Classic Comic Strips (W/Romita Spidey) - Original Comic Art Tips #234

Marvel: last week’s Fantastic Four page by Jack Kirby still has 3 days to go, the current price is $10k. A Wolverine page by John Cassaday, a 1984 Dr. Strange commission by Paul Smith, a Moon Knight page by Bill Sienkiewicz.

DC: Batman/Catwoman page by Gary Frank, a Promethea DPS by J.H. Williams, a Midnighter cover by Chris Sprouse, a Batman/Bane commission by Glenn Fabry.

A 1985 Penny Century title page by Jaime, a Red Sonja cover by Celina, a Spirit illustration by J.P. Leon, a Grendel page by Matt Wagner.

Marvel: a Conan splash by Alcala, Sgt. Fury by Ayers, Black Costume Spidey by Milgrom, a Spider-Man page by Sal Buscema and a Spidey splash by Bagley, New Mutants by June Brigman.

DC: a detailed Kamandi DPS by Ayers/Alcala, a Hawkman DPS by Jim Starlin, a Shadow page by Chaykin.

A funny Garfield daily, a 1959 Pogo daily, a 1959 Johnny Hazard daily.

A Paperinik cover and a Donald Duck cover by Giorgio Cavazzano, a Mickey Mouse cover by Silvia Ziche, a 3 Musketeers illustration by Paolo Mottura.

Disney pages by Cavazzano, Chierchini, Scarpa, De Vita.

Borgia and El Gaucho pages by Manara, a pinup by Liberatore, a Druuna coloring page by Serpieri, a Hulk cover prelim by Claudio Castellini, a Torpedo pinup by Bernet, some magazine illustrations by Daniel Torres.

A 1952 Lefranc page by Martin, a great page by Tardi, a page and a cover by Hermann, a new auction of J.F. Charles original art with covers, pages and illustrations.

More great strips than I can show here, many Terry strips by Caniff again from the Murphy collection, like a Dragon Lady daily, the first appearance of Connie and some Sunday pages.

Several Frazetta strips, some top Peanuts, dozens of Garfield strips.

A Prince Valiant, a Tarzan by Hogarth, Flash Gordon by Raymond, look at this Bringing Up Father Sunday, a Spidey Sunday by Romita.

A Popeye by Segar, a 1937 Alley Oop, a Krazy Kat, a very nice, early Blondie and many more.

500 lots from the John Cullen Murphy archives, most are Prince Valiant strips.

He saved many (all?) of the layouts Hal Foster sent him along with page scripts, a good opportunity for the many collectors who can’t afford a published Foster page.

The layouts are detailed enough to recognize Foster’s style, the earlier pages are at the same time sketchier but still show a firm hand, (like this and this one) the later pages are more detailed, and often signed too, but you can see the declining quality (see this, this, and this one).

There are some matching Foster/Murphy lots too, like this beautiful example with a pencil layout and an ink wash prelim by Foster and an incredibly detailed finished Murphy page.

Then hundreds of Murphy pages, divided by decade, the earlier the better.