Dave Gibbons first Watchmen cover among latest Heritage Auctions art offerings

By John Freeman on February 5, 2019

There’s a host of art by British artists featured in the upcoming Heritage Auctions Comic Art Signature Auction, taking place over 21st – 23rd February 2019 in Dallas – and a number of covers created for early Marvel UK comics by American artists.

Rubbing shoulders with Krazy Kat art by George Herriman, newspaper strips by Alex Raymond and art by Wally Wood, and a massive offering of individual US comics, probably one of the major lots is Dave Gibbons cover for Watchmen #1, with the current lead bid at $110,000

Truly ground-breaking, the series had an effect on the industry that is still felt to this day, over 30 years later, this cover was evocative of the story being told, and like the pages of the story itself, it hid several secrets. Dave Gibbons used symbolism in this work in both bold and subtle ways. The drip of blood on the smiley face button is evocative of the hands of a clock striking 12, as “time running out” was a recurrent theme of the entire series.

There’s another spread of art from Watchmen in the auction too – pages from Watchmen #2 featuring The Comedian and Doctor Manhattan ($17.000) and Watchmen #3 – and other Dave Gibbons art that includes a two-page “Future Shock” from a 1982 issue of 2000AD, “Skirmish”.

A Green Lantern by Brian Bolland, for #131, is also up for grabs, as is his cover for Camelot 3000 #8 – but you’ll need at least $5000 to snag the latter!

Covers and splash pages commissioned for Marvel UK in the auction include John Buscema and Tom Palmer‘s art for Mighty World of Marvel #222 featuring Daredevil; a Michael Golden and Dave Hunt (attributed) splash page for Super Spider-Man #226 featuring the Avengers, commissioned to provide a more dramatic opener for a story that was broken into smaller parts for the weekly comic, originally published at a greater extent in the US; Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott’s Hulk cover for Mighty World of Marvel #5; and their cover for MWOM #19 featuring the Fantastic Four.

There’s also Preacher art by Steve Dillon, Excalibur art by Alan Davis and Paul Neary, and a Tank Girl page for Deadline #3 by Jamie Hewlett – and a Groo card by none other than Simon Bisley!

• Heritage Auctions Comic Art Signature Auction takes place over 21st – 23rd February 2019 in Dallas – you can bid online but registration is required

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.