GOGOS, VAMPI STAR IN HERITAGE AUCTION

Heritage Auctions has released the catalog for its next Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, to be held May 10-11 in Dallas and online. While there are no monster movie magazines included this time, I'd say there are several items that will be of interest to MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD readers.

Basil Gogos is renowned and beloved for his FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND cover art. The original cover painting for FM #14 of Vincent Price in THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM is up for sale. It measures 8” x 11.5” and is done in acrylics on illustration board. Based on the catalog photo, the painting still looks beautiful after fifty years!

Serious VAMPIRELLA collectors as well as the more casual Vampi fans may want to check out the paintings of Drakulon’s favorite daughter by Enrique Torres (Enric). One is an oil on canvas recreation of Jose Gonzalez’s famous life-sized poster. There is also a slightly smaller pencil illustration of the same picture. The original cover art for VAMPIRELLA #110 is offered, featuring Vampi with Balazaar. In two other gorgeous works of art, Enric paints Vampi from behind, looking over her shoulder at the viewer, as she confronts a panther and a giant, furry monster. Enric painted covers for other Warren magazines, as well. His artwork for CREEPY #115 of an alien carrying a nearly-nude human woman is a striking example.

There are also a couple of copies of VAMPIRELLA #1 in very nice condition up for bid, also. They are CGC-graded and sealed, which is a great selling point, I suppose. I prefer to read my Warren mags instead of sealing them up.

When Orsatti Productions was planning a full-length animated feature of DRACULA in 1975, they commissioned character designs from the great Frank Frazetta. His Dracula and Van Helsing studies are offered in this auction. They are head shots done in watercolor and pencil and the Dracula picture is particularly creepy. If you have Frazetta’s LEGACY book, check out page 112 to see a copy.

Three more of the R. Crumb Monster Card messages from the 1965 Topps series are in this auction. Unlike previous catalogs, this time the catalog writer includes some decent descriptive information about the artwork. The pieces, all 3.5” x 4.75”, lack the photos with the punch line which made these cards funny. Apparently the drawings were placed in an album with black paper pages and have some black residue with small glue stains. Bummer! There is a huge selection of Crumb artwork in this auction and I am wondering if a good portion of it is from his personal collection.

There are at least 29 lots of pulp magazines, including several issues of the classic WEIRD TALES. A number of STRANGE TALES copies from the early 1930s contain stories by fantastic authors Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and Hugh B. Cave. HORROR STORIES, EERIE, and SPICY ADVENTURE are also represented.

Check out Heritage Auctions’ web site, HA.com, for more information and images. Just to be clear, I am not an employee of the auction house and none of the items mentioned are mine. I enjoy looking at this stuff and making plans for when I hit the Lotto! And I think it is of interest to other readers of MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD.