The original art for a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip,
dated February 6, 1992, sold at auction for $216, 000.00.
Granted this strip was hand-colored by Bill Watterson
and personally inscribed to fellow cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
Other original art we mentioned last month have also sold.
The 15th Flash Gordon Sunday by Alex Raymond, from April 15, 1934 went for $33,600.00
while a very early ca. 1911 Krazy Kat daily by George Herriman was auctioned off for $8,250.00.
Amongst the other renowned original comic art that sold at auction we earmarked:
A 1986 Dark Knight Returns page by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson was worth $228,000.00 to someone, a Captain America splash page from 1968 by Jack Kirby and Syd Shores sold for $168,000.00. The splash page to an early (1964) Spider-Man drawn by Steve Ditko neared a half million – going for $432,000.00.
A couple George Herriman Krazy Kat Sunday pages were available; the one from 1933 (above left) got $30,000.00, the 1921 page (above right) went for $19,200.00. Among numerous Charles Schulz comic strips was a 1994 daily from Peanuts last decade (below left) selling for $18,000.00 while a 1958 daily from the first decade featuring four of the strip’s stars (below right) got $40,800.00.
A few more of the dozens and dozens that went under the hammer:
The original art to a famous Berni Wrightson comic book cover (top left) got $31,200.00. A Basil Wolverton tryout for a comic strip featuring Earth’s destruction (top right) went for $18,600.00. A Creepy splash by Richard Corben (bottom left) cost $28,800.00. An undated Joe Shuster drawing of a full figure Superman sold for $16,800.00.
Below is an early sample of Robert Crumb. Part of Crumb’s Harlem Sketchbook, it appeared in Harvey Kurtzman’s Help! The 1964 piece of art auctioned off for $22,800.00.
If this interests you, sign up at Heritage Auctions to check out their never-ending auctions of comic art and collectibles (and coins and antiques and books and movie and other memorabilia, etc.). Heritage Auctions does not bother you with emails (you have to sign in to find out what is on the auction block), though they may send an occasional pamphlet by snail mail. Click on that Basil Wolverton above then click again to see how close of a look you can get at the original art when signed into the HA website.