Heritage recently launched a signature auction with 90 original works of comic book art from the Keif Fromm Collection. While the collection includes many original art works from the Golden Age original works of art (including, for example, the original cover art for Frank Frazetta's The Ghost Rider #5), it's likely that an issue from the Copper Age -- the original cover art from Batman #423 -- will steal the spotlight. With a current bid of $512,500, it's currently sitting at the top of the signature auction:
I actually wrote about this issue back in late August when I was comparing the sales the values of CGC-graded copies of this issue versus PSA-graded copies (at the time, the two were competitive with one another). From a collector's viewpoint, this issue isn't valuable because it contains the first appearance of a major character; rather, the cover by Todd McFarlane alone drives demand among collectors. McFarlane drew this cover before he became an absolute superstar while penciling the Amazing Spider-Man. The cover is, of course, most famous for Batman's dramatic and exaggerated cape -- the cape almost looks like it has a life of its own. We'd see a variation of this cape later when McFarlane created Spawn for Image Comics. Its gothic style calls back to Neal Adams' cover for Batman #227 and Sheldon Moldoff's cover for Detective Comics #31. Like many of McFarlane's other iconic covers, this one has been homaged many times.
One of the few issues with the collectibility of Todd McFarlane related keys are the sheer number of copies that tend to be available for each issue. For instance, you could make the case that Amazing Spider-Man #300 is perhaps the most significant key issue of the Copper Age; however, it is far from the most valuable because it is the most commonly graded CGC book of all-time -- CGC graded this book nearly 40,000 times. Too much supply can't be an issue with original art, however; the original cover that McFarlane drew for Batman #423 is a one-of-one.
Because there are few comparables, it's difficult to predict the value of this one-of-a-kind item. As I've written about before, there are very few comic book-related collectibles that have exceeded a sales value of $1M. The most expensive comic-related item that ever sold was a CGC 8.5 Pedigree copy of Action Comics #1 that sold for $6M on Heritage on April 4, 2024. To my knowledge, the most expensive original artwork that ever sold was pg. 25 from Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 (the first time we see Spider-Man in the black alien costume) which sold for an unbelievable $3.36M on Heritage back in 2022 towards the tail end of the "comic boom." As more recent examples, the original artwork for the first Deadpool story page from New Mutants #98 sold for $960,000 back in late 2024, the original artwork for the cover for Amazing Spider-Man #194 sold for $1.02M in January 2025, and the first in-story appearance of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39 sold for "only" $504,000 in April 2025. Way back in 2012, the original cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #328 sold for $657,250.
So what will the original cover art for Batman #423 sell for? It seems as though the sales prices for original art is trending downwards; however, the current bid is already $512,500 with days to go. It's already exceeded the original art for the first in-story appearance of Iron Man. You'd think it would likely exceed the $657,250 sale for the original cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #328 when you factor in inflation and the fact that sale wasn't impacted by the comic boom. Batman #423 is also a much more famous cover. Accordingly, I'm going to estimate this book sells in the $850,000 to $1M range.
