Auction highlights: Frazetta, Zelda, pre-code comic cover art

Heritage Auction's upcoming comic art convention has lots of drool-worthy items on the block, including:

  • Lee Elias' cover for Chamber of Chills #19 (1955) — "One of the all-time greatest covers-not only for all Golden Age horror, but for the entire history of comics — that portends the coming of death and which burned an indelibly lasting impression on the minds of kids growing up in the early 1950s." Current did: $52,500
  • The Legend of Zelda for NES Nintendo (1987) — "To see a factory sealed copy in this sort of condition feels borderline surreal. Earlier this year in our April – May Signature Auction, we offered a Wata 9.4 copy with an A seal rating that realized a staggering and historic all-in price of $33,600. With that in mind, we can only imagine the sort of cut-throat competition a copy in this near mint state will inspire when it crosses the auction block." Current bid: $10,000
  • Frazetta's personal version of his The Princess of Mars (1970) == "This is the piece upon which Tom Jung modeled the first Star Wars poster – the one with Luke Skywalker wielding a lightsaber, Princess Leia at his knee, Darth Vader's helmet looming behind them like a sunset. The Princess of Mars is the piece upon which countless science fiction and fantasy artists built their careers. Its echo resounds five decades later like a shot just fired." Current bid: $120,000