Best Photos of the Day

Heritage Auctions’ $20.3-million Comics & Comic Art event, held Jan. 11-14, contained more records than a jukebox. Chief among their impressive ranks was one of only two copies of The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 graded CGC Near Mint/Mint 9.8, which realized a record-setting $1,380,000. Spider-Man wasn’t the lone seven-figure superhero in this auction: One of only two copies of Superman No. 1 graded Fine/Very Fine 7.0 soared to $2.34 million, close to a record high for the first issue of the Man of Steel’s solo book.

A bidding war over the single highest-graded copy of 1942’s All Star Comics No. 8, featuring the debut of Wonder Woman, drove its final price to $1.5 million at Heritage Auctions.

Glenn Fabry’s cast portrait that appeared on the cover of Preacher No. 56, realized $27,600 at Heritage Auctions.

Among the most most coveted lots at Heritage Auctions was one of comicdom’s most defining moments: 1956’s Showcase No. 4, which kicked off the Silver Age by introducing Barry Allen’s Flash. A bidding war helped that historic book, graded Near Mint+ 9.6, race to its final price of $900,000, smashing the previous high of $179,250.

Not far behind was the world’s highest-graded copy of The Brave and the Bold No. 28, in which the Justice League of America debuted. A stunning Near Mint+ copy realized a record-setting $810,000, shattering its previous highwater mark.

And Hulk smash! Auction records, anyway, thanks to the nicest copy of Incredible Hulk No. 1 Heritage Auctions has ever offered.

John Romita Sr.’s unforgettable cover of The Amazing Spider-Man No. 87, which concluded a long-running storyline in which Peter Parker appeared to be losing his powers. That iconic image sparked a bidding war at Heritage Auctions that resulted in a final price of $210,000.

Page 9 from Daredevil No. 181 set a new auction record for a page from Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s historic, influential run on The Man Without Fear when it sold for $156,000 at Heritage Auctions.

Frank Frazetta, still the title-holder for the maker of the most valuable work of comic or fantasy art ever made, made his mark in this event when his 1972 painting Snake Bit realized $186,000.

Grant Morrison and Brian Bolland’s Animal Man also roared in this auction when Bolland’s original cover for Animal Man No. 1 realized $102,000.