PRICES FOR ORIGINAL COMIC ART CAN VARY WIDELY. HERE’S HOW TO TELL WHAT MAKES ONE PAGE WORTH MORE THAN ANOTHER.
By Barry Sandoval
When the average person hears about the prices of vintage original comic art, the reaction is most often one of utter disbelief. That shock of finding out that there is such a thing as a black-and-white, pen-and-ink comic art page that sells for $5,000 (let alone $50,000 or $500,000) soon turns into the question “Why is this one priced at this amount and this other one so much higher?”
To understand how value is determined in today’s comic art market, you need to be aware of two main factors:
1. Significance trumps everything – or, rather, true significance does.
True significance tends to come from the first appearance of a major character, some watershed moment in the character’s development or a key event from a well-remembered storyline.
An example would be this page from Tales of Suspense No. 39, Iron Man’s first appearance. The story has been reprinted many times over the years, and most anyone who has read comics over the past six decades remembers the moment when Iron Man shows himself to the tyrant who had imprisoned him and roundly defeats the bully. The original art for that page made for a very desirable auction item and a price of $336,000.
Sellers of comic art will, of course, tend to spin most any piece as being significant in some fashion, but buyers have a way of seeing through such hype. As my late colleague Ed Jaster used to say, the more time you need to explain what’s important about the page, the less important it really is.
2. The second biggest factor in determining value tends to be which characters are shown and if they are doing characteristic things.
Are most or all of the series’ main characters on the page? Are they facing forward and full-figure, or do we only see a glimpse of them? Are the superheroes in costume? Are they in action or doing the things that they are best known for? Are they fighting their best-known adversaries? You want to see Snoopy on his doghouse, Tarzan swinging from a vine, Don Blake smashing his cane on the ground to become Thor, Hawkeye shooting arrows, Dagwood crashing into Herb the mailman, Batman fighting the Joker, Aquaman having a fight underwater.
Alas, a typical comic book tended to have fewer such pages than you might think. Part of any story is devoted to exposition, minor characters and more sedate moments that set up the action. Such a page can serve the overall story well yet be less interesting to the collector.
For example, you could hardly find something more sought-after than pages of Frank Miller ‘Daredevil’ art from the early 1980s – like this page from that era. But, alas, Daredevil is nowhere to be found. Instead, it’s Daredevil’s law firm partner Foggy Nelson and guest stars Power Man and Iron Fist. The latter are sitting in a room eating pizza, and half of the dialogue is about the pizza! This page no doubt played a role in setting up that issue’s dramatic story, but it isn’t something most would frame on their walls as a self-contained piece. It’s a tribute to Miller’s popularity that the page still sold for $2,000.
The Daredevil collector is looking for something more along these lines. This page from Daredevil No. 182 actually shows our hero Daredevil – and in every panel at that. They are large panels, and he’s in action, displaying his distinctive acrobatic style. It’s also a plus that the page has stand-alone appeal – no context is needed to understand and appreciate what’s going on.
Perhaps the notion that the best pages sell for more than the worst pages is just common sense, but what many people outside the hobby don’t appreciate is how large the gap can be. A truly special page likely would not just sell for double what a lackluster page brings – it could be 10 times the price or even 100 times the price.
Let’s look at some examples that all come from the same issue: 1974’s The Incredible Hulk No. 180.
Some supporting characters talking about a villain (who is not shown): $3,840.
A lot of exposition, but with some glimpses of our hero the Hulk : $4,680.
Now we have the Hulk in action, but only to destroy a couple of trees: $7,800.
Here are some mighty leaps from the Hulk, and the exposition at the end is very critical indeed, it being the first mention of the character we would soon get to know as Wolverine: $15,600.
Then, on the last page, Wolverine appears – for the first time ever: $657,250. That’s 40 times the price of the prior page, and this was a sale from 10 years ago. The piece would be worth much more now.
What else factors into the price? In addition to the quality and impact of the image itself, other factors are availability or lack thereof of a given artist’s work on the collectors’ market, how big of a name the artist is, the nostalgic attachment of the individual bidder, the condition of the piece and how well a given piece displays when hung on the wall.
As you can see, valuing a piece of comic art can be tricky, and even those who know the market best are still sometimes wrong. The one sure way to find out what a page is worth is to hold an auction – and, of course, we can help with that.
BARRY SANDOVAL is Vice President at Heritage Auctions. He can be reached at BarryS@HA.com or 214.409.1377.