ComicLink is actively seeking consignments for what is sure to be one of their most high profile auctions of the of the year, the Summer Featured Auction. This auction, which begins in late August, has a number of stellar comic books and original art pieces already consigned, and many more are coming, so updates will be added frequently. Interested sellers that would like to be a part of this auction can get in touch with ComicLink as soon as possible to reserve placement, as auction slots tend to fill up quickly for some items. Sellers may contact ComicLink by emailing buysell@comiclink.com or by calling (617) 517-0062 (option 1) to speak with Josh Nathanson, Douglas Gillock, Jason Crosby, Jon Signorelli, or Ross Kearney.

Some early highlights of the Summer Featured Auction comic book offerings include Silver Age Marvel keys such as Amazing Spider-Man #1 (second Spider-Man, first Jameson) CGC 8.0, #16 (first Daredevil crossover) CGC 9.8, #24 CGC 9.6, and #50 (first Kingpin) CGC 9.6, Avengers #1 (first Avengers) CGC 8.5 and #4 (first Silver Age Captain America) CGC 9.4, Captain America #100 (first issue) CGC 9.8, Doctor Strange #169 (first issue, 1968) CGC 9.8, Fantastic Four #1 (first Fantastic Four) CBCS 6.5, #4 (first Silver Age Sub-Mariner) CBCS 9.2, #5 (first Doctor Doom) CGC 9.0, and #13 (first Watcher) CGC 9.4, and Incredible Hulk #1 (first Hulk and origin) CGC 6.0. Marvel early Bronze Age keys include Amazing Spider-Man #129 (first Punisher) CGC 9.8, Conan the Barbarian #1 (first Conan in comics) CGC 9.8, Ghost Rider #1 (1973, first Daimon Hellstrom) CGC 9.8, Iron Man #55 (first Thanos and Drax) CGC 9.8, and Tomb of Dracula #10 (first Blade) CGC 9.8 Signature Series (highest graded, one of two).

DC Silver Age offerings include a significant comic book that comes from the newly coined John G. Fantucchio Pedigree. It’s the first appearance of the Teen Titans in Brave and the Bold #54 CGC 9.8 which is the single highest graded. In the 17 years since CGC started grading, this is the first time this Silver Age key has ever been awarded the Near Mint/Mint 9.8 grade. The Titans have been one of DC’s top franchises for decades. It’s recently been announced that a live action Titans TV series will be added to DC’s new, subscription digital TV service that will launch in 2018 starting with 13 episodes, many written by superstar comic writer and now DC President Geoff Johns.

There are also some stunning high grade examples from the Silver Age Justice League of America run, most of which come from the Fantucchio Pedigree collection and feature bright bold colors and white pages. Highlights include Justice League of America #1 CGC 7.5 Fantucchio, #7 CBCS 9.6 (single highest graded), #41 (first Key) CGC 9.8 Fantucchio (highest graded, one of two), #48 (80-page Giant, classic Batman cover) CGC 9.8 Fantucchio (highest graded, one of two), #63 CGC 9.8 Fantucchio (highest graded, one of three), #64 (first Red Tornado) CGC 9.8 Fantucchio, #67 (Giant, classic Adams cover) CGC 9.6 Fantucchio, and #75 (Black Canary joins, gains sonic powers and begins relationship with Green Arrow) Fantucchio (highest graded, one of two).

Other Silver Age DC keys offered are Detective Comics #359 (first Batgirl/Barbara Gordon) CGC 9.2, Flash #139 (first Reverse Flash) CGC 9.0, and Hawkman #4 (first Zatanna) CGC 9.4. Early Bronze Age DC keys include Batman #234 (first Modern Two-Face by Adams) CGC 9.8, #244 (classic Batman vs. Ras Al Ghul cover by Adams) CGC 9.8, and #251 (classic Joker cover/story by Adams) CGC 9.8, as well as House of Secrets #92 (first Swamp Thing) CGC 9.6.

Some early Golden Age highlights include Archie Comics #1 CGC 3.0, Batman #11 (first Joker cover in Batman title) CGC 7.5, Comic Cavalcade #16 (Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern cover) CGC 9.4 Ohio pedigree (single highest graded), Detective Comics #6 (rare 1937) CGC 6.5, #67 (first Penguin cover) CGC 7.0, and #140 (first Riddler) CGC 7.0, Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics #nn (1933, considered by historians to be the first true American comic book) CBCS 7.0, Incredible Science Fiction #33 (last EC color comic, classic Wood cover) CGC 9.6 Gaines File (highest graded, one of three), Marvel Mystery Comics #24 (Schomburg cover) CGC 9.2 and #71 (Schomburg cover) CGC 9.4, Nelvana #nn (the “Action Comics #1” of Canadian Whites) CGC 5.0, Phantom Lady #17 (Baker cover) CGC 7.0, Superman #17 (classic Superman vs. Hitler and Hirohito cover) CGC 8.0, Weird Fantasy #17 CGC 9.4 Gaines File, Weird Science #10 Gaines File CGC 9.4, #17 CGC 9.4, #21 CGC 9.4, and #22 CGC 9.4, and Wonder Comics #15 (classic Schomburg airbrush cover) CGC 9.0.

Late Bronze Age and Modern Era highlights so far include Love and Rockets #1 CGC 9.6 (single highest graded), Miracleman #15 (epic battle and “Death” of Kid Miracleman) CGC 9.9 (highest graded, one of two), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (first printing, first Turtles) CGC 8.0.

“The Summer Featured Auction is shaping up to have one of the very best comic related original art offerings in ComicLink’s many years of auctioning artwork. There are signficant number of major highlights, and there’s more still coming in,” ComicLink founder and President Josh Nathanson said.

ComicLink is offering a highly desired rarity within the comics hobby. “We are auctioning a rare Bernie Wrightson signed original ‘Frankenstein's Monster’ plate published in the landmark A Marvel Illustrated Novel, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein,” Nathanson said. “Produced over a seven-year period, Wrightson created this masterful work during his peak period in the 1970s and early 1980s, for the legendary adaptation of Frankenstein that eventually saw publication in 1983. Few Wrightson Frankenstein plates were completely finished, fewer still were selected to be published in this book, and of those far fewer contain images of the Frankenstein Monster. There are only 44 illustrations in total in the book and of those, a mere 16 depict the monster. This one, published on page 88, is the first depiction of the monster after the story shifts to being told from the monster's perspective. Pages from this work rarely come to market and this is one of the very best from this classic example of graphic storytelling.”

ComicLink is offering the original Frank Frazetta oil painting for the Tales From the Crypt #1 Ballantine Book (1964), which is one of the earliest ‒ if not the earliest ‒ horror-themed oil paintings by the great Frazetta. “Nine years after Bill Gaines was forced to shelve EC Comics’ horror, crime, and sci-fi titles due to creative restrictions enforced by the Comics Code Authority, Ballantine reprinted a number of the original tales in five volumes published between 1964 and 1966: Tales from the Crypt (1964), The Vault of Horror (1965), Tales of the Incredible (1965), The Autumn People (1965), and Tomorrow Midnight (1966). Frazetta, who had worked briefly for EC in the 1950s, painted the covers for the entire series. Note the ‘Frank Frazetta’ on the tombstone, rather than his usual ‘Frazetta’ signature ‒ is it the only time he signed differently? The oils on this prime era piece is pure Frazetta genius, right down to the ground around the hands, which give off a phosphorescent glow,” Nathanson said.

ComicLink is auctioning a second Frazetta piece, an amazing Frazetta science fiction oil painting. This is one that the master fantasy and science fiction artist created in 1970 as an advertisement for Doubleday Books. “The piece features a wonderful selection of classic Frazetta motifs including science fiction, sexy women, barbarians, alien landscapes, spaceships, dinosaurs and even an amazing frog,” Nathanson said. “The text is a celebration of the science fiction genre and explains that the first science fiction story was written 1,800 years ago and featured frogs on the moon, providing context for this illustration. The piece has a wonderful 1950s vibe to it. We've never seen anything quite like it by Frazetta previously!”

Another huge original art piece in the Summer Featured Auction is the Neal Adams cover for Justice League of America #92 (1971) featuring Adams’ epic depiction of Solomon Grundy raising a defeated Superman over his head, having taken out the rest of the Justice League and the Justice Society. “This is Adams’ only Solomon Grundy cover from his peak era and it’s an incredible piece. With Grundy looking very likely to appear on the hit show Gotham starting in a couple of months, the swamp monster is poised to skyrocket in popularity among a new generation of fans real soon,” Nathanson said.

One of the original art highlights of this auction, or any auction for that matter, is the historic cover for Uncanny X-Men #266, featuring the first appearance of Gambit, drawn by the extraordinary Andy Kubert. “This is one of the most significant Modern Era covers ever to come onto the auction market! Gambit was a shining star from the beginning of his career as an X-Men and he may just go supernova once the planned Gambit film franchise with Channing Tatum finally gets off the ground,” Nathanson said. “Fox has just announced several dates for upcoming unnamed films, and speculation is that one of those will be Gambit. Though the Gambit movie been in the works for awhile, keep in mind the Deadpool movie took years to get off the ground, and we all know how huge that was when it hit!”

Another special original art offering is the complete Graham Ingels Tales From the Crypt story. This 7-page EC classic comes from Tales From the Crypt #46 (1955), the final issue of the historic run. The story, “Tatter Up!” is one of the more memorable stories narrated by the Old Witch in EC's most famous horror title. As one of Ingels’ last stories before his EC career was cut short by the censorship that resulted in the Comics Code Authority, it shows the original master of the macabre at the full bloom of his talents, showcasing why he's still considered to be the greatest horror comic book artist ever by many fans.

Other original art highlights from the Summer Focused Auction include Art Adams Avengers Classic #7 cover; Neal Adams Brave and the Bold #85 unused Batman and Green Arrow cover from the landmark issue that introduced Adams’ revamped Green Arrow; Charlie Adlard The Walking Dead #150 cover featuring a bloodied Rick Grimes; John Byrne Action Comics #593 cover featuring the infamous Superman and Big Barda scene; Mike Deodato Incredible Hulk #62 and #69 covers; George Evans Haunt of Fear #15 complete 7-page story; David Finch Warlord of Mars #1 cover; Hal Foster Prince Valiant Sunday pages; Dale Keown the cover for the popular Spider-Gwen #1, the cover for Future Imperfect #1 featuring the return of the future version of the Hulk known as the Maestro, and a page from the landmark Incredible Hulk #377; Greg Land Marvel 75th Anniversary Magazine cover featuring loads of heroes; and Todd McFarlane/Greg Capullo Spawn #33 multiple pages offered separately and McFarlane Wolverine #6 back cover featuring the only maskless Logan cover art by Todd from his prime era.

Additional original art includes Frank Miller Daredevil #184 page from the historic run; Tony Moore The Walking Dead #2 page featuring Rick Grimes from extremely early in the landmark saga; George Pérez Infinity Gauntlet #1 key page where Thanos wields the Infinity Gauntlet and prepares to kill half the population of the universe and Marvel Tales #261 cover featuring Spider-Man vs. the Hobgoblin; Stephen Platt Prophet #9 cover; John Romita Amazing Spider-Man #68 page featuring Spidey in action plus the Kingpin and Daredevil #105 cover featuring Moondragon’s origin and first cover appearance; John Romita Jr. Daredevil The Man Without Fear #1 cover from the landmark 1993 miniseries with Al Williamson inks; Stephane Roux Secret Origins #4 complete 12-page Harley Quinn origin story; and Jim Starlin Iron Man #55 page from the historic first Drax issue featuring Iron Man and Drax battling the Blood Brothers and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 page from the landmark finale of the “Thanos Saga” with the Avengers fighting Thanos.

ComicLink is also taking consignments for the September Focused Auction (a preview will post soon). Interested sellers are encouraged to get in touch as soon as possible to reserve placement, as auction slots tend to fill up quickly for some items. Sellers may contact ComicLink by emailing buysell@comiclink.com or by calling (617) 517-0062 (option 1) to speak with Josh Nathanson, Douglas Gillock, Jason Crosby, Jon Signorelli, or Ross Kearney.

Consignment Director Jason Crosby and Sales Consultant Ross Kearney will be at the upcoming Boston Comic-Con on August 11-13, meeting with clients and accepting consignments for upcoming auctions. ComicLink will be set up at booth 234 if you would like to stop by to see them.

In addition to auctioning items for consignors, ComicLink is also always accepting new sellers for the ComicLink exchange marketplaces, brokering private placement deals, and buying outright.