Posted in: Comics | Tagged: auction, blue lotus, Eerie, tintin

Tintin Original Art Sells For $3.1 Million – But It's Not A Record

The Associated Press is reporting that a Tintin comic book cover by Herge sold at auction last week for 2.6 million euros or $3.1 million, "breaking the record for the most expensive comic book art in history." They are wrong, of course. Fake news. As it were.

The painting used was the basis of the cover for The Blue Lotus, the fifth Tintin comic book collection was created in 1936, in Chinese ink, gouache. However, it was considered too hard and costly to reproduced for publisher Casterman to reproduce with the four-colour printing technique. and was redrawn by Herge for the eventual cover to look a little simpler – and wackier. Herge gave the rejected version to his publisher's young son, Jean-Paul Casterman and it had remained with the family ever since, until now. The work is actually one of only five known direct-colour drawings by Hergé. "Owing to its uniqueness, this masterpiece of comic art deserves its world record and confirms that the comic-strip market is in excellent health," Eric Leroy, the auction house's comic expert, said in a statement.

The reported price by the Artcurial auction house does not yet include auction fees. An earlier Tintin auction sale for a number of Tintin comic book covers sold for 2.6 million euros, but that included auction fees. That was reported as selling for $3.4 million, but that's because the dollar is priced lower against the euro now.

However, both pieces were outmatched by Frank Frazetta's cover to Eerie #23, which recently sold at auction for $5.4 million – and no matter how much the dollar has dropped against the euro, that is significantly higher. Frank Frazetta beats Herge for now.

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