Spider-Man art from 1984 Marvel Comics series breaks record at $3.36M

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- An auction house said a Marvel Comics page featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man's iconic black costume sold for a record-breaking $3.36 million.

Heritage Auctions said the original artwork by Mike Zeck, which became page 25 of Secret Wars No. 8 in 1984, is now the world's most valuable page of original comic book artwork after being auctioned for $3.36 million.

The page featured the first appearance of Spider-Man's black costume, an alien symbiote who went on to form half of the villain -- and sometimes anti-hero -- Venom.

"We could not be happier, especially for our consignor, who bought the art in the late 1980s and treasured these pages ever since," Joe Mannarino, Heritage Auctions' New York Director of Comics & Comic Art, said in a news release.

The results "prove what we've long been saying: Comic book art is as beloved and valuable as anything put on canvas."

Heritage said Spider-Man already was the star of the most expensive comic book ever sold, after a copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15, the web-slinging hero's first appearance, sold for $3.6 million in 2021.