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.)

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.