FRAZETTA ART SETS RECORD

The late, great Frank Frazetta has just become fantasy art's first six-million-dollar-man. Sold at auction on June 22, 2023 by Heritage, when the gavel dropped the highest bid was an even $6,000,000.

"Dark Crusade" was painted in 1976 for the Karl Edward Wagner Kane sword and sorcery paperback of the same name. Just two years later it was used for the album cover art for southern rock band, Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster", their all-time best seller.

This marks the highest ever paid for an original fantasy/comic book work of art.

All Hail the Master!

From the auctioneer:

Frank Frazetta’s 'Dark Kingdom' Sells For $6 Million to Rule the Record Books at Heritage Auctions

Artwork used on the covers of the novel Dark Crusade and Molly Hatchet's album Flirtin' With Disaster is now the world’s most valuable original work of comic book or fantasy art

DALLAS, Texas (June 22, 2023) — Frank Frazetta's 1976 painting Dark Kingdom sold Thursday at Heritage Auctions for $6 million, breaking the record for original comic book or fantasy art set in 2019 by Frank Frazetta.

Among the late artist's most potent and popular works, Dark Kingdom was first used as the cover of Karl Edward Wagner's 1976 novel Dark Crusade, one in a series of tales about the immortal pre-medieval warrior Kane. But it's far better known for its second appearance: as the album cover for Molly Hatchet's 1979 Flirtin' With Disaster, the Jacksonville, Florida, boogie rockers' second record.

"It's extraordinarily rare whenever an artwork universally considered the best in any genre becomes available on the open market," says Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Todd Hignite. "We're excited — and proud — that today's record-setting result reflects that status for this immediately recognizable image, which is burned into the consciousness of several generations of Frazetta fans."

Dark Kingdom depicts a brawny warrior wearing a winged helmet and wielding a blood-dripping ax as he steps over the skeletons of the fallen. It ranks among Frazetta's most reproduced works, from prints to posters to T-shirts to coffee mugs. But there is just one original, offered for the first time in Heritage's June 22-25 Comics & Comic Art Signature ® Auction, which kicked off Thursday with a first session that realized $11,079,240.

Dark Kingdom dethrones Frazetta's 1969 painting Egyptian Queen, which was used as the cover of Eerie magazine No. 23 that year. Heritage sold the work in 2019 for $5.4 million. One year earlier, his 1990 painting Death Dealer 6, featuring Frazetta's iconic armor-adorned warrior in a horned helmet, sold at Heritage for $1.7 million. Several other Frazetta works have also crossed the million-dollar mark at Heritage, including 1970's A Princess of Mars, which realized $1.2 million.

Frazetta was the Norman Rockwell of the swords-and-sorcery set, a man who could make the brutal look sexy and the sexy look dangerous. His posters have long been tacked up in the rooms of rockers who'd never read a single John Carter or Conan novel or thumbed through an issue of Eerie or Vampirella.

From the auction catalog:

LOT #91009 - Frank Frazetta Dark Kingdom Painting Original Art (1976). Originally titled "Dark Kingdom" by the artist, this painting was first published as the cover for Karl Edward Wagner's 1976 Kane series Dark Crusade novel. And in addition to being one of Frazetta's most popular prints, it has been a favored image in every Frazetta anthology, as well as being one of the most popular attractions at the Frazetta Museum for decades. After the success of showcasing the artist's painting "Death Dealer" on the cover of their self-titled first album, the band Molly Hatchet used this dynamic piece on the cover of their second (and all-time best selling) album "Flirtin' With Disaster" in 1979 -- so while all of Frazetta's best paintings from this peak era are immediately recognizable in the cultural consciousness, as one of his most popular and reproduced paintings of all time, this masterpiece in particular is hugely resonant.

Frank Frazetta is one of those artists whose effect has been felt in several different genres and even different media! His early comic book art in the 1940s-50s was already stunning and put him above his peers, and then his comic strip work further elevated his status. In the 1960's his work began to show up as paperback book covers as his bold imagery reinvented the entire fantasy genre for generations to come. This, in turn, lead to his work being used on Heavy Metal album covers in the 1970s, and during this time, his work also appeared on prints and posters, concert T-Shirts, and movie projects. So it is no wonder that his work is so popular today and commands such high prices. And this painting is an absolutely definitive image. Regardless of how his paintings are classified, possibly rivaled by only Norman Rockwell before him, Frazetta is a true American master.

Created in oil on 18" x 24" pressboard. Signed and dated in the lower right side of the image area, and open front framed to 25" x 31".

Condition report: the painting presents beautifully under natural light with no apparent visible condition issues throughout the background. Some craquelure visible on the leg (where the paint is thicker) and immediate surrounding areas. Slightly uneven varnish, notable in raking light. Under UV exam, a few very small dashes of inpaint are evident, and when removed from frame, minor frame abrasion along the extreme edges with a few minor flecks of loss, not visible in current framing. The painting has remained in the artist's family collection since created and is in typical overall Very Good condition -- a true masterpiece.