Gil Kane and Brian Bolland Original Comic Cover Art at Hakes

Original comic art from Gene Colan, Gill Kane, and Brian Bolland plus sports and political memorabilia comes to auction later his month at Hakes.

Leading the online auction running July 29-30 is Brian Bolland’s signed original pen and ink cover art from an early run of 2000 AD, #197, featuring Judge Dredd (estimate: $35,000-$50,000). The book was released by Fleetway Publications on January 31, 1981, and its cover features an image of Judge Dredd being blown from his Lawmaster motorcycle as an atomic bomb explodes. It is particularly desirable because not all issues of 2000 AD depict the lead character, nor were they all created by Bolland, the British artist most closely associated with Dredd. To many Americans, this issue would have been their first exposure to the futuristic law enforcer. 

Also going under the hammer is Gil Kane’s original art for the cover of Star Wars Weekly #8 from Marvel UK’s 12-issue comic series that reprinted their American counterpart’s 6-issue Star Wars series (estimate: $20,000-$35,000). This art is unique to the UK because there was never a US version of this cover which portrays a fight between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, with C-3PO and R2-D2 in the background and Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca looking on. New to the market from a private collection, it is only the second cover artwork from a Marvel UK adaptation issue to come to auction. 

Gene Colan's pen and ink original art for cover of Sub-Mariner #11, Marvel, March 1969 features inks attributed to Dan Adkins and Marie Severin. The art shows Namor, the Sub-Mariner, racing across the ocean’s surface toward submarine’s periscope and contains extensive handwritten notes on margins, including instructions regarding coloring for cover (estimate: $20,000-$35,000).

Other highlights include:

• a copy of Wonder Woman #1 written by William Moulton Marston with art by HG Peter (esimate: $20,000-$35,000)
• a 1929 R316 Kashin Publications Babe Ruth baseball card clearly autographed (in 1932) showing Ruth in his Yankees uniform ready to swing at a pitch
• an Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson 1864 'National Union Ticket' fabric broadside with a 26-star American Flag and the names of 26 electors who represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that year, formerly in the collection of Rex and Patti Stark (estimate: $10,000-$20,000)