It’s no secret between Original Comic Art collectors that published pages drawn by Walt Simonson are almost impossible to find on the market. All of the original art returned to Mr. Simonson are still with him, the few pages in private collections are usually part of the quota given to inkers. Art both penciled and inked by him, for this reason, is even more difficult to find.
Last May, Walt opened the first commission list in decades, then realized three Thor pinups for different charities, and gifted a published illustration and a cover to another charity, I think grouping them in this post will be useful as a price reference in the future.
Commissions
This is what Walt posted on his Facebook page: “A Commission Announcement – Gerry posted an announcement from Spencer Beck that I’m doing some commissions. This is true. I still have some work but not a lot, and thought I would try a different direction as an experiment. I haven’t really done commissions seriously in decades. And I’m already doing a half dozen drawings for friends or for benefits. So I’m not sure how this will work out; I really do prefer drawing stories. However, with companies shut down, I decided to spread my time doing some work for charities/benefits of different sorts and also doing some work for me. We’ll just have to see how it goes. The current slots are filled. I may or may not continue to do commissions after I finish this batch. I’ll post them as I finish them. And I’ll revisit this whole subject somewhere down the road.”
The list was for 10 single figure commissions on 11″x17″ paper with no background, priced at $2,000, and it was filled very quickly.
Here’s the original art posted on Facebook until May 2021 (updated), as you can see there are 9 out of 10 commissions. The first one is 22×30″, and as you can see it’s NOT a single character… it probably costed way more than $2k. Finished in April 2021.
Similar in composition to the first one but with three characters, much more detail and on standard size, it can be considered cover quality. Sold by Jim Lee in his continued effort to help comic book stores in need. An incredible price for an incredible piece. Imagine what a published Thor cover could make in an auction.
This one was sold on eBay by Scott Dunbier, editor of the Artist’s Edition books at IDW to help families in need during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Similar to what was offered in the commission list but smaller in size, and it went for a higher price.
Walt Simonson: Star Wars #70 variant cover 23″x14,5″ – Sold on June, 12 2020 for $8,000
Sold on Twitter as part of Comic Writers Challenge. Compared to the (unpublished) Thor drawings, $8k for a published Star Wars cover looks like a steal. And it’s huge.
Walt Simonson: Martha Washington illustration, 14″x17″ – Sold on June, 27 2020 for $5,000
Recently rediscovered set of published pinups of Martha Washington by top artists. They all decided to offer the original art for charity. the auction was held on the Brit Comics Art website.
Walt Simonson: Thor Original Art, 9″x12″ – Sold on October, 11 2020 for $4,6k
The 10th Ney York ComiCon Charity auction was online-only due to Covid19, this piece was inked over a blueline print of the pencils, taken from a 2010 Avengers panel.
Really surprised by this auction result, drawn on a small Hero Initiative branded sketch card (with profits of course benefiting H.I.). Usually Beta Ray Bill sketches on regular 9″x12″ paper sell on eBay for $100-300. I hope the price went so high for the charity purpose, not because prices are out of control.
A Jam illustration for the Hero Initiative. Greg penciled Zyra, Walt drew Thor, the background and inked the whole drawing. One of the “double Visions” illustrations, drawn by two artists jamming together and auctioned by the Hero Initiative on eBay.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were three ways to obtain Walt Simonson’s original art: quick sketches at conventions, the very rare auction of published art, and the annual IDW dinner at San Diego. IDW sold 20 $500 tickets that comprised the dinner and a finished 11×17″ head sketch. As you can see, in two years, the value of those sketches on the secondary market has more than doubled.
Bonus! comparable pieces on Heritage’s Auction archives:
The original art to a great Thor cover by Simonson/Sinnott was sold for $15k in 2017.
A very detailed Beta Ray Bill pinup (created for charity in 2007) was sold in 2009 for $2,8k.
A published Odin pinup by Simonson/Rubinstein was sold in 2019 for $2k.
You can see all of the Walt Simonson Original Art pieces sold on Heritage at this link.
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Comments
Great stuff.