Heritage Auctions Apr 4-7 2024 5 5

[Silver Surfer]

On 4/5/2024 at 10:31 AM, batman_fan said:

It was a great page

Only known page for that issue or are there a handful of others out there? 

[Grant Turner]

On 4/5/2024 at 9:24 PM, Silver Surfer said:

Only known page for that issue or are there a handful of others out there? 

I think 9 of the pages have sold this far, and the seller is already close to taking home 1.5 million 

if the splash page sells?  Or Heaven help us the cover?? The sky is the limit!

[tth2]

On 4/6/2024 at 2:47 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

Megaton Man 1 full issue goes for $50,000.

Wow. 

There's a lot of nostalgia for those 1980s indies among people who were kids when they came out and who are now in the peak earnings part of their lives.

[tth2]

Deleted because Gene already said "DC discount".

Edited April 6 by tth2

[tth2]

On 4/6/2024 at 5:31 AM, Matches_Malone said:

Jill Thompson Sandman #49 Story Page 20 @ $66K.  Very Very Strong.

Seems like the Gaiman Auction effect is still ongoing.

I was very happy to hear that this was her direct consignment so she's getting all the upside from the huge rise in Sandman pages.

Edited April 6 by tth2

[tth2]

On 4/6/2024 at 5:43 AM, Matches_Malone said:

John Totleben Miracleman 16 orgy page was a bargain IMO. Alan Moore tends to go higher for this kinda stuff. 

IMO, it's because it just didn't look that good in B&W.  In color, it's much more impressive.  Still, I thought it would go higher just because it's Moore and Totleben.

[Carlo M]

One of the strongest prices was the Buckler FF 155 cover.  It is a great image and has SS on it, but I thought the fact that its different from the published version would hold it back.  Anybody has any insights into the story of that particular cover?

[Matches_Malone]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:03 AM, tth2 said:

IMO, it's because it just didn't look that good in B&W.  In color, it's much more impressive.  Still, I thought it would go higher just because it's Moore and Totleben.

I had it pegged between $6000 and $8000 because of Moore and Totleben as well. Totleben is a master artist.

[Kevn]

On 4/6/2024 at 4:07 PM, Carlo M said:

One of the strongest prices was the Buckler FF 155 cover.  It is a great image and has SS on it, but I thought the fact that its different from the published version would hold it back.  Anybody has any insights into the story of that particular cover?

No insight beyond what I can deduce from the Heritage scan and the original cover image. It looks like the original art was photostatically reduced by about 30%, with the resulting photostat mounted on a blank 10x15 board and additional bg inked in to add the tip of the surfboard, more building on the left and right, a little more ground at the bottom, and more Medusa hair as needed. A lot of the bg sky was inked black, requiring a simplification of the 'swoosh' lines off the back of the surfboard. The signatures were also whited out and inked over, then title and other stats added. Then the whole thing was photographically reduced the standard amount for printing as a cover.

I'm guessing that this was done because if the title and other stats were put on the original 10x15 board (i.e., what was sold in the auction), it would have covered up most of the SS and part of the thing. It simply wouldn't have worked. As for this now not completely matching the published cover, to my eyes, this makes the cover OA more desirable. You get a larger image of what really matters (a great, well rendered action scene!), with no ugly stats and clumsy corrections. And the signatures are revealed. If there had been significant changes to the characters, as is often seen in covers, I might feel differently, but here the figures are identical.

[All-Star Squadman]

On 4/5/2024 at 2:21 PM, Fischb1 said:

Have to say I disagree strongly with both of these assessments.

Not sure where you're getting your Byrne comps from but the last Byrne X-Men page was better imo and sold for the exact same price (81k). And before that, the one in 2023, was much better (with prof x and the whole team), and it sold for 90. Where are you comping that this was a 30k discount?

And same for the 252 page. There was one crazy day where 2 black spidey pages sold super high. Outside of that day, if I told you that a 252 page was going to sell for 174k, that would be a HUGE number. Where do you see anywhere except for that one crazy sale of 2 pages that this isn't a GREAT number? 

Sounds like you have a narrative ready to go and you're bending the facts to fit it.

The X-Men page sold for close to expected. The ASM page was a WOW sale.  

While it's not 1 and 0 type stuff, I am in agreement with you

81K for a 120-121 panel is a record, most certainly did not go for a 30K discount as was mentioned in the post to which you responded.   Now a decent Dark Phoenix issue page well that's a  whole other story!

Excellent points on the 252 , some seems to have forgotten the circumstances that existed.  It could be a decade before those prices on those hit near those levels again.

Edited April 7 by All-Star Squadman

[MAR1979]

On 4/5/2024 at 8:37 PM, PhilipB2k17 said:

So happy for Jill, who consigned it. I hope they gave her a break on the commission. 
 

Yes - so refreshing to see an artist who was not ripped off by a dealer for fractions of a cent on the dollar.

Edited April 6 by MAR1979

[Carlo M]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:10 PM, Kevn said:

No insight beyond what I can deduce from the Heritage scan and the original cover image. It looks like the original art was photostatically reduced by about 30%, with the resulting photostat mounted on a blank 10x15 board and additional bg inked in to add the tip of the surfboard, more building on the left and right, a little more ground at the bottom, and more Medusa hair as needed. A lot of the bg sky was inked black, requiring a simplification of the 'swoosh' lines off the back of the surfboard. The signatures were also whited out and inked over, then title and other stats added. Then the whole thing was photographically reduced the standard amount for printing as a cover.

I'm guessing that this was done because if the title and other stats were put on the original 10x15 board (i.e., what was sold in the auction), it would have covered up most of the SS and part of the thing. It simply wouldn't have worked. As for this now not completely matching the published cover, to my eyes, this makes the cover OA more desirable. You get a larger image of what really matters (a great, well rendered action scene!), with no ugly stats and clumsy corrections. And the signatures are revealed. If there had been significant changes to the characters, as is often seen in covers, I might feel differently, but here the figures are identical.

Makes sense! Some of the covers back then were obviously heavily “produced “, I guess the important is the confidence that there is no other “original “ lying around. 

[stinkininkin]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:47 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

Megaton Man 1 full issue goes for $50,000.

Wow. 

I admit that I kind of entertained bidding on that until it went up so much. 

I don't really know this market, but wouldn't the seller have done even better if he had broken up the issue? 

[stinkininkin]

On 4/5/2024 at 10:42 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

Barometer of the Hobby:

The Miller/Jason DD #190 cover with Elektra went for $252,000.

The Romita Jr./Janson DD #254 Cover featuring the 1st appearance of Typhoid Mary went for $102,000. 

Don't think anyone mentioned the Miller DD 174 page at $144k. Excellent page, and a pretty big number. With that in mind, makes me wonder if the seller is disappointed with DD 190 cover sale price, especially since it features both DD and Electra. Either way, I continue to be impressed with the strength of the Miller DD market!

[Kevn]

On 4/7/2024 at 12:21 AM, Carlo M said:

Makes sense! Some of the covers back then were obviously heavily “produced “, I guess the important is the confidence that there is no other “original “ lying around. 

I suspect there may be an "original" somewhere, but it'll be a unsightly kludge of multiple stats, white out, and rubber cement, with almost no actual "original art"! And with a value probably 1-2% of the value of what just sold. 

[Kevn]

On 4/7/2024 at 1:22 AM, stinkininkin said:

Don't think anyone mentioned the Miller DD 174 page at $144k. Excellent page, and a pretty big number. With that in mind, makes me wonder if the seller is disappointed with DD 190 cover sale price, especially since it features both DD and Electra. Either way, I continue to be impressed with the strength of the Miller DD market!

I agree about the cover. I'm not the biggest Miller fan, but that DD 190 cover is very impressive, and I also was surprised it didn't go higher. Maybe it's because the cover is in layers, and the originals are difficult to display?

[delekkerste]

On 4/6/2024 at 7:22 PM, stinkininkin said:

Don't think anyone mentioned the Miller DD 174 page at $144k. Excellent page, and a pretty big number. With that in mind, makes me wonder if the seller is disappointed with DD 190 cover sale price, especially since it features both DD and Electra. Either way, I continue to be impressed with the strength of the Miller DD market!

Considering the reserve was $90K hammer on the DD #190 cover, I'm pretty sure the seller is very happy!

People may not remember, but, it was auctioned in 2011 at ComicLink and did not meet reserve, fetching only $31.5K before the bidding petered out. The consignor reached out to CLink after the auction and bought it; CLink later publicly reported the sale at $45K in the "Marketplace" section of its website. 

I remember the sale well - it seems so trivial now, but, back in 2011, there was a lot of trepidation about the cover being on two boards, something which almost nobody cares about these days as we all know that high-quality acetate overlays and such can be easily made (heck, you could even turn these into *two* covers, LOL).

IMO both the #174 page and the #190 cover achieved very full and fair values.  

Edited April 7 by delekkerste

[J.Sid]

On 4/7/2024 at 4:56 AM, delekkerste said:

…back in 2011, there was a lot of trepidation about the cover being on two boards, something which almost nobody cares about these days….

Have to disagree with this. Take a step back and look again. Miller. Elektra. Vintage. An absolutely fantastic image. If drawn on one board it would have gone for 2x the result. Probably much more.

Actually if this were drawn on one board the consignor probably would not have selected it to consign. It would take a 7-figure offer to pry it away.

Just my

[Captain ShipWreck]

On 4/5/2024 at 4:55 PM, PhilipB2k17 said:

I don't get this one. You could by 3 good Hellboy covers for that. It's really cool, and all, but if you're going to spend that kind of money on a Mignola, you want Hellboy. Just my opinion, FWIW. 

The result is high, but you're getting one of Mignola's best drawing pieces from a prime era. It's by far the best Dracula image there is. For context, I don't care much for the Dracula comic but I threw 40k at it in hopes of taking it down because it is an amazing example. I agree that for the money I'd also rather have Hellboy but I felt that way with the Death in the Family cover results. You could buy a couple of good vintage Hellboy covers for this price, but for the same dollar amount, you couldn't take down one of the best Hellboy covers at this point.

[stinkininkin]

On 4/7/2024 at 4:56 AM, delekkerste said:

Considering the reserve was $90K hammer on the DD #190 cover, I'm pretty sure the seller is very happy!

People may not remember, but, it was auctioned in 2011 at ComicLink and did not meet reserve, fetching only $31.5K before the bidding petered out. The consignor reached out to CLink after the auction and bought it; CLink later publicly reported the sale at $45K in the "Marketplace" section of its website. 

I remember the sale well - it seems so trivial now, but, back in 2011, there was a lot of trepidation about the cover being on two boards, something which almost nobody cares about these days as we all know that high-quality acetate overlays and such can be easily made (heck, you could even turn these into *two* covers, LOL).

IMO both the #174 page and the #190 cover achieved very full and fair values.  

Interesting. Gotta admit, if I had known the #190 cover was on two separate boards, I have since forgotten. And I never looked closely at the auction details that clearly point this out. It does complicate things a bit. Taking this into account, the final hammer seems pretty rock solid, and a win for the seller (and perhaps the buyer as well). Thanks for the background on it Gene!