Iron Man debut art sells for record $3.875 million
Heritage Auctions said Don Heck’s first-page art from Tales of Suspense No. 39 set a new record for original comic art.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
A single page that helped launch Iron Man has sold for $3,875,000, setting a new world record for original comic book art, according to Heritage Auctions.
The auction house said the Don Heck artwork from page 1 of Marvel’s Tales of Suspense No. 39 went under the hammer Friday. The March 1963 comic marked the first appearance of Iron Man, one of Marvel Comics’ best-known heroes.
Heritage Auctions described the piece as the original artwork that first introduced readers to the character. The sale price pushed it past the previous record for a piece of original comic art.
Joe Mannarino, Heritage Auctions’ New York-based director of comics and comic art, said in a news release that the page combined a standout image with a historically important comic. He also said only a small number of early Marvel splash pages are known to still exist, making the arrival of one at auction a serious event for collectors.
According to Mannarino, the bidding stayed fierce even after the price climbed beyond $3 million. He said six bidders were still competing at that point, driving the final total to its record mark.
The old benchmark stood at $3,360,000, Heritage Auctions said. That record was set in January 2022 by Mike Zeck artwork from 1984’s Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars No. 8.
That Zeck page is tied to another major Marvel milestone: the first appearance of Spider-Man’s black costume, according to the auction record cited by Heritage. The costume later became one of the most recognizable looks connected to the Spider-Man mythos.
The Iron Man page now sits at the top of the original comic art market, according to Heritage Auctions’ announcement. The sale adds another headline-grabbing price to the high-end collectibles world, where early superhero material and key character debuts can draw intense bidding.
UPI reported the sale July 13, citing Heritage Auctions’ announcement and Mannarino’s comments in the auction house’s news release.
This story draws on original reporting from UPI.