Deadpool & Wolverine is dominating the box office in movie theaters, so it’s only natural that Rob Liefeld‘s Deadpool pencils might cost a pretty penny. But you might not be expecting how much, as Heritage Auctions has just put his original pencils and inks for the cover of New Mutants #98, aka the introduction of Deadpool, on sale for $7.5 million… The most money ever for a piece of comic book art.
“I’ve long admired — and coveted — this work, which I consider the most important piece of comic book art from the 1990s,” said Heritage Co-Chairman Jim Halperin via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “I’m thrilled we’re now able to offer it to someone who, like me, admires Rob Liefeld and adores his Deadpool, who is among the most beloved characters in comics and, now, the MCU.”
Granted, the piece has to sell to make the record, but it will clearly be a big deal if it does. Per Heritage, the owner of the piece bought it nearly 20 years ago and has refused to sell it since. However, due to the success of Deadpool & Wolverine, “its owner approached Heritage about offering it for sale. Says the cover’s owner, ‘The time is right.'”
The cover originally hit newsstands in December of 1990 and featured the debut of both Deadpool and Domino (who appeared on screen in Deadpool 2). It almost immediately became a hit, and decades later history is being made with the new MCU movie.
Earlier this year, Heritage sold an original copy of Action Comics #1 from 1938 for $6 million. The previous record before that was a copy of Superman #1 sold privately for $5.3 million in 2022. Naturally, if this New Mutants cover sells for the asking price, it will eclipse both of those. Take that, Man of Steel! You’ve got nothing on the Merc With A Mouth.
If you’ve got $7.5 million burning a hole in your pocket, you can buy the art right now from Heritage Auctions.
