Dark Knight Returns Splash Page Sells For $448,125

Bleeding Cool is reporting that the iconic splash page of Batman and Robin from The Dark Knight Returns #3, penciled by Frank Miller and inked by Klaus Janson, sold at Heritage Auctions for a record $448,125.

That’s the largest amount ever paid at public auction for any piece of original artwork from an American comic book. The sale surpassed the expectations of virtually all experienced observers by a huge margin.

The public record for an American comic book cover was set last year with the $380,000 sale of the cover of EC title Weird Fantasy #29 by Frank Frazetta.

The previous record for a piece of interior comic art was also set last year by the pivotal splash page from Amazing Spider-Man #50, the famous "Spider-Man No More!" story, written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita Sr, which sold for $88,500.