Heritage Auctions First to Top $900K in Weekly Comics and Comic Art Sales

DALLAS, Texas (June 24, 2021) – Less than a week after its record-smashing $22.4 million Comics & Comic Art Signature auction, Heritage Auctions, the world's largest comics auctioneer, set a new world record for the largest weekly comics auction ever held when its Sunday & Monday Comic Books Weekly Select Auction and its Wednesday Comic Art & Animation Select Auction amassed $904,285 in total sales.

The Comic Books Auction reached $759,941 in sales, while the Comic Art & Animation Auction brought $144,344. Add in Tuesday’s $64,715 Video Games and Trading Card Games auction, and the department’s weekly sales climbed to an even $969,000, smashing the previous record of $799,725.

The record for any weekly comics auction is $799,725, but that sale included video games and comic art, but the new total sets a new standard for events dedicated solely to comic books.

“We added a night to our weekly auctions because we simply had too many comic books to sell in one night without keeping live bidders awake too late!” Heritage Auctions Vice President Barry Sandoval said, “and I think this record total shows that there is plenty of quality, not just quantity. To give one example, we have sold 35 Hulk #181s so far in 2021, but still have many more to come.”

Forty bids poured in for Journey Into Mystery #83 (Marvel, 1962) CGC FN+ 6.5 Off-white to white pages until it finished at $26,400 to lead all lots in the auction. The No. 6 issue on Overstreet’s list of Top 50 Silver Age Comics, with its dramatic cover by Jack Kirby and art by Kirby and Steve Ditko includes the origin and first appearance of Thor. According to the June 2021 CGC census, it is one of just 66 copies graded in 6.5, with only 173 known to carry a higher grade.

Challenging for the auction’s top result was X-Men #1 (Marvel, 1963) CGC VG 4.0 White pages, which brought $24,000. The issue features the origin and first appearance of the X-Men (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Marvel Girl), as well as the first appearances of Professor X and Magneto. Jack Kirby created the cover and art for the issue, which is ranked No. 8 on Overstreet's list of Top 50 Silver Age Comics. The offered copy, from the Oregon Coast Collection, is one of 397 graded 4.0, according to the June 2021 CGC census.

Other top comic books in the auction included, but were not limited to:

$19,200: The Incredible Hulk #181 (Marvel, 1974) CGC NM 9.4 White pages

$18,600: The Incredible Hulk #1 (Marvel, 1962) CGC GD/VG 3.0 White pages

$14,400: Daredevil #1 (Marvel, 1964) CGC VF- 7.5 Cream to off-white pages

$13,800: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Marvel, 1963) CBCS VG 4.0 White pages

$12,600: Fantastic Four #5 Signature Series: Stan Lee (Marvel, 1962) CGC VG 4.0 Off-white to white pages

$12,300: Amazing Fantasy #15 (Marvel, 1962) CBCS Restored GD+ 2.5 (Moderate) White pages

$10,500: The Incredible Hulk #181 (Marvel, 1974) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Off-white pages

Top comic art lots included, but were not limited to:

$7,200: Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt Legion of Super-Heroes #292 Story page 14 original Art (DC, 1982)

$7,200: Dick Ayers and John Tartaglione Sgt. Fury #34 Story Page 7 Original Art (Marvel, 1966)

$4,560: John Pederson Jr. Galaxy Science Fiction Vol.15 #4 Cover Painting Original Art (Galaxy Publishing, 1958)

$2,880: Marshall Rogers DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel #5 "Demon with a Glass Hand" Story Pages 4 & 14 Original Art (DC, 1986)

$2,340: Brian Bolland -Wolverine Specialty Illustration Original Art (undated)

Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

Heritage also enjoys the highest online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet’s most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,400,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.

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Steve Lansdale, Public Relations Specialist

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