Issue #62
Frank Cho, Andy Kubert, Tony Moore and more! in this week’s Original Comic Art Tips Newsletter!
Ebay results: The Keith Pollard page from Fantastic Four #200 went for $1,800, ROM by Sal Buscema for $1,100, a John Buscema Conan page for $800. A Joker commission by Francesco Mattina was sold for $950, one by Bill Sienkiewicz for $1,100, the Wolverine page by Andy Kubert made $1,000, a Batman sketch by Jeff Dekal made a lot, $650.
Flash By Francis Manapul for $120 is a good deal as well as a Don Newton Batman for $250, a Cable half-splash by Ian Churchill made even less.
Heritage Sunday results: a Dick Dillin JLA page made $3,300, all of the Curt Swan pages performed better than usual, the Twinkies ad arrived first with $3,600. The Caniff illustration went for $1,400, a Mutt and Jeff daily for $1,800.
ComicLink results: As I told you last week, this was the best CL auction ever. The end prices reflect that, most of the items equal Heritage prices and some even surpassed them. We start with Michael Kaluta, a Conan illustration sold for $64k, for comparison his highest sale on Heritage was $20k. The 1991 Amazing Heroes cover by Adam Hughes made $17k. Usually his early art, before he developed his actual style in the mid/late 90’s, is valued much less than recent art.
A Fantastic Four page by John Buscema went for $20k, a Superman splash by John Byrne for $8k and a Wonder Woman splash went for a pretty affordable $1,400. A Gabriele Dell’Otto painting which traveled for years without finding a home went for $9k, the splash from Preacher #60 went for $7,500, a very high price for an issue late in the run. A Batman page by David Finch went for $2,100, a Batman by Sean Murphy for $3,400, a rare Lynn Varley color guide for the Dark Knight went for more than $5k.
The DC Trinity illustration by Jim Lee went for “only” $14k, easily worth at least $25k if sold at fixed price. Happy collectors bought a Superman/Batman page by Jae Lee for $280, an Infinity Crusade by Ron Lim for $550, an incredible Avengers DPS by George Perez for $3,3k, a Tyler Kirkham Superman DPS for $550 and a Thor title splash by Ron Frenz for $950.
This week on eBay
Paolo Rivera – Green Goblin Original Art
DC: great Batman title splash by Don Newton, nice two page lot of Wonder Woman art by Don Heck, Howard Porter JLA page and many commissions/sketches: Chris Samnee Batman (his commission rate is $500), Batman by Frank Cho, by Gary Frank (his rate is $400), funny Penguin color illustration by Joe Giella.
Marvel: beautiful Spiderman page and a Conan By Buscema, Captain America and Ghost Rider by Frank Robbins, an Avengers DPS by Steve Epting, Spiderman cover by Mike Mayhew. An X-Men page by Joe Madureira, Captain America illustration by George Perez, great color Green Goblin sketch ($250 commission rate) by Paolo Rivera.
Look at this Death Dealer page by Simon Bisley, Frank by Jim Woodring, beautiful sexy panel by Dan De Carlo and a Blondie daily strip.
Heritage Sunday Auction
Bill Sienkiewicz – Big Numbers Original Art
We start with DC Comics and with a 1962 Flash page by Carmine Infantino. A Superman 1959 daily strip by Curt Swan, a Jim Aparo Batman page, a JLA splash by Dick Dillin, one by Barry Kitson and a third by Howard Porter. Superman/Green Lantern DPS by Darryl Banks, a Hardcore Station DPS by Jim Starlin.
Note: This is the first Sunday Auction in two years without the usual lot of Buscema pages.
It’s a Cookie Crisp ad, but it’s also a super-detailed X-Men DPS drawn by Andy Kubert..! Alan Davis on Excalibur, George Perez Avengers/Ultraforce, Gene Colan on the ugly original Captain Marvel, an Avengers cover by Jock, a very nice Hulk splash by Ron Wilson and a Hulk cover prelim by John Romita.
Kids of the 90’s will like this Prophet card drawn by Jim Lee (I do). Unpublished Big Numbers cover by Bill Sienkiewicz, a Promethea DPS by J.H. Williams, Captain Victory by Jack Kirby, Black Kiss by Chaikin.
Strips: nice Ben Casey Sunday by Neal Adams, Winnie Winkle Sunday, Hi and Lois Sunday, Mac Raboy Flash Gordon Sunday, Blondie Sunday.
Comiconnect Auction
Al Williamson – EC original Art
This auction is divided in two, the first half is regular superhero art and the second half is for The Walking Dead original art.
This Batman page is credited to Bob Kane. I can’t tell the difference… At least I can be sure that this cover is by Adam Hughes. A Bernie Wrightson Swamp Thing page and another one.
Jack Kirby from Fantastic Four #3, from Annual #2 and a pre-hero horror splash. Nice Thor #400 splash by Ron Frenz, beautiful Weird Science page by Al Williamson and a Steve Canyon Sunday.
This is the third or fourth part of the Walking Dead original art auction on Comiconnect (they’re archived in the old newsletters). The first one was the best but they kept a few big pieces for every auction. This time we have the first appearance of zombies in TWD #1, the page 6 splash by Tony Moore.
More than 50 Charlie Adlard pages, if you want a TWD piece this is a perfect time, personally I don’t consider pages without zombies and this is the only one worth a look. For TWD drama fans there’s the birth of Judith Grimes, a Negan/Rick half-splash, a Negan/Carl splash, a cover for a reprint of #1 and a collection back cover.
Profiles In History
Dave Stevens – Bettie Page Original Art
Some high-end pieces with very high starting prices. Some Peanuts strips like this Sunday one, some Frazetta pieces like this Johnny Comet daily, an incredible painted Amazing Spider-Man #40 cover recreation by John Romita, a couple of beautiful Jack Cole Playboy gags and a great Bettie Page illustration by Dave Stevens.
Vermot & Associés
Many sketched albums by all the great French artists, if you want a “cheap” piece take a look at all the lots. I may bid on a couple. There are also some Largo Winch pages by Franq, and a painted Howard Flynn cover by Vance.
Millon
Jean Giraud – Blueberry Original Art
Some classic pieces as usual at Millon. Herge, Giraud, Morris, Manara, a nice/cheap Manara sketch, Vance, a rare Zep piece, Hermann.
See you Next Week!!!