You thought I was going to start somewhere else? I don't care what anyone else thinks… To me this page is the best piece of comic art from the 1980s I've ever seen for sale and is one of the best possible pages from the entire decade. Simply amazing.
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It's that time again. Another killer Heritage auction is queued up for our bidding pleasure.
You know, no matter what the other auctions do the most exciting listings of the year are always Heritage's. That's just the reality.
This auction is no exception.
Let's look at some lots.
Clearly the most exciting single comic in the auction for me. Early Archies are tough in high grade. This white paged beauty is about to lighten some lucky bidder's wallet in a big way.
I've always liked this cover. It's a classic "comic book" cover. There's some Schomburg style danger and it's great tease to the story within. This is going to sell for many thousands of dollars.
One of the all-time classic covers.
Just seeing this page makes me want to read the whole book.
It's really interesting to see the adjustments that were made to the published page.
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As a note, for me personally, this is one of the toughest auctions in recent memory in terms of knowing where to place my bids. I could probably bid on 50 books in this auction. I've got it narrowed down to probably six, but it's hard to choose.
Sigh.
Anyway, here are some other books that you should know about:
Interested in an Archie #1? Just go all in right now. They're not going to get any cheaper. Go back in time and buy one five years ago.
And get a Pep #22 while you're at it.
Archie.
I'd like to see the 9.8, but… that sure is a pretty copy.
Based on the above listing the consignor of the Curator copy just got the 9.8. Upgrading from a 9.6, pedigree copy. How often does that happen?
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How close will this beauty push towards six figures?
Frighteningly close, I think. Pulling a number out of the air, I'm going to say $75,000.
It's okay if you need a minute to catch your breath.
Here's the book:
Thoughts?
X-Men #61 NEAL ADAMS Original Comic Art SAURON Fight pg
Winning bid: US $8,000.00 Seller: brianhowardart ( 725 )
Description:
Absolutely gorgeous page of Original Comic Art from X-Men #61. This is a great battle page featuring Sauron and the X-Men team. Sauron pages are very hard to come by and this is a wonderful example. Stunning artwork by the legendary, Neal Adams. This is truly a grail piece for any collector. Page is in very good condition and measures approx. 11" X 17"
And the page:
Yes it is. Here are a few lots I'm watching:
Sue me? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Modern drek. Copper crapola. Whatever 
This is cool to me.
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Which odds? The odds that something other than an Amazing Fantasy 15 finishes at the top of the eBay heap this week, of course.
To help that noble cause along, here are a few of other comic related items to take a look at:
Tales of Suspense # 39 CGC 6.0 Off-White Pgs No Reserve
Iron Man is pretty popular, right?
THOR # 180 COVER NEAL ADAMS 1970 SUPER RARE
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 1 CGC 9.4 NO RESERVE
That's at least 75% more interesting to me than another Amazing Fantasy 15.
…
Hopefully one of these SUPER COOL items will win as I'm sick of posting another Amazing Fantasy 15 every Sunday.
In honor of the new Batman movie, here are ten iconic comic covers for your enjoyment. These are presented in no order and not exclusive There are plenty of other iconic images I could have chosen.
Starting off with the Dark Knight, here are two covers presented as one entry. The original is brilliant and Neal Adams later homage is even better. To me these are the greatest Batman covers of the Golden and Bronze Ages respectively.
Continuing with Batman, we have this cover by Frank Miller for the first issue of his seminal Batman story.
Personally this cover still fills me with a little bit of awe. I was young when this book hit the stands and the anticipation of it was pretty intense. When I saw it, I felt like it promised something pretty amazing. It turned out to be better than I hoped it would be. The cover, while simple in design, speaks to so much of the classic mini-series heart it's uncanny. A truly brilliant design.
My favorite Golden Age cover. To my mind it's the symbol of what WW2 covers could be. Sure, the Timely covers of the time were fantastic in their lurid detail, but to my mind this simple image beats them all handily.
Going more modern for a second…
I'm not even that big of a fan of Todd McFarlane or Wolverine and even I love this cover. It's the ultimate McFarlane image for me and I think the same holds true for a lot of other people. Classic in conception.
Not the greatest Captain America cover artistically, historically this cover can't be beat. Cap burst onto the scene in December 1940 (a full year before Pearl Harbor) and on his first cover he's punching Hitler in the jaw! Classic stuff.
C'mon… it doesn't get any more classic than this! 1st Superman. This cover has been copied and referenced so many times it's not even funny.
Speaking of funny, this is the only comic on the list that was used in the Simpsons twice as in a gag.*
This is another one that really needs no explanation. This is the king of Silver Age books and that fact alone gets people excited for this cover. Add to that the fact that it's a truly iconic image of Spider-Man and the inclusion here is a no-brainer.
And I'm not even that big of a Spider-Man fan.
EC + Frank Frazetta = possibly the greatest comic book cover of all time. I know a lot of people are quick to disagree with that pronouncement and even I, an unabashed fan of both Frazetta and EC, have a hard time with it from time to time. Regardless, the fact remains- this is one cool cover. The power and energy of Frazetta's art is basically unmatched and it's in full display here on this savage cover.
There were a lot of great More Fun covers. To me, this one is the best. The massive figure of the spectre and his simple, dramatic pose make for an impressive image.
Probably the most memorable cover of my youth. With the possible exception of Gene Colan's brilliant cover for Iron Man #1, this might be the best Iron Man cover of all time.
* "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and "Homie the Clown" are the two episodes. To quote Wikipedia:
In the "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" episode of The Simpsons, Homer sees a copy of Action Comics #1, along with the United States Declaration of Independence, an Inverted Jenny postage stamp sheet and a Stradivarius violin at a yard sale all for 5¢ and tosses them aside as "junk".
In the "Homie the Clown" episode of The Simpsons, Krusty the Clown uses a variety of highly valued items to light his cigarettes, including a $100 bill and a copy of Action Comics #1.
Neal Adams ORIG. ART Detective Comics 408 pg 8 BATMAN
Winning bid: US $6,601.01 Seller: boyinkspot( 961)
Description:
NEAL ADAMS – Original ArtDETECTIVE COMICS
Issue #408 Page 8
BATMAN
from the early 1970's
Up for auction is an fantastic page by the legendary artist, NEAL ADAMS. Detective Comics issue 408 page 8 from the early 1970's, inked by Dick Giordano. This page is in excellent condition.
The page is approximately 11 x 17" inches. The page itself is slightly off white. This page hasn't been on the market for many years. Here is your chance to own a piece of Batman history.
The scan you see here is the actual page you will be receiving. The page will be shipped flat. The page comes from a smoke free home and will ship out no later than 2 days after payment.
This is a good one:
eBay: Neal Adams BATMAN #232 ORIGINAL ART, FIRST Ra's Al Ghul
Winning bid: US $27,300.00
Seller: greenarrow2000( 717)
Here's the Description:
"Here it is, the legendary original comic artwork for Batman #232, page 4-the very first panel appearance of the classic villain Ra’s al Ghul- by the great Neal Adams. Ra’s literally walks into Batman’s life for the first time, with his guard Ubu, a photo of his daughter Talia, and a mystery for the Darknight Detective. Published in 1971
"Batman’s “rogues’ gallery” (to borrow a term from the Flash) is widely considered to be the best in all comics, with Ra’s, Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler, among others. Only the Joker, however, could be argued to have as deep significance to the Batman mythos as Ra’s. When the Batman movie franchise was relaunched, Ra’s Al Ghul was chosen to propel the legend into a new millennium. In terms of Batman continuity, then, this page stands as one of the greatest moments you will ever see offered. Read the dialog, look at that portrait—it is a perfect character introduction page. We can only wonder if the original pages for the first appearance of the other great Batman villains even exist!!!
"As for the artist, Neal Adams, his stature and influence are unsurpassed. His innovative page design and his dynamic photo-realistic style shook up the comics’ scene- and now make his originals the “Holy Grails” of comic art.
"Adams art rarely turns up for sale, important pages more rarely still. This one-of-a-kind original has been in my private collection for decades; once sold, it may not surface again for a generation. As the image shows, it is in excellent condition, with only minor, standard flaws typical of age and origin. The first, second and last panels have lettering edits held in place by tape on the reverse side.
"I purchased this page over 20 years ago from a reputable comic shop that has been in business for decades, in fact it was the first piece of original artwork I had ever bought. The shop had 2 pages from the same issue. A fellow collector, which I still keep in contact with, purchased the other, and years later, showed it to Neal and he offered to sign it. My page was offered on eBay previously in November 2005, but was removed due to questions over its ownership. All pages from this issue are listed on Neal Adams’ site as among the hundreds of the pages that were discovered “missing” from the offices of National Periodicals Publications (now DC Comics) in the early 1970’s when they were in the process of returning artwork to the artists. It was speculated that these hundreds of pages of artwork, mostly by Neal Adams, were “misplaced” during an office move. For years Neal claimed that this artwork was stolen, and listed it as such on his website. The April 14th 2000 edition of “Gotham Weekly News” published an article titled “Neal Adams Calls Off Hunt”. In the article it quotes a statement posted by Neal on his own website two days prior. The quote is as follows “It has become apparent to me that after a reasonable but incomplete investigation, that my artwork has passed through enough hands that the guilty are now so far from my originals and the innocent have now acquired them honestly. To go through this process any further would be bad for everyone, so I herby call off my attempts to retrieve my once stolen artwork. If you have any, as far as I am concerned, you may keep it.” In an interview he gave Wizard for Wizard #0, 2003, he reiterated his stance stating “By now, the art’s changed hands so many times that the people who own it obtained it through legal channels.” He says “They aren’t responsible… I can’t just take it back from them. Bless them.”"
Here's the page:
