Published on: 10 August 2024 05:00 (EAT)
File photo: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of “Deadpool and Wolverine” in New York City, New York, U.S., July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/Archive photo
Deadpool, the loud-mouthed mercenary who creates big box office hits, could soon set a record at a comic book auction.
A cover artwork depicting Deadpool’s first appearance in the comics was auctioned at Heritage Auctions this week for $7.5 million (Ksh.967.5 million). If sold for that price, it will be the most valuable comic artwork ever sold.
The pencil drawings were created by writer and artist Rob Liefeld at the age of 23 for New Mutants #98, which was published in February 1991.
Liefeld does not own the artwork. He sold it to a collector 25 years ago, but said he is thrilled that the figure he created is doing so well financially.
“I just keep smiling,” Liefeld said of the auction.
Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool in the box office hit “Deadpool & Wolverine,” a film from Walt Disney-owned Marvel Studios. The film is considered the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, with over $879 million in worldwide ticket sales.
When New Mutants #98 came out in 1991, the comic book cost $1. Today, the original issues are among the most sought-after comics for collectors, and the books sell for between $350 and $55,000 on eBay.
“Selling artwork was part of my income at the time,” Liefeld told Reuters. “I sold it 25 years ago. I don’t regret it.”
Liefeld created Deadpool as a mix of Spider-Man and GI Joe. Immediately after his first appearance, Marvel Comics was inundated with fan mail.
“Marvel contacted me and said this was the most fan mail we’d gotten in 15 years about a new character,” Liefeld said. “They were inundated with letters, fan letters that they were sending me. And the box that this mail came in… I thought I was getting a washer and dryer,” he joked.
The current record holder at comic book auctions is a copy of Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman makes his first appearance, which also sold at Heritage Auctions earlier this year for $6 million.
