Original Art from Marvel’s 1970s Comic Books to Auction at Hake's

Hake’s' March 25-26 auction will showcase a selection of original art including Howard Chaykin’s original pen-and-ink page art from issue #1 of the Star Wars comic book. 

This July 1977 book was the first of six issues in a series published by Marvel as a print adaptation of the film Star Wars: A New Hope. Composed of seven panels on Page 16 representing two crucial scenes from the film, it features famous characters in six of the panels, including Darth Vader, ad the Jawas’ Sand-Crawler. The text is nearly identical to the movie’s dialogue, including Vader’s line “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” It is its first-ever appearance at auction with an open estimate and a required starting bid of $10,000.  

From the same private collection is Gil Kane’s original pencil art for issue #7 (March 22, 1978) of Marvel’s UK Star Wars Weekly comic book series. The British arm of Marvel reprinted their American counterpart’s Star Wars comic series identically, but in smaller segments spread over 12 issues as opposed to the six issues published in the US. For this reason, some of the British covers are unique to the UK print run. 

The auction artwork depicts a pivotal film scene in which Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, both in Stormtrooper armor, are trapped in the Death Star garbage compactor along with Princess Leia and Chewbacca. A printer job stamp features the initials of both Kane and Tony DeZuniga, who inked the page. Believed to be the only original Star Wars cover art from a Marvel UK adaptation issue ever to come to auction, it has an estimate of $20,000-$35,000.

In total, Hake’s will auction eight pieces of original 1970s “published” Star Wars art. Within this grouping are two other Howard Chaykin pages from the 6-issue US adaptation, as well as two other UK Star Wars Weekly covers from later issues than the Gil Kane #7 cover.

Other highlights include:

• original box-lid art created for 1966 Aurora kits featuring Captain America and The Incredible Hulk (estimate: $20,000-$35,000 each)
• an Amazing Spider-Man #667 retailer incentive variant comic book published by Marvel in October 2011 with Gabriele Dell’Otto cover art, signed by story author Dan Slott and interior-page artist Humberto Ramos (estimate: $10,000-$20,000)
• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue of TMNT comic book #1 published by Mirage Studios in May 1984, a first issue, first printing from a run of approximately 3,000 issues, and has a wraparound cover. The storyline includes the origin and first appearance of the Turtles, as well as Shredder and Splinter, story and art are by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird (estimate: $10,000-$20,000)