Frank Frazetta’s painting dark kingdom (1976) fetched some $6 million at the Heritage auction on Thursday, becoming the world’s most valuable work of comic book or fantasy art. It broke a record that had stood for three years, set by the same artist in the same house.
Showing an axe-wielding buff warrior wearing a winged helmet, stepping over human skeletons, with what appears to be a dragon’s tail weaving in the foreground, the image has been featured on prints, posters, mugs coffee and T-shirts, placing it among the artist’s most reproduced works, according to the auction house.
The painting appeared on the cover of the rock band Molly Hatchett’s double-platinum record in 1979 Flirting with disaster, whose title single reached no. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980. It was also featured on the cover of Karl Edward Wagner’s 1976 fantasy novel dark crusade.
“It is extremely rare for a work of art universally considered the best in any genre to be available on the open market,” says Todd Hignite, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions. “We are thrilled and proud that today’s record result reflects that status for this instantly recognizable image, which is seared into the consciousness of generations of Frazetta fans.”
At Frazetta egyptian queen (1969), which appeared on the cover of Strange magazine No. 23, previously held the record, having been sold to Heritage for $5.4 million. The auctioneer has sold several works by Frazetta for more than $1 million, including Merchant of Death 6 (1990) for $1.7 million and A princess from Mars (1970) for $1.2 million.
Fantastic art is spending a day in the sun. In 2020, Taschen published the 532-page illustrated book Fantasy art masterpieceswhich deals with artists ranging from old masters like Hieronymous Bosch to Frazetta, HR Giger and Boris Vallejo. The rise of film and television adaptations of comic books has also led to an animated comic book market, as Artnet News reported in 2022with dealerships making six-figure sales at events like Comic Con.
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