“The highly anticipated May ComicLink Featured Auction is underway, highlighting valuable, vintage comic books and original comic related artwork,” said Josh Nathanson, President of ComicLink.

Golden Age comic books featured in this auction range from major keys (such as Superman #1 CGC 1.5, Batman #1 CGC 4.5, Detective Comics #29 CGC 2.0, Sensation Comics #1 CGC 7.5, Planet Comics #1 CGC 8.5, Archie Comics #1 CGC 0.5 and All-Flash #1 CGC 9.4 Denver) to high-grade runs of All Star Comics, Green Hornet Comics (many Mile High copies), Weird Fantasy (Gaines File) and Haunt of Fear (also Gaines File) to rare and pristine individual issues like Action Comics #76 CGC 9.6 Mile High, Batman #6 CGC 9.2, and Timely issues such as Captain America Comics #47 CGC 9.4.  The Batman run is also impressive, with nearly 150 individually qualifying issues from the title, ranging from the start of the Golden Age run (with the aforementioned #1), through the Bronze Age. Exceptional items from other publishers abound, including such elusive examples as Jumbo Comics #10 CGC 8.0 and Peanuts #1 (1953 one-shot) CGC 7.5. Many other classic covers and esoteric favorites are also featured in a wide range of conditions.

Important Silver Age keys are also plentiful, including gems such as Fantastic Four #1 in the similarly ‘fantastic’ grade of CGC 9.0, along with a copy in 8.0. Among the other impressive Silver Age highlights is the key and high grade Amazing Spider-Man selection, and in particular the Westport collection, within which hails examples of #2 and #6 in amazing condition (9.4 and 9.6, respectively). 

Among the many other well represented Marvel titles in high-grade are Fantastic Four, X-Men (including the CGC 9.8 Pacific Coast pedigree example of #3), and Tales of Suspense.  Many other keys and high-grades will be found, including Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1 in rare CGC 9.4 form, Daredevil #1 CGC 9.4, Richie Rich #1 CGC 9.6 and much, much more.

On the DC side, the Flash-centric offering is especially exciting, with three higher grade examples from the early Showcase run, and a high-grade Flash offering.  As mentioned previously, there is a startlingly large run of Batman issues that extends from the Golden Age through the Bronze Age.  The auction also includes rare, high-grade individual DC issues such as Aquaman #1 CGC 9.4 and important keys representing genres ranging from Brave and the Bold #28 CGC 6.0 to Our Army at War #83 CGC 6.5.

From the Bronze Age, many investment grade keys are represented in CGC 9.2 through 9.8 (Incredible Hulk #181, Giant-Size X-Men #1, Iron Man #55, Marvel Premiere #15, Star Wars #1 price variant, to name a few), as are some of the best Copper-Modern Age books in existence, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 in CGC 9.8 and New Mutants #98 CGC 9.9.  

“On the art side, we are looking at one of the most impressive offerings that we have ever had in a single auction.  There is an incredible Jack Kirby selection of artwork within this auction, such as the full page splash to Fantastic Four #56, a Silver Surfer and Thing-centric page from the classic crossover issue #55, and a super early page from #11 featuring the full team battling the frustrating Impossible Man in the alien’s first appearance issue.  There is an ‘uncanny’ X-Men page from issue #9 featuring the earliest meeting and battle with the Avengers, a superb Captain America vs. Red Skull ‘Cosmic Cube’ storyline splash from Tales of Suspense #81, a complete prehero monster story from Journey Into Mystery #82, and so much more,” said Director of Consignments Douglas Gillock.

“When Jack Kirby is mentioned, Steve Ditko’s name is never too very far away, and in this auction we have one very strong, and one very priceless piece of Steve Ditko artwork.  Both pages are from Amazing Spider-Man #25. One is a dynamic battle page showcasing Spidey in his epic battle with J. Jonah Jameson who dons the first Spider-Slayer suit.  The other is the page featuring the introduction of Mary Jane Watson — yep, that’s the priceless one!  Another Silver Age stalwart featured is Dick Ayers who, along with Stan Lee, provides us with the complete original artwork to the 13 page Human Torch story from Strange Tales #112 — this yarn from 1963 is seriously one of the best Silver Age stories that we have ever read,” he said.

There are many other original art highlights in this auction. 

“Work ranges from a rare Graham Ingels’ cover to Haunt of Fear (issue #13), to Romita’s first pencil work at Marvel in the form of a large full page Daredevil #14 Splash, to an incredible John Byrne Magneto battle page from X-Men #113, to a host of exceptional John Buscema work, to a strong Fables cover by James Jean.  There is cover artwork abound from Herb Trimpe’s Incredible Hulk #119 cover to Gil Kane’s Fantastic Four #153, Amazing Spider-Man #138, and Conan #29 covers, to a rare and exciting Frank Miller Sin City slipcase cover featuring Marv. The list of exciting artwork just goes on and on with artists ranging from Wally Wood to Bernie Wrightson, Miller to McFarlane, and Jim Lee to Michael Turner.  Wolverine is one character featured heavily in this auction, with many key pages throughout.  This is quite possibly the best overall selection of original artwork that we’ve ever had in one auction, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we have,” he said.

“Believe it or not, we are now working on other upcoming auctions (no rest for the weary!).  We welcome your consignments! To reserve upcoming auction placement and max out on auction preview time, or request an upfront cash advance, simply email buysell@comiclink.com with your prospective sale list, or call (617) 517-0062, option 1, to speak with Josh Nathanson, Jason Crosby, Sean Goodrich, Jon Signorelli, or me. If auction is not your thing, we are also always accepting new sellers for the ComicLink exchange marketplaces, brokering private placement deals, and buying outright.  So, it pays to get in touch no matter your selling preference, and we always look forward to hearing from potential sellers,” Gillock said.