Original Comic Art Tips #173 - Ditko, Dell'Otto, Manara!

Welcome! A very long results section, this email will probably be clipped in half, search for the “read all” link somewhere near the end..!

eBay: a Kamandi page by Jack Kirby was sold for $1,850, the Star Wars by Infantino for $2,5k, an early Superman page by Jack Burnley for $8,5k, an X-Men page by Sienkiewicz for $2,1k, Fantastic Four by John Buscema for $1,4k, the Don Heck Champions page for $1,7k, the Ghost page by Adam Hughes for $1,6k. The Sleepwalker by Joe Quesada is still going.

The Wolverine sketch by Jim Lee went for $800, the Catwoman was a good catch at $550, the Batman sketch is for sale again but for $500.

Somebody bought a Frank Miller letter for $1k (Best Offer), the Walt Simonson sketch card went for a really surprising $1k, the Snoopy sketch by Charles Schultz for almost $1k.

Look: a Spider-Man sketch by Stan Lee was sold for $6,2k (B.O.).

Artcurial: There has been a strong online debate over the auction result for the cover of Tintin which sold for 3.2 million euros ($ 3.9M). Artcurial defines it as “the world record for original comic art”, some say the record was for Frazetta‘s Egyptian Queen, which sold for 5.4 million dollars. Speaking of the work itself, the cover of Tintin is in comic book style, while the Frazetta is a fantasy illustration, but in any case, the work of F.F. was published as the cover of Eerie #23, which was a comics magazine… What impresses me is not so much record or not record, but the fact that Hergé’s drawing is not the cover but a preliminary drawing (and also in poor condition).

Other Tintin pieces sold were this preliminary sketch for €143k, an illustration for €71k, another illustration credited to Hergé Studios but sold for €21k (probably bidders knew better), and several small sketches sold for €4k, I don’t remember seeing the price growth from €800/1.000 to 4k… but now it’s the new price. Consider that Hergé must have drawn the same sketch thousands of times at signings.

Other artists made their own price records, often going well over sales estimates. The new price for Asterix pages is €430k, a Gaston page by Franquin went for €76k, a Boule et Bill by Roba for €45k, a page by Bilal for €45k, Poussin by Le Gall for €12k, Manara pages for €17k, a Hugo Pratt illustration for €18k, an Astroboy sketch by Tezuka for €4k, an XIII by Vance for €19k, an Incal by Moebius for €21k.

Heritage Signature Auction: before looking at comic art you should see this Pokemon card sold for $360k… now that the context is established we can look at the X-Men DPS by Jim Lee, sold for $132k. The Sal Buscema record price ($102k), made in 2019 was equaled by this cover, a new record in less than a year for Dr. Strange covers by Frank Brunner, $72k, this Superman page by Jack Burnley was too good to be true, and it went for $72k.

I always note that selling high-end art (at the same auction house) 1-3 years after buying it, often leads to lower prices. The Ditko Dr. Strange page, sold in 2019 for $66k, went for $55k.

Simon Bisley doubled his last top price at $50k for this Lobo cover, $49k is a record for Swamp Thing interior art by Bernie Wrightson, Big jump for Daredevil art by David Mazzucchelli, $45k, a Fables cover by James Jean went for $33k.

Mad prices as usual for Mike Mignola, this HB sketch went for $7,8k, while this other for $2,6k. Differences? Remember when Hellboy in Hell pages went for $1,8k three years ago? Me too. Remember when Wildcats pages by Jim Lee went for $1,500 a few years ago? Me too.

Heritage Weekly Auction: the Spider-Man 2099 page by Rick Leonardi was sold for more than $4k, probably a record for Spidey 2099 interior art. A Jim Mooney Spidey commission went for the same price.

A Star Trek splash by Alberto Giolitti went for $3,3k, the Demon cover by Byrne and the Conan page by John Buscema for $3,1k, a cover quality Spidey commission by Erik Larsen for $2,6k, a 1985 Garfield daily for only $450 and a B.C. daily for less than $200.

Tessier-Sarrou Auctions: the Obelix sketch by Uderzo was sold for €2,1k, a Gaston sketch by Franquin for €1,5k, a detailed Smurf sketch by Peyo for €1,7k. As previously said, prices for quick Tintin sketches by Hergé are growing, this one from 1952 went for almost €2k, another one from 1963 for €1,7k. Signed Christmas cards also went for surprising prices, this one for €2,2k.