Original Comic Art Announcing Death of Superman to Auction

Jon Bogdanove is auctioning his drawing that told the world Superman would die at Heritage Auction's April 4-7 Comics & Comic Art auction.

Bogdanove's original artwork - which featured the first appearance of the character called Doomsday - never appeared in a comic book but did make the cover of a trade magazine meant to get retailers interested in selling comic books, Advance Comics No. 47, published in November 1992.

Heritage sold Bogdanove’s original cover of the Death of Superman trade paperback for $204,000 in April 2022.  

“The idea that Superman could die resonated with the culture at the time, because if Superman can die, does that mean the ideas of truth, justice and the American way could die, too?” said Bogdanove, who has six original Superman works, including covers, in the auction.

Superman #75, which featured Superman's death, became the top selling comic of 1992 with more than six million copies sold, and the story ran through the Superman titles for the next year.