Extreme $$$: 3 of Comics' Most Expensive Artifacts

 Most Expensive Comic Book Cover:

Weird Science Fantasy #29
Art & Inks by Frank Frazzetta

WSF was a science fiction anthology comic that ran for 7 issues starting on March 1954. And this art you are seeing on the left was the cover for its #29 issue - considered by most comic art afficionados as one of the finest comic masterpieces of all time. Frazetta's beautiful anatomy and great attention to detail up to the tiniest parts of this original art -is simply stunning and downright incredible.

How much was this original art for?

Frazetta's Family sold this for an amazing $380,000 to Jim Halperin, co-chariman of the third largest auction house - Heritage Auctions.

Wow. That's a lot of money. But wait till you see this next piece of comic royalty made by another Frank.

Most Expensive Interior Art:

Splash Page from The Dark Knight Returns #3

Pencils and Inks by Frank Miller

Frank Miller's DKR was one of the main guns that triggered the start of the industry's turn from child-friendly, lighthearted stories into something dark, gritty and violent. 

DKR featured an aging Bruce Wayne/Batman coming back out of retirement to don the iconic cowl and rid his beloved Gotham City of more evil, and was considered as one of the greatest comic books of all time (but I don't buy that totally.)

This original art by Miller showing Batman and his sidekick Robin jumping out of the Gotham night - sold for a whopping $448,125, making it the most priced original art ever. 

Damn, I thought the economy is not good nowadays? Where do these junkies get their money to pay for a piece of paper with Batman and Robin? Crazy insane.

Now if you thought that was crazy expensive, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Because there is one particular comic artifact that was sold... at a price that would totally blow your minds off like you have no idea.

Most Expensive Comic Book: 

 Action Comics #1

 Art by Joe Shuster

This is called the "Holy Grail" of comic books. 

The one that started it all.

It featured the first ever superhero. The one that would eventually become the superhero-archetype and an American cultural icon.

His name?

Superman. 

The price?

A copy (in great "brand-new" condition) of Action Comics #1 was bought by an unknown buyer from ComicConnect.com for a staggering... mind-boggling... totally out-of-this-shit price of...

$1,500,000.  (those who threw their copies of this comic book might have probably kicked themselves in the head)

Just in case you thought what you just read was a typo, I'll repeat it again: 

1.5 MILLION. U.S. DOLLARS.

'Nuff said. I wanna find one of these somewhere in the garbage cans right now and be a fucking millionaire. 
 

Social History in Comics: New Heroic Comics 81 - "Hill 528"

The significance of New Heroic Comics 81 (March 1953), published by Famous Funnies, is that it contains a short true story about the bravery of Corporal Fred McGee in the Korean War. Corporal McGee is still alive today, and is a decorated veteran of the Korean War. In this two page story depicting the events on Hill 528 for which Corporal McGee received his honors, McGee is not shown as an African American, even though that is his identity. Personally I think it is unlikely that this omission was deliberate on the part of the comic book creators. It is more likely that it was simply assumed that McGee was white, because in the early 1950s institutional racism, if nothing else, tended to make society blind to the contributions of African Americans. It was as if a whole section of the population didn't exist, and you can see this by the absence of African American characters in comics throughout the 1950s especially. The error made on this comic is reminiscent of that made by the Marvel colorists on the cover of Sgt. Fury 1 in the early 60s - they simply assumed that all the characters were white, unaware of Lee and Kirby's intention to introduce diversity into the Marvel universe. Here then is "Hill 528". I wish that somebody who is a comic book creator would re-do this short story with McGee correctly depicted as an African American, and publish it somewhere while McGee is still alive.

As a special treat, here's the inside back cover of the comic, which features a Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree ad drawn by none other than Frank Frazetta!

Also, just to complete this short post, here's the cover of Sgt. Fury 1, showing the incorrectly colored Gabriel Jones:

Gabriel Jones is the famous African American horn-blowing member of the Howling Commandos.