Historic Batman and Robin, Star Wars, and X-Men Covers Plus Frank Frazetta Art To Auction

Mort Meskin's original cover for 1941's Leading Comics No. 1, featuring the Seven Soldiers of Victory, and Fred Ray and Jerry Robinson's cover for Batman and Robin's Detective Comics No. 58 (inside which The Penguin waddled his first steps) lead Heritage Auctions' September 14-17 Comics & Comic Art auction.

Both covers hail from The Robinson Collection, so named for Ray's collaborator and the man who co-created Robin and the Joker. "Aside from being an outstanding artist, writer and entrepreneur, Jerry Robinson was a visionary," said Joe Mannarino, Heritage's New York-based Director of Comics and Comic Art. "He was among the first creators to sincerely appreciate the artists in the medium. Jerry worked alongside many of the top DC Golden Age artists, and when he saw an outstanding piece, he requested that it be returned from the printer so he could save it. Jerry accumulated the greatest-known collection of Golden and Silver Age art, and we are thrilled to offer two important examples from this remarkable collection."

From even earlier comes Alex Raymond's original Flash Gordon Sunday strip that ran in newspapers on June 18, 1939, along with the Jungle Jim topper that accompanied it. Raymond worked on Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim from their January 7, 1934, debut until Raymond joined the Marines in 1944.

Also going under the hammer is Rick Hoberg and Dave Cockrum's original cover of Star Wars No. 5,  the penultimate issue of Marvel Comics' adaptation of Lucas' film, which was written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. This issue, featuring the story Lo, the Moons of Yavin!, was published on August 10, 1977. An original cover from the first six issues of Star Wars has never been publicly offered.