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Death Dealer painting outshines Superman comic at auction

Posted May 10, 2018 7:00 am

The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) - Superman may be the Man of Steel, but he's no Death Dealer.

Comic books featuring the debuts of Superman, the Joker and Catwoman fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars at a Chicago auction Thursday, but the star was undoubtedly a painting by science fiction and fantasy artist Frank Frazetta.

Heritage Auctions says Frazetta's "Death Dealer 6" painting sold for a whopping $1,792,500 - a record for one of his paintings and three times the $600,000 it was expected to get.

A 1938 Action Comics #1 in which Superman debuted sold for $573,600 - not the $650,000 the auction house thought it might go for but still a nice payday for the collector who bought it for $50,000 15 years ago.

A Batman comic book from 1940 in which both the Joker and Catwoman debuted sold for $227,050.

This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions, HA.com, shows a vintage 1938 Action Comics #1 in which Superman made his debut. The comic sold at auction in Chicago on Thursday, May 10, 2018, for $573,600. (Emily Clements/Heritage Auctions, HA.com via AP) The Associated Press

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