Heritage Auctions began 2021 where it left 2020: smashing records and shattering expectations during a Comics and Comic Art event. The latest, held Jan. 14 to 17, realized $12.11 million, more than 50 percent above pre-sale estimates, the highest percentage above expectation in the categorys history. More than 5,000 bidders from around the globe participated, too, walking away with more than 99.9 percent of the more than 1,100 lots offered that ranged from Batman to Pokmon, from superheroes to Super Mario Brothers. Indeed, Pokmon and video games each surpassed $1 million in sales by themselves. Item for item, this was simply the strongest comics auction we have ever held, says Heritage Auctions Co-Chairman Jim Halperin. And it comes on the heels of our record-breaking $22-million Fall Sports Collectibles event last month, proving, yet again, there is significant diversification into collectibles these days, whether for enjoyment or as a hedge against inflation. On top of all that, we brought the worlds best copy of Batman No. 1 to auction for the very first time and set a record in doing so. On day one, the Dallas-based house sold a near-mint copy of Batman No. 1 for $2.22 million to a longtime Heritage client who, until last week, had never before purchased a comic book at auction. That issue, which came from a Houston collectors cache, becomes the most expensive Dark Knight title in history, topping the Detective Comics No. 27 Heritage sold in November for $1.5 million. This Batman No. 1 is now the second-most valuable comic book in the world, behind a copy of Action Comics No. 1, which introduced Superman to the world. Also in the kickoff session, a CGC VF+ 8.5 copy of Captain America Comics No. 1 sold for $384,000. Thats more than four times the highest price Heritage has ever realized for a Cap debut in that condition. And a near-mint copy of 1964s Daredevil No. 1 sold for $102,000, almost three times the amount a first-issue Daredevil with the same grade sold at auction 11 years ago. Best-known copies of landmark titles sold at consistently high prices throughout the four-day event. Among them was one of the finest known copies of Detective Comics No. 359, from The Alfred Pennyworth Collection assembled by Randy Lawrence, which realized $132,000. Thats the most ever paid for a Batman title published from the mid-1950s until 1970, during DC Comics Silver Age. Original comic art likewise continues to thrive, especially pieces new to market, such as the two-page splash page from 1991s X-Men No. 272 that likewise realized $132,000. Artist Jim Lee and inker Scott Williams drafted the piece during their celebrated run on writer Chris Claremonts X-Men, and it features an all-star lineup of heroes: Wolverine, Cyclops, the Beast, Cable, Cannonball, Gambit, Psylocke, Banshee, Sunspot, Archangel and Marvel Girl. For three decades, this had been in the collection of Jeff Nason, who in the early 1990s attended comics conventions with his father to buy original art from the artists, among them Lee and Todd McFarlane. When the X-Men page sold, Lee, now DC Comics chief creative officer and publisher, noted that at $132,000, thats around 11k per X-person! Its worth noting, too, that for the first time during one of Heritages Comics and Comic Art events, post-1960s original art is realizing unprecedented prices. Look no further than Barry Windsor-Smith, Tom Sutton and Tom Palmers splash page for 1971s Conan the Barbarian No. 8, which sold for $84,000, the same amount realized for Neal Adams cover for 1970s Green Lantern No. 77, the second installment in the Hard Traveling Heroes storyline. Frank Brunners original cover for 1974s Doctor Strange No. 3 sold for $72,000, three times its pre-auction estimate and the most ever paid for one of Brunners Strange originals. To me, those are the most surprising results among the original art sold, says Joe Mannarino, who, with his wife, Nadia, co-heads Heritage Auctions East Coast Comic Books and Original Comic Art category. Millennials are clearly making their preferences known. For further information, visit www.HA.com.