In which I continue my $6M Comics Shopping Spree
As you may recall, Action Comics #1 (DC, 1938) sold recently for $6M, breaking all previous records for a comic book sold at auction. The sale got me playing a fun “What if?” game in my head, like you do when you hear about big lottery winners. We all do that, right? You can grab a reasonable facsimile and enjoy this comic at home, and come along with me as I “spend” $6 million on comic art.
Action Comics Number 1, sold for $6 million, image courtesy Heritage Auctions
So, let’s say we’ve hit upon a Brewster’s Millions scenario where we must spend the $6M, and it must be spent on original comic art. Not $1M in comic art and $5M on a really nice house — all $6M on comic art. I’ll throw in a Blu-Ray of the excellent Richard Prior/ John Candy movie.
I will buy art I like, not things I only see as “an investment,” and talk about my selections. Art I want to hang on my walls and live with and enjoy. After spending $6M on original art, conservation funding, gallery space, and state-of-the-art storage will be added as a reward, so I don’t have to worry about it as I’m splashing out for big-ticket items and won’t let my museum curator brain get too distracted about planning and worrying about caring for it all longterm. I’ve worked in museums for over twenty years, so I can’t help but think about these things.
The Rules:
- The budget must be respected — I will only spend $6M and must spend all $6M.
- In the interest of transparency, I will only shop publicly. Gotta show those receipts. No bidding up the next cool thing to $6M and be done. No deals with a wink and a nod to pay $6M for something not worth anywhere near that and split the difference on the back end. Let’s keep this as above board as high-end art buying can be. [cough] (**My citation of a sale somewhere *is not* an endorsement to shop there for real.**)
- And let’s make the prices recent. No buying Jack Kirby art from a fanzine auction in 1972 and owning every piece by Jack Kirby to cross into private hands. So, let’s say anything purchased must be from any 2020 or more recent public sale. Also, no buying a whole comic shop for $6M.
- And lastly, as curator of the Schulz Museum, it would be a conflict of interest for me to buy any Peanuts art, so there will be no Charles M. Schulz art on this list, though it’d be a dream come true to own anything by him. This adds a lot more wiggle room in my budget, because Schulz’s art is not cheap!
Did I forget anything? Write me and let me. Ok, let’s go!
Edward Gorey
As we observe the 100th anniversary of the birth of Edward Gorey this year, I looked at my family calendar hanging in the kitchen, which is Edward Gorey themed, and I realized I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of his original art in person. I’ve seen so much of his work as book covers for all kinds of writers, as posters, and of course his own wonderful books, but not the original art. (The month of March on our calendar is the page from The Gashleycrumb Tinies, where “N is for Neville who died of ennui,” in case you were curious.)
Granted, Edward Gorey is not a “comic artist” in the strictest sense, but his illustrations have influenced so many who have come since, and are so singular, and deeply funny, I cannot skip having him in my dream collection. And, as collecting is a deeply personal endeavor, I’m including him. So, into the auction rooms we go, paddle in hand.
Apparently, there is not a ton of Gorey’s art in private hands. I know he was prolific, so I imagined there would be a lot of great work to choose from. Also, I am shocked at the low prices. Gorey is widely admired, and his work rarely comes to auctions. Even then, selling for very modest amounts is an eye-opener. Maybe because he is sold as “fine art” and not “comic art”? I sense that the comic art crowd would pay more for his art. I selected this piece because it makes me think of the swooning lady at the beginning of the PBS Mystery! series opening, which he also illustrated. I love that opening.
I love boilerplate return letters from authors to fans. I’ve seen some wonderful ones over the years, and would have sworn I had a blog post about some of the postcard versions that have come to light over the years, but I can’t find it. So, I’ll put that on my idea list for another time. Gorey’s delightful return boilerplate reply is perfect. Visually clever and spilling over with details that fans would delight in, and a place for his signature. I’ve never seen one of the replies — were these made? Did he send them?
The auction sales copy for this lot alone would have sold me on buying this piece without images of Gorey’s delicately drawn horrors and beasties.
My very favorite Gorey project might have to be the opening for Mystery! on WGBH/ PBS. This is his drawing for a t-shirt they did for the show. According to the handwritten instructions at the bottom right, the logo goes in the rectangle. A few of these old t-shirts are available on the collector market and command premiums themselves.
I love this piece. I love the linework, the suggestion of alternate dimensions/ realities around us all the time. That feeling you get when you wonder if you could look in a reflection and catch something unexpected. That’s part of why I love Gorey’s work.
They’ve fallen in love, but if you squint from across the room, it also makes an evil face. Perfect for when I’ve not had my first cup of coffee and I’m not wearing my glasses yet in the morning. [chef’s kiss]
I’ve always liked a little bit of spooky fun around Christmas. It’s a moody, ghosty time of year when it feels like the barriers between here and there, and where and nowhere grow thin. Gorey’s art falls into this liminal time and space for me, and having a little pretty, bright-colored paper featuring a plant that people claim is deadly but is actually simply lovely to look at, seems about perfect.
$4,873,300 – $117,500 = $4,755,800 remains to spend.
Did you miss Part 1 of this series? Go back here for my first post and watch me spend nearly $1 million on the art of Bill Watterson! Or maybe you’d like Part 2, where I threw a pile of money at the work of Winsor McCay! This post contains affiliate links.
About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.