Celebrated 'Spider-Man' Original Art Reaches $268K in Internet Auction

8:08 PM PST 2/21/2013 by Andy Lewis

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The original cover drawing to the iconic story featuring the death of girlfriend Gwen Stacy in a fight with Green Goblin will now be offered at the live portion of the sale by Heritage Auctions on Feb. 22.

Original Spider-Man Comic Cover - P 2013

Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

The original cover art to the classic Amazing Spider-Man no. 121 reached a price of $268,875 at an internet auction conducted by Heritage Auctions on Thursday.

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The piece will now be offered at the live portion of sale on Feb. 22 in New York City.

The sale comes on the heels of a record-breaking year for original comic art. The cover for Amazing Spider-Man no. 328 (illustrated by Todd McFarlane) sold for $675,250 in July, 2012, the highest price ever paid for original American comic art.

A world record of $1.6 million was established on June 2, 2012, when the cover art to Tintin in America sold at auction in France.

The 1973 comic, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died," features the death of Peter Parker/Spider-Man's girlfriend in an iconic moment on the Brooklyn Bridge that reverberated through the series for the next four decades.

In the key moment, Spider-Man saved Gwen as she fell off the bridge, but the jerk of his webbing broke her neck, killing her. It was one of the most famous deaths in comics history and prompted cries of outrage from fans at the time.

The cover features pictures of nine of the most prominent characters in Spider-Man's world, with him exclaiming, "Someone close to me is about to die!"

The original art sold by Heritage is a pencil-and-ink drawing measuring 10" x 15" and is described as being in "very good" condition despite its age. Artist John Romita, Sr. signed the illustration in the bottom right corner.

See a larger image of the art below.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the auction was over instead of noting that a live floor auction followed the internet bidding.