Heritage Comic Auction in May Aims for Record

Heritage’s Chicago comics auction has a number of six-figure lots including two with the potential to break the million-dollar mark. Action Comics #1 holds the record at $3.2m when a copy of the comic book sold on eBay in 2014. That eclipsed an earlier sale at $2.16m achieved by the actor Nicolas Cage in 2011. Heritage’s example is graded lower than those two.

Heritage hasn’t given an estimate for the entire sale but their pre-sale press release hints at their hopes of piling up a record total:

Action Comics #1 (DC, 1938) CGC VG 4.0 Cream to off-white pages (est. $650,000) is among the most coveted comic books. The issue generates major interest regardless of its condition, and this is one of the highest-graded copies ever offered by Heritage Auctions. Ernst Gerber’s The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books rated it “scarce,” and CGC’s census lists just 40 unrestored copies.
Frank Frazetta Death Dealer 6 Painting Original Art (1990) (est. $600,000). Serious collectors covet Frazetta paintings, 12 of which have realized six-figure returns in previous Heritage auctions. One –At The Earth’s Core – sold for a record $1,075,500.
Whiz Comics #2 (#1) (Fawcett Publications, 1940) CGC FN 6.0 Off-white to white pages (est. $250,000) is the finest copy Heritage Auctions has offered of the key comic that provided the origin and first appearance of Captain Marvel. CGC has certified just 22 “Universal” label copies of this issue. In the early days of comics collecting, this issue and Action Comics #1 were considered to have similar value. Many consider it likely that it will enjoy a boost in value from the upcoming Shazam! movie that is scheduled to be released in early 2019.
John Romita Sr. Amazing Spider-Man #61 Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1968) (est. $200,000) is a prized issue among serious collectors, in part because offers the first cover appearance of Peter Parker’s girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, and her father, Captain George Stacy. It features a story by Stan Lee and with artwork by iconic artist John Romita, Sr., whose original artwork for Spider-Man #100 sold in February for $478,000.
One of the most desirable Silver Age DCs ever offered by Heritage Auctions, Justice League of America #1 (DC, 1960) CGC NM+ 9.6 Off-white pages (est. $200,000) is the highest-graded copy known. It is a stunning copy in pristine condition rarely found for comic books in their sixth decade of existence. CGC has certified more than 1,100 copies of the issue to date.
A fresh-to-market copy of Batman #1 (DC, 1940) CGC FN- 5.5 Cream to off-white pages (est. $200,000) is making its debut in this auction. It is an issue with a pedigree of significant auction success: two other copies proved enormously popular this year when a FN/VF 7.0 copy sold for $334,600 and a CGC VG- 3.5 copy went for $143,400 in Heritage’s February 2018 auction.