Classic Deadpool cover could be the most valuable comic book art ever

Deadpool is breaking box office records, but now he’s getting ready to break another record: most valuable cover art.

Deadpool & Wolverine is raising the bar for the box office, shattering records left and right to become “bigger than Jesus.” But the Merc With a Mouth is stepping out into over ventures—his next stop: the auction block.

The original line art for Deadpool’s first appearance in New Mutants #98, penciled and inked by creator Rob Liefeld, has hit the auction block. Heritage Auctions is hosting the auction, with an asking price of $7.5 million.

If that price makes your eyes bulge, it should. If it sells for the asking price, this cover featuring the first appearance of Deadpool will become the most valuable piece of comic art ever sold at auction.

THE original artwork @robertliefeld penciled and inked for the cover of New Mutants No. 98, which introduced #Deadpool aka Marvel Comics’ Merc With a Mouth. The asking price: $7.5 million.

If it sells, it would become the single most valuable piece of original comic book art… pic.twitter.com/dQdLBGW75v

— Heritage Auctions (@HeritageAuction) August 5, 2024

Heritage lists several other high-profile comic book art auctions. The highest to date is an original Eerie #23 cover featuring art by industry legend Frank Frazetta, which sold for $5.4 million.

The Deadpool cover would make Marvel’s biggest entry on the list of most valuable comic art ever sold. A 2012 auction for Todd McFarlane’s original art of Amazing Spider-Man #328’s cover sold for $657,250.

New Mutants #98 is a landmark Marvel Comics issue. It featured the first appearance of Deadpool and Domino and the first hints towards Cable’s true identity as the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey.

It’s also the beginning of the end for that volume, which three issues later would be relaunched as the Cable-centric X-Force in the wake of the characters growing popularity.

Heritage Auctions is a prominent auction block that deals in pop culture memorabilia. In April 2024, they hosted the auction for an Action Comics #1 issue, which is now the most valuable comic in the world.

Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters now, and you can read our full rundown of Deadpool & Wolverine’s box office haul so far. You can also check out Henry Cavill’s Cavillrine reveal, the best MCU movies according to science and our ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s movies.