DALLAS, TX.- In 1971, Superman No. 233 ushered in a new era for the Man of Steel. A scientific experiment gone wrong sets off a chain reaction that results in all the Kryptonite on Earth being transformed into iron, thereby eliminating Superman’s famous vulnerability to the element from his home planet. He would find out, though, that his seemingly unbound powers had their limits after all. And his alter ego, Clark Kent, was in for a major career change — as well as a long-overdue wardrobe update.

Neal Adams’ cover illustration of Superman breaking free from Kryptonite chains captures these changes both literally and figuratively in a single image. The superhero’s longtime weakness was no more, and now the comic’s writers were suddenly unbound by the rigid narrative rules that had applied to the stories for decades. Also serving as a callback to the chain-busting back-cover image of Superman No. 1, it became one of the best-known comic book cover images of the decade, and was so frequently used on T-shirts, mugs and other merchandise that it became familiar even to people who didn’t buy comics.

Adams’ original art is among the marquee items on offer in Heritage Auctions’ November 19-23 Comic Art Signature® Auction, leading a deep and varied selection of outstanding examples of works by the greatest artists from all eras and genres. The five-day event will include covers, first appearances and pages from key storylines. Adams’ cover of Superman No. 233 is an exemplary lot in an auction full of historically important comic artworks.

“It was the comic that modernized Superman while still preserving what readers loved about him,” says Heritage Auctions Vice President Barry Sandoval. “Note the chains that he is breaking are Kryptonite chains: The Superman of the ’60s was pretty much invulnerable except for various different kinds of Kryptonite. This issue destroyed all Kryptonite but also dialed Superman’s powers back a bit, which made for more diverse and interesting stories.”

The character was also modernized in other ways. Clark Kent, after 33 years as a newspaper reporter, became a TV news anchor. Now instead of rushing back to the Daily Planet offices to make the print deadline, he might fly away from the site of a live broadcast, zoom back and get himself camera-ready as Clark Kent again — all in the span of a three-minute commercial break.

Sandoval calls Adams, who penciled and inked the cover image, “the greatest artist of that era” and notes he is still revered as one of the best of all time. His modern realistic style and cinematic staging helped usher in the Bronze Age of comics, and this work stands out as a turning point in comics history.

During this same early-’70s period, “Godfather of Fantasy Art” Frank Frazetta was producing some of his best work, and several of those pieces, along with a wide variety of other treasures, will be available in a special single-owner catalog and session of items from famed collector and auctioneer Howard Lowery: Howard Lowery’s Fantasy and Science Fiction collection. Among the most familiar Frazetta works is his 1972 painting commissioned for the poster and promotional art heralding the U.S. release of Luana, an Italian jungle-adventure flick, and subsequently used for that movie’s 1974 Ballantine Books novelization and a 13-page adaptation of the story in the comic Vampirella No. 31. With its incredible detail work in the fierce and beautiful figure and her coterie of fearsome animals, it was popular in reprints, posters and art books.

Another Frazetta painting from the Lowery collection, The Moon Men, created as the cover for the 1974 Ace paperback edition of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel of the same name, is a prime example of his dynamic style with the elements of a classic Frazetta: a muscular swordsman, a beautiful female figure and an enormous ogrish foe clashing in a moodily lit dungeon-like setting.

Frank Miller is another undisputed all-time great comics artist and creator, and this splash page from his impactful run on Daredevil puts the spotlight on one of his most enduring contributions to the series, Stick, the blind martial arts master who helps train Matt Murdock after the loss of his radar sense. This memorable splash page, the first page of issue No. 177, is just the second appearance of the crucial character and includes a full-body image of Daredevil armed with a bow and arrows, echoing Miller’s vision of the hero as a modern warrior. This auction also includes a high-flying action page from Miller’s run on the series, page 13 of issue No. 170; as well as page 21 from Miller and Joe Rubinstein’s Wolverine No. 1; and page 7 from Sin City: The Big Fat Kill No. 4, Miller’s original classic neo-noir series.

From Todd McFarlane’s legendary run on The Amazing Spider-Man comes this exciting three-panel action page showcasing McFarlane’s unmistakable style and attention to detail from No. 316, which marks the return of an all-time great villain, Venom, bent on vengeance against Spidey after escaping the Vault. This auction features a variety of other McFarlane pages, including the Spider-Man No. 13 page 14 origin of Spider-Man’s black costume (minus the symbiote-fueled chaos that led to the creation of Venom).

Justice League of America No. 1 signaled the Silver Age resurgence of superheroes with its all-star roster of DC’s biggest heroes in this 1960 issue. Page 6 echoes the iconic cover image as the villain Despero — who makes his debut in this issue — lures the Flash into a sinister chess match using the heroes as living game pieces in these Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs panels.

Other highlights from the auction include but are certainly not limited to key scenes from X-Men stories including this tense, cinematic John Byrne and Terry Austin story page from The X-Men No. 119 and Bishop’s first full appearance on story page 6 from The Uncanny X-Men No. 263 by Whilce Portacio and Art Thibert. Paperback cover paintings also include James Bama’s Doc Savage No. 16: The Spook Legion art from The Howard Lowery Collection.