Heritage Comics & Comic Art Auction Totals $19.68M

Roger Hill’s Pre-Code Comic Art Collection, art by comic greats like Frank Miller, and major comic keys were offered in Heritage’s Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction. The four-day event held on June 20-23, 2024, achieved multiple auction records on its way to an impressive total of $19.68 million.

Lee Elias’ Black Cat Mystery #50 cover – one of the most infamous covers in the medium with a shocking and memorable image of a man’s face and hands melting – realized $840,000. It is now tied with Shock SuspenStories #6 as the most expansive horror comic sold in an auction.

“The material from our friend Roger Hill’s collection was truly the best of the best – and rarest of the rare – so we were confident the market would respond accordingly,” Heritage Executive Vice President Todd Hignite said. “But the multiples over even the most ambitious estimates for the top lots, and the sheer number of auction records, truly amazed us. We couldn’t be happier for both his family as well as the collecting community – and there are scores more highlights from the famed collection to come.”

Multiple covers from Hill’s collection set new records for their respective artists. Johnny Craig’s The Haunt of Fear #15 cover featuring the debut of EC’s the Old Witch hammered for $264,000, setting a new auction record for Craig’s art. Graham Ingles’ The Haunt of Fear #14 cover for the book that told the Old Witch’s origin story went for $204,000, achieving a new record for art by Ingles.

Hill’s collection also included magazine art, such as the Basil Gogos’ Famous Monsters of Filmland #9 cover painting of Vincent Price as Roderick Usher from The Fall of the House of Usher. It sold for $90,000, setting a new auction record for Gogos’ art.

Records continued with Wally Wood’s original art for the Planet Stories story “The Un-Reconstructed Woman” that cleared $57,600, becoming the most valuable pulp magazine interior art sold at auction. Elias’ Chamber of Chills #23 cover of a decaying corpse assaulting a terrified woman went for $180,000, setting a record for a cover from the title.

The Roger Hill collection collectively realized $4.3 million.

In the world of superheroes, Frank Miller garnered some impressive auction results. His Daredevil #165 cover, his earliest cover offered at auction, reached $324,000, becoming Miller’s most valuable piece from his time on the title. A page from his Dark Knight Triumphant set in the Batcave and showing Batman getting ready for battle brought $156,000.

The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was also a big ticket character. John Romita Sr. and Mike Esposito’s Amazing Spider-Man #50 page from Kingpin’s introduction sold for $216,000. Mark Bagley’s Amazing Spider-Man #379 cover of Venom, Carnage, and others sold for $126,000, setting a record for the artist’s work.

Multiple comics eclipsed the six-figure mark during the auction. The highest graded unrestored copy of Whiz Comics #2 (#1) CGC 7.0 with Captain Marvel’s debut reached $288,000. Marvel Comics #1 CGC 7.0 featuring the introductions of Human Torch, Ka-Zar, and Angel realized $228,000.

Other notable comic sales were Adventure Comics #40 CGC 7.0 with the first story written for Sandman Westley Dodds setting an auction record at $90,000, Cinderella Love #25 CGC 7.5 brought $60,000 and became the most valuable romance comic sold by Heritage, and Diary of Horror #1 CGC 9.6 White Mountain Pedigree set a new record at $43,200.