Iron Man Debut Breaks Comic Art Auction Record

The original Don Heck artwork introducing Tony Stark’s superhero persona Iron Man on page 1 of Tales of Suspense No. 39 from March 1963 has set a new auction price record for original comic art, going for $3,875,000 in Heritage Auctions’ Comic Art sale.

“A fantastic image and a historic book combine for a record price,” said Joe Mannarino, Heritage Auctions’ New York-based Director of Comics & Comic Art. “Very few of the early Marvel splash pages are known to exist. When one shows up, the market is ready to react.” 

Bidding was highly competitive, with six different bidders continuing to vie for the page even after it passed the $3m mark.

The sale price overtakes 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.