In the big-ticket world of pop-culture memorabilia, there are rare items and then there are the unearthed treasures that make collectors gasp. One such piece is about to hit the auction block: the original artwork to the very first appearance of Flash Gordon from the 1930s.
One of the most significant pieces of original art from the Golden Age of comic strips to surface in the modern era, the 87-year-old art will be auctioned on March 31 by Profiles in History. The pencil and ink artwork from creator Alex Raymond was published on January 7, 1934, the day the strip debuted. It features the first appearance of Flash and his love interest Dale Arden, and the beginning of their space-faring adventures. Pre-auction estimates suggest it could sell for more than $500,000.
“It may be the most important piece of Golden Age comic art to exist,” notes Brian Chanes, the Head of Consignments and Auctions for Profiles in History. “It’s the first appearance. You can’t overstate its importance.”
Original art from this time frame is impossibly rare. This was back when the art from comic strips and comic books was considered production afterthoughts; most pages would be destroyed or tossed in the trash. The fact that the original art for the debut of an iconic character has survived only adds to the piece’s uniqueness.
For comparison’s sake, the oldest surviving cover art from the granddaddy of comic book heroes — Superman — is thought to be the cover to Action Comics #15. There is one page of art from Marvel Comics #1 known to have survived. For art collectors, the discovery of the very first Flash Gordon art is the comics equivalent to digging up the Ark of the Covenant. It’s that big a deal.
It is also “fresh to market,” which is how collectors refer to pieces that have been buried in private collections and never surfaced publicly. It belonged to a collector who wasn’t active in the art collecting community. His wife reached out to the auction house and mentioned she had some Flash Gordon artwork. “She sent over some images and my jaw just hit the floor,” says Chanes.
Certain telltale details confirmed the art’s authenticity. For one thing, the oversized illustration board the art is drawn on is period-accurate, from the 1930s. “Also, at the end of the last panel you see the [strip] King Features Syndicate, dated 1933, because that’s when it was drawn, not published,” notes Chanes. “There are color pencil markings. And the toning of the art board matched the age.”
The same collector also had the original art to the very first Jungle Jim strip which ran as a “topper” to the Flash Gordon adventure. A topper was the name given to a smaller comic strip that ran above a higher profile Sunday strip.
Flash Gordon the character has fallen off the mainstream radar in recent years, aside from a short-lived TV revival on the SYFY network and Dynamite Comics’ ongoing comics series. But his impact on pop culture is immeasurable. Raymond’s creation influenced everyone from Superman to George Lucas, who at one point wanted to use his American Graffiti-acquired filmmaking muscle to adapt the 1940s Flash Gordon movie serials. When that stalled, he moved on to create a certain franchise named Star Wars. Even the costume for DC Comics’ Hawkman was reportedly inspired by the design of the Hawkmen characters from the Flash Gordon strip.
You would be excused if, when reading this, you are inspired to quote Indiana Jones and proclaim, “It belongs in a museum!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art won the auction for this? It would be rather poetic for the Flash Gordon artwork to end up in a museum started by the guy whose own legendary sci-fi franchise owes so much to the space-faring hero.
Even for the auction house that once sold the carpet bag from Mary Poppins and last year auctioned Bernie Wrightson’s legendary Frankenstein illustration for $1.2M, the discovery of Flash Gordon’s debut artwork was a big deal. “The only other time I’ve been as excited was when the captain’s chair from the original Star Trek series turned up,” says Chanes. “But this one takes the cake.”
For more information on the Flash Gordon strip and other auctions, head over to Profiles in History.
Source: IGN.com Long Lost Golden Age Comic Art Expected to Sell for Half a Million Dollars