An Archive of His Unprecedentedly Influential Comics
various: DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, etc. 1978-1998. First Edition. Wrappers. 50 vols. All 1st editions, all 1st printings. The first 20 years of Frank Miller’s transmutational comic book take on the art of noir, accented with his dramatic shadows and edges, illustrating tales that were more sinister and perilous than ever before. The first book is CGC slabbed and graded very fine 8.5, but 38 of the others are CGC slabbed and graded mint state 9.6 or 9.8. The other 11 (the least valuable) are ungraded but they are all mint state too. Dark Knight III is signed on the cover by Miller, in gold ink, with his sketch of Batman. It’s also signed by Brian Azzarello, Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson, and not many were signed by all 4. Warlord #18 (Miller’s first Marvel appearance in 1978) is also signed. And we add to this archive, 3 unique, original, setting copy, color cromalin proof sheets (16 1/2” X 23 1/2”), 2 of them for The Dark Knight Returns #2, and 1 for #4 (Dark Knight Falls), both 1986. All 3 are game used, but near fine, with the printer’s handwritten notes. fine. Item #475
It’s not a proprietary Biblioctopus company secret that comic books are books. Nor that the 10 most valuable postmodern books, of any kind, are all comics, led by Amazing Fantasy #15 with an auction record of $1.1 million (graded 9.6). In this ascending and insurgent comic arcade, what we offer here is a cozy move to a position in that market, piloted by Miller, whose (for 1 example) black and white cover drawing for The Dark Knight Returns #2, sold for $478,000 in 2013.
Comic books were first aimed at children who like to know that their heroes will triumph, and are open to learning that damaged villains are dangerous because they know they can survive. These days comics generate billion dollar movies, and, in both print and film, they remain low level, but highly prized, diversion across all social classes, but especially for the perpetually unemployed, so they won’t demand mad luxuries like cookies and windows. However, if most book readers won’t read comics and most comic readers won’t read books, there’s little use in my identifying the great and separating them from the good, and here is some support for that. In a recent study on how trends impact the growth of both illiteracy and apathy in the U. S. today, sociologists report that 85% of Americans, under the age of 30, identify the main value of learning as the ability to read social media, and 101% of American pot smokers don’t care.
Now, beyond all that, if you are one of those people who hate seeing comic books in rare book catalogs, you can try voodoo. Go paint my name on the back of a beetle and feed it to a meerkat.
Price:
$6,800.00