produced a very nice and well designed piece, inked with a looser style that suits the characters.

“Original Sketch Of SANDMAN and The ENDLESS By Jim Lee 9”x12” Day 15 reveals SANDMAN! Thank you Ron for choosing Sandman…I had to of course add his dysfunctional family in there to give it a bit of a twist.”

#16 of 60 – Huntress – sold for $11,505

This is really a cover quality piece, and it will become a wraparound cover, since its background image of Batman is tied with #17.

“Original Sketch Of HUNTRESS by Jim Lee 9”x11”. From my run on Batman: HUSH comes this rendition of HUNTRESS. Pen and ink on board. This is one part of a diptych—the other half will have DEATHSTROKE on it and the backgrounds will align. Thought it would be fun and pair some of the characters from Gotham and the DC Universe—tied together visually by Batman!”

#17 of 60 Deathstroke – sold for $10,900

The second part of the dyptich with #16, these two will make for a great cover. This one is a perfect example of how prices for these auctions are not far from “real” prices for original art by Jim Lee. Jim’s commission price for a “waist up figure with limited background on 9″x12″ paper” is $6k. This Deathstroke is more detailed, and the background is far from limited, so the price would already be higher than $6k, add a premium for the (future) published cover status and the price seems more reasonable (not counting that money are going to charity).

“Original Sketch Of DEATHSTROKE By Jim Lee 9”x12”. Day 17 (late) brings us DEATHSTROKE the Terminator! The left half of a diptych I made incorporating sketch number 16 of the Huntress!”

#18 of 60 Batgirl – sold for $10,600

Another cover quality piece and another one I really like for the layout. A little variation of the classic Jim Lee “Batman on Gargoyle” cover (and the gargoyle is still there in the background).

“Original Sketch Of Stephanie Brown As BATGIRL by Jim Lee 9”x12”. From her stint as Batgirl, Stephanie Brown has developed a rabid following! Here she delights running along the walls of Gotham City!”

#19 of 60 Aquaman – sold for $12,300

Here you can see how well known characters attract higher bids. Curious to see the end price if somebody asks for a classic costume Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman…

#20 of 60 Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – sold for $14,400

Another Batman variation, the result is the second higher price for these 10 auctions.

Read the auction description as written by Jim himself, he explains what he’ll do for auctions #21-60:

“BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT DC Original Sketch Art By Jim Lee For Charity. 9”x12” As selected by the fans! Imagine if Bruce Wayne were Batman during the Victorian era! In 1888, there was of course Jack the Ripper on the loose but also long protracted bouts with Cholera! Even fictional history can reveal lessons for today. This is sketch #20 of a series of 60 sketches. This is the last full image for a while so bid early and often. Sketches 21-40 will be headshots and the last 41-60 will be a return to full figure or 3/4 shot sketches.”

End notes. see you in part 3 after the next 10 auctions of Jim Lee original art!

If you read till the end you may consider subscribing to the Original comic art tips newsletter, where each week I synthetize the most interesting, ending comic art auctions (so you don’t have to scroll 2,000 listings to find 3 you’re interested in), and analyze the most interesting auction results. Go to the home page of this website to subscribe for free! And come back here for the third part of this series after auction #30 ends!