Art Alert! Highlights from upcoming auction(s)

In case you’re still sore that you missed out on the Gustav Klimt at Sotheby’s this week (and you have $230 million burning a hole in your pocket), bidding starts today at Heritage’s November Signature comic art auction. I sifted through the lots and picked out a few interesting ones to highlight here.

These are the heavyweight, sidewalk-cracking, bank-vault-busting pieces that draw headlines.

It’s unsurprising that a few pieces by painter/illustrator Frank Frazetta have been shaken loose by the $13.5 million fetched by a Frazetta cover to Conan earlier this fall. This Frazetta cover to Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Conqueror comes from the collection of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett. Hammett is a collector of classic horror movie posters and pulp art, and he purchased this piece directly from the artist. Bidding starts at $10 million.1

Other Frazetta works are also available, from a cover of a Burroughs paperback (1974’s The Moon Men) to a self-caricature.

Neal Adams’ Superman #233 cover! Adams is one of the greats, and this is an iconic Superman cover.

Collectors often custom-make overlays out of acetate - scroll down to see it au naturel without the trade dress.

Currently sitting at a cool $500,000!

Todd McFarlane page from Amazing Spider-Man #316. I LOVE this page. Even though it’s not the most action-packed, it has McFarlane’s signature spider webbing, Spidey’s internal fretting over money troubles, and a nice little New York shot in the bottom left panel. The spider backpack is also a nice touch! Sitting at $130,000 currently.

A set of 20 preliminary drawings by Gil Kane for Amazing Spider-Man #92. Artists will often draw prelims to lay out a page. These are generally quite faithful to the published art, and it’s fun to compare prelim to end product. The original book was published in 1970; kudos to the collector(s) who kept these together for 55 years.

And the title page:

Interestingly, I don’t think the panel at the top of the title page appears in any of the prelims (and it’s not lifted from issue #91 either, I checked). Currently at a little more than $2,000.

A set of 11 prelims to Swamp Thing #4 (1972) drawn by Bernie Wrightson. These are much looser than Gil Kane’s above, and Wrightson seems particularly focused on light sources and shading (see examples below).

The final art for that page must be incredible. The set of prelims is currently sitting at about $500.

Peach Momoko’s unique watercolor style is a huge hit with fans - so huge her presence has led to public disorder. Personally, a lot of her depictions just aren’t for me, but I like the colors and fine lines on this one.

Currently at slightly over $5,000.

I loved League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the movie and the comic) as a kid. Alan Moore’s repurposing of figures from classic literature is wonderfully imaginative. Kevin O’Neal rendered them here for the endpapers of an absolute edition. Currently at $1,000.

“Wrong Quartermaine!”

I’m a lawyer, but not your lawyer. The views expressed above (“Views”) are not legal advice. Views are mine alone (and I don’t even know that I’ll stick to them, if pressed). Views should not be attributed to anybody else, including (but not limited to) my employer, employer’s clients, friends, family, or pets (current, former, or future).