Above you see Fred Ray’s patriotic 1942 cover to Superman #14 Arguably one of those crazy iconic covers that’s been homaged and or just straight up ripped off by a generation of comic artists.
The cover was from the collection of Jerry Robinson, the creator of The Joker (among many others) who is currently auctioning off his collection of original art. Unfortunately the highest bid for Supes #14 was $402,111 (US) but that wasn’t enough to top an auction house’s reserve price.
Also at auction, and also failing to meet its reserve price, was the original to Detective Comics #69, drawn by Robinson himself, for which bidding hit $213,000.
The Superman cover would have set a new world record for a piece of original comic-book art if the reserve at Comic Connect had been met. Because it failed to sell, the current record holder remains the cover to Weird Science-Fantasy #29 by Frank Frazetta, which sold for $380,000 in June.
Which makes us wonder—what WAS the reserve for that Superman cover? A kidney? A million clams? Just what does a guy like Jerry Robinson want?
I’d guess that the reserve on the Superman cover is $500K. Outrageous, but who needs a house when you have a piece of paper with Superman on it?
Robinson said in an interview he hopes these will be purchased and donated to the Smithsonian or similar museum. He would have liked to donate them himself but wants to make sure his family is well looked after once he’s gone.
No question there are iconic pieces of art and would be best served in a museum where everyone could enjoy them, but there are few who can afford such philanthropy.