The Lancer/Ace paperback cover known as Man Ape became the highest auction result for Frazetta, comic art and fantasy art globally.
By Intelligent Collector Staff | September 12, 2025
Frank Frazetta’s Conan Novel Cover Painting Original Art, created for the 1967 Lancer/Ace paperback and commonly known as Man Ape, sold for $13.5 million at Heritage Auctions, setting a new global auction record for a Frazetta work, comic art and fantasy art.
The painting was offered in a single-lot auction as part of Heritage’s September Comics & Comic Art event. Consigned by the Frazetta family, it had remained with the artist and his family since its creation, preserving an unusually direct line of provenance for one of the defining images in modern fantasy illustration.
Completed in 1966 and published the following year, Man Ape helped shape the visual identity of Conan the Barbarian for a new generation. Frazetta’s paperback covers did not simply illustrate Robert E. Howard’s stories; they created an enduring image of the character that influenced comics, posters, film and fantasy art for decades.
The sale also continued a series of Frazetta benchmarks at Heritage, following earlier record results for works including Egyptian Queen and Dark Kingdom. But Man Ape moved the market to a different level, more than doubling the prior $6 million result for Dark Kingdom and becoming the top public price for Frazetta’s art.
For sellers looking for the best place to sell comic art, fantasy art or major illustration art, this result is hard to ignore. A single painting with the right cultural importance, provenance and market presentation became a global benchmark at Heritage, demonstrating what can happen when a masterpiece reaches the right collector audience.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release (September 12, 2025).