The new year hasn’t even begun, yet it wouldn’t be hyperbole to call Heritage's January 11-14 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction the event of 2024 — or, perhaps, of a lifetime.
Collectors will find among its superpowered offerings numerous iconic covers soaring alongside key Golden and Silver Age comic books in impossibly high grades, each one as stunning as it is significant. These books don’t look a day older than Kal-El when he crash-landed in a cornfield or Peter Parker when he was bitten by that radioactive spider or Wonder Woman when a warplane fell onto Paradise Island. They all look like a million bucks — or, likely and deservedly, much more than that.
Among their historic ranks is one of only two copies of The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 graded CGC Near Mint/Mint 9.8, an auction first at Heritage — or, it appears, anywhere else, as GPAnalysis does not list a single recorded sale of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Marvel in the highest grade awarded this Silver Age key. That makes this a likely once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own this book from CGC’s Curator Pedigree, which a former museum worker assembled from the 1950s well into the 1980s (hence the name) and stored in the institution’s vaults until a collector acquired them in the 1990s. The Curator Pedigree is “one of the best Silver Age collections ever discovered,” says CGC. This stunning Spidey swings to the very top of that historic assemblage.
That Amazing Spider-Man alone would make this auction significant; seeing this 60-year-old book look like it just leaped off the newsstands is breathtaking. But it has some esteemed and highly coveted company.
That fresh-faced Spidey is joined in this event by one of the world's finest copies of Superman No. 1, one of only two in the world graded Fine/Very Fine 7.0 by Certified Guaranty Company. Throughout its history as the world’s premier comic-book auction house, Heritage has never auctioned an unrestored copy of this historic book bearing such high marks.
Another platinum offering from the Golden Age is the single highest-graded copy of 1942’s All Star Comics No. 8, in which Wonder Woman debuted in a book also featuring Starman and Dr. Mid-Nite joining the Justice Society of America. This record-holding CGC Near Mint 9.4 copy is the best in the world, the brightest star among the most important All Stars.
The roster of all-stars throughout this auction is unparalleled: Here, collectors will find the world’s highest-graded copy of The Brave and the Bold No. 28, in which the Justice League of America makes its debut. As the catalog notes, it has been 15 years since Heritage offered a copy graded 9.2 — and back then, collectors raced to Heritage HQ to lay eyes on the Silver Age grail before sparking a bidding war for the ages. This one’s even better: a CGC Near Mint+ 9.6 copy, which may never again surface following this event.
In this event, collectors will also find the sole highest-graded example of one of comicdom’s most defining moments: 1956’s Showcase No. 4, which kicked off the Silver Age by introducing Barry Allen’s Flash, graded a CGC Near Mint+ 9.6.
And the list of historic must-haves in this auction only grows: Here, too, is of only three copies of Batman No. 1 graded CGC Fine/Very Fine 7.0. And: one of the world’s most incredible copies of The Incredible Hulk No. 1, a CGC Near Mint- 9.2 with but a single copy ever graded higher.. And: one of the four highest-graded, CGC Near Mint- 9.2 copies of Action Comics No. 252, in which Supergirl makes her first flight.
Here's one indicator of how special this auction is: It has taken this long to mention the CGC Near Mint/Mint 9.8 copy of 1964’s The Avengers No. 4, in which Captain America was defrosted and made Marvel-ous again. Only six copies of this historic book have received such high marks. And for the EC enthusiast, here’s one of the three highest-graded copies of the landmark Crypt of Terror No. 17 — just the second Heritage has ever offered in a CGC Near Mint/Mint 9.8.
The catalog of legendary books in this auction isn’t limited to comics: Heritage has offered but a handful of copies of the October 1912 All-Story, all of which proved to be record-setting given the scarcity of this historic issue in which Edgar Rice Burroughs introduced readers to “Tarzan King of the Jungle.” But the Very Good copy of the All-Story in this auction is the highest-graded unrestored copy Heritage has ever offered. One might say it’s the King of the Pulps.
Again, the books on the block alone will make this an event to remember. But Heritage’s Comics and Comic Art events regularly set comic-art auction records as these important, iconic originals head to auction, many for the first — and last — time. And there are countless pieces in this auction deserving of attention if not time on a museum’s wall.
Chief among their offerings is John Romita Sr.’s unforgettable cover of The Amazing Spider-Man No. 87, which concluded a long-running storyline in which Peter Parker appeared to be losing his powers. He revealed himself as Spider-Man in “Unmasked At Last!” only to realize — and, eventually, undo — that dreadful decision. Romita did as much to define the look of Spider-Man and Peter Parker as his co-creator Steve Ditko, from whom he took the reins in 1966, elevating the title to Marvel’s best-selling book. As his son John Romita Jr. told The New York Times earlier this year, upon his father’s death at 93, “His version of the characters became the format for the characters in international editions and merchandise.”
There's also an early 1965 Ditko original here: Page 15 from The Amazing Spider-Man No. 29, a spry piece of work showcasing Ditko's loose-limbed kineticism as Spidey wrangles with the Scorpion for only the second time.
This event also teems with numerous classic DC covers, among them one of the most iconic from the spinner-rack era: Ernie Chan's art for Justice League of America No. 125, in which Two-Face seemingly joins the JLA (over Flash’s objections). It’s one entry in a holy trinity of early JLA covers, which also includes Dick Dillin and Joe Giella’s Justice League of America No. 65, featuring T.O. Morrow gloating that he’s “killed off” the League, and Neal Adams and Dick Giordano’s classic Justice League of America No. 92, with Solomon Grundy holding a limp Superman as the zombie villain towers over other fallen Leaguers.
Here’s another coveted Adams classic: His original cover for Detective Comics No. 404, in which Batman seemingly squares off against Rittmeister Hans Von Hammer, better known as Enemy Ace — who, as it turns out, is a descendant of the German pilot determined to shut down Bruce Wayne’s movie about the Enemy Ace. It’s not simply a great Adams cover — they all are, after all — but a significant one, too, in that it paid homage to Enemy Ace’s co-creator Joe Kubert, who is represented here with numerous significant pieces, among them the covers of Sgt. Rock No. 368 and 1975’s 1st Issue Special starring Dr. Fate.
Everyone’s here to begin the year: from Jack Kirby (with a 1973 Mister Miracle cover, no less) to Murphy Anderson (Hawkman No. 3!), Jim Lee (Black Canary guesting on the cover of All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder No. 3) to George Pérez (with his all-star-studded cover or The Official Crisis On Infinite Earths Index No. 1), Charlie Brown (with a baseball and blockhead strip from 1963) to Alfred E. Neuman singing and dancing his way across Jack Rickard's classic 1976 MAD cover with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. A heck of a way to trek into 2024.