Iron Man Original Artwork By Don Heck Sets New Record At $3,875,000

Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: auction, don heck, heritage, iron man

Iron Man Original Artwork by Don Heck from 1963 sets a new sales record, selling for $3,875,000

Iron Man Original Artwork by Don Heck from Tales of Suspense #39 sold for a record $3,875,000 at Heritage Auctions. The 1963 splash page shattered the prior comic art record of $3.36 million set by Secret Wars #8 in 2022. Heritage said rare early Marvel splash pages are scarce, helping fuel intense bidding from six buyers past $3 million. Interest in Iron Man Original Artwork was boosted by the character’s enduring popularity and the MCU’s global success.

It a new record for an internal page of original comic book artwork, as the splash page that introduced Iron Man from March 1963's Tales of Suspense #39, drawn by Don Heck surpasses the previous $3.36 million record set by Mike Zeck's black costumed Spider-Man from Secret Wars, which fetched $3.36 million at Heritage in 2022. Now the original Don Heck artwork sold on the 10th of July for a whoppin $3,875,000 as the highlight lot in Heritage Auctions' ongoing Comic Art Signature Auction. Joe Mannarino, Heritage Auctions' New York-based Director of Comics & Comic Art called it "a fantastic image and a historic book combine for a record price. Very few of the early Marvel splash pages are known to exist. When one shows up, the market is ready to react."

Iron Man Original Artwork By Don Heck Sets New Record At $3,875,000

Tales of Suspense #39 drawn by Don Heck

Bidding was highly competitive, with six different bidders continuing to vie for the page even after it passed the $3 million mark. Mannarino credits the character with helping develop a new generation of fans starting in 2008 with the Robert Downey Jr.-starring Iron Man, Marvel Studio's first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading to the Avengers and beyond. The sale price tops the previous Comic Art price record of $3,360,000 set in January 2022 at Heritage by 1984's Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars No. 8 story page 25, the Mike Zeck art revealing Peter Parker's new black costume that turns out to be a character itself: Venom. Heritage Auctions' Comic Books Signature Auction continues today and the Comic Art Signature Auction continues until tomorrow. Here are some other original art that were up for grabs…