Back in 1983, Bernie Wrightson illustrated Mary Shelley’s classic tale Frankenstein for Marvel Comics, and the late artist’s original wraparound cover art was put up for auction earlier this week as part of “Comic & Illustration Art: The Property of a Distinguished American Collector” in Los Angeles. According to the press release, the art sold for $1.2 million.
Auction host Profiles in History notes, “Artist Bernie Wrightson turned his hand to illustrating the classic horror novel as a labor of love, and working over the course of a decade, produced some of the most staggeringly intricate and evocative work of his career.”
The Frankenstein art, listed by the auction house as being “Wrightson’s undisputed masterpiece,” ended up “smashing all previous auction records for original art by Wrightson.”
Wrightson, who co-created Swamp Thing, passed away in 2017.