Original Comic Art Tips #155 – Cho, Uderzo, Alan Davis!

Welcome to #155 of Original Comic Art Tips!! really long newsletter, this week…

(Last week’s newsletter included two errors in the ebay section, the link to the Mignola painting was wrong, and the Alan Davis Excalibur art was a redo and not the published art.)

Original Comic Art Auction Results:

ebay: in June somebody listed on ebay a Shadowhawk splash by Jim Valentino from #1 for $400. It lasted only a few hours. A week later I wrote here “it’s worth at least $2k”… well it was sold for $10k.

The Dead Spaceman painting by Mike Mignola went for $20k.

The complete Erik Larsen art for #199 of Spawn was sold for $4,5k, the lot of 21 early B.C. daily strips went for $7,8k, the Cerebus page by Dave Sim and the G.I. Joe page by Herb Trimpe went for $2,2k, the first appearance of Jason Todd went for the same price.

The Terry Dodson and Greg Land Spidey splashes both went for $1,3k. Considering the prices, lately, for modern covers, these seem low: Black Panther by John Cassaday went for $1,7k, the Venom cover by Greg Land for $1,8k, the Punisher cover by Leinil Yu for $1,5k.

The Batman and Harley headsketches by Bruce Timm are ending today.

Heritage Signature Auction: no surprises on the highest price, the Frazetta painting was sold for $1,2M. Lee Elias, an often forgotten master, takes the second place, with his Chamber of Chills cover sold for $174k. One of the most iconic covers of the ‘50s, also used as a Misfits album cover.

The classic splash to Avengers #58, sold for $90k, is a new Heritage record for John Buscema, another price jump for Erik Larsen Spider-man art, with a half splash sold for $36k. Just look at this page sold in March for $26k…

$24k for a 2020 Batman variant drawn by Rafael Grampà.

Another “low” price for a complete Spidey issue by John Romita Jr., $13k.

The price increase for Jim Lee original art is all in sketches and commissions, published original art continues to go for regular prices, like this Superman splash sold for $3,4k, and this full team Wildcats page sold for $3,3k.

Heritage Weekly: the Dick Giordano Superman pinup went for $5k, a Donald Duck daily for $3,1k, a great Dick Tracy daily for $2,6k.

Not the most desirable Jim Lee piece, but a published splash sold for $660.

A lucky collector took home a 1988 Garfield daily for less than $400, a Fantastic Four splash by Greg Land for $288 and a Human Torch page by Alex Saviuk for $168.

Sotheby’s Hip Hop Auction: the first hip hop memorabilia auction at Sotheby’s also included 8 pieces of Hip Hop Family Tree Original Art by Ed Piskor. An interesting experiment, going outside of the usual group of original art collectors (90% only interested in capes) to reach a different audience who might appreciate more the art.

They were right, all 8 pieces were sold, for a total price of almost $45k. The highest price paid is for a wraparound slipcase cover, sold for $12,6k, the designs and box art for a Public Enemy action figure set went for $11,3k, a splash from the comic for $5,2k.

This week on eBay

Bill Sienkiewicz – Elektra Commission

Mike Mignola: a painted skeleton head and 3 in pencil (one, two, three).

DC: a Batman page by Don Newton, World of Krypton (one, two) by Mike Mignola, Infinity Inc. original art by Todd McFarlane, Black Canary by Greg Land.

A painted Trinity commission by Steve Rude, a cover by Jay Anacleto, Doomsday Clock by Gary Frank, Wonder Woman by Ray Lago.

Marvel: a full Elektra commission by Bill Sienkiewicz, a Heroes Reborn splash by Rob Liefeld, a Spidey/Hulk strip by Larry Lieber, an Avengers cover recreation by Bob Layton, a cover by Jorge Molina, a 1987 Spidey commission by Mike Zeck.

Early Love & Rockets page by Gilbert Hernandez, a 1989 TMNT cover rough by Kevin Eastman, a Mouse Guard cover and an illustration by David Petersen, a Fante Bukowsky page by Noah VanSciver.

I like this Ring of the Nibelung page by Gil Kane, a Grendel page by Matt Wagner and a recently published Fred Hembeck cover.

Heritage Weekly Auction

Dave Gibbons – Martha Washington Original Comic Art

Marvel: nice MTU page by Gil Kane, Spidey by Jim Mooney and Alex Saviuk, Ghost Rider by Don Perlin, Moon Knight and Elektra: Assassin pages by Bill Sienkiewicz.

X-Force by Greg Capullo, Avengers by Mark Bagley and a great Daredevil page by Alberto Ponticelli.

DC: Superboy original art by Tom Grummett and a Superman cover prelim by Ryan Sook.

A naked woman by Frank Cho, a Martha Washington splash by Dave Gibbons, a 1985 Donatello pinup by Peter Laird, a Wildcats page by Jim Lee and a Scott Pilgrim page.

A Terry daily by Caniff.

Hake's Original Art Auction

Jim Starlin – Beast Original Comic Art

A John Wayne page by Williamson/Frazetta, Tales from the Crypt art by Johnny Craig, a (probably) real Batman sketch by Bob Kane, a “written out” Wonder Woman partial page by H.G. Peter.

A nice JLA page by Dick Dillin, Nick Fury by Kirby/Heck, the title in this Don Heck Marvel splash would be perfect for a t-shirt.

A Beast splash by Jim Starlin, I like this Spidey page by Jim Mooney, Incredible Hulk by Sal Buscema and Gary Frank, a Scarlet Witch pinup by John Byrne.

Look at this Galactus DPS by Doug Braithwaite, nice X-Men movie painting by Sienk.

A Sandman page by Duncan Eagleson, a complete Wonder Wart-Hog story by Gilbert Shelton.

Hero Initiative Batman 100 auction

Alan Davis – Batman Blank Cover Art

You know that I’m not a fan of blank covers, I think it’s a completely different niche of collecting, more similar to signed comics. This is for charity so I’ll cover it by linking to the biggest names:

Arthur Adams, Alan Davis did two impressive wraparound pieces, here’s one, Dale Keown, Jim Lee has drawn Batman and Joker headsketches, Frank Miller, George Perez, Frank Quitely is still quite low, Walt Simonson, Jim Valentino returns.

Full painted pieces by Sean Phillips, Paolo Rivera and Sienk.

BD Encheres

Albert Uderzo – Asterix Original Art

Many sketched albums with a few exceptional pieces.

We can only start with this Asterix page by Albert Uderzo, one of the most famous pages of the entire series. A beautiful page by Delaby, a Yakari illustration by Derib.

Sketches by Franquin, Vance, a Moebius self portrait, Chaland, a full figure Sky Doll by Barbucci.

Septimus Auctions

A Wraparound Okko cover by Hub, a Jeremiah pinup by Hermann, a Western page by Serpieri, a Starwatcher painting by Moebius, Jerry Spring by Jijé, a beautiful Gaston pinup by Franquin.

Sketched books by Guarnido, Chaland, Marini, Vance.

Catawiki

A Johnny Hazard daily by Frank Robbins, a 100 Bullets page by Risso, a page prelim by Will Eisner, a Sketched hardcover by Gabriele Dell’Otto.

A Corto strip by Hugo Pratt, a great illustration by Daniel Torres, an Andy Capp strip and a Trigan page by Don Lawrence.