DALLAS, TX.- Legendary artist Fred Guardineer's original art for the cover of Action Comics #15 — the oldest Superman cover ever offered — sold for $286,800 to lead Heritage Auctions $4.7+ million Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction Feb. 20-22 in New York. The near sell-out auction shattered artist records as bidders in the double digits battled over single lots of high-grade comics and original art of classic characters.

"We knew collectors would like this season's line up, but were shocked to see the sheer numbers of collectors who battled it out for gems across every category, artist, and price," said Ed Jaster, Heritage's Vice President.

A copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man, CGC 9.0, hammered for $191,200, as 30 different bidders blew its pre-auction estimate out of the water. The bidding boxing match continued as 13 bidders fought to own Amazing-Man Comics #5 (#1) 9.4 CGC Mile High Pedigree, considered one of the Top 100 Golden Age books. The book, one of just two copies known in the best condition ever recorded, crossed the block for $56,762.

The auction featured a number of special collections that speak to the very heart of the hobby. Heritage's second offering of the highly-anticipated Don/Maggie Thompson Collection Pedigree brought a combined $314,128, the top lot being Tales of Suspense #39, CGC 9.4, which sparked a veritable feeding frenzy among 21 bidder who pushed it to $83,650. The Dino Mauricio Golden Age Classic Cover Collection of 150 collectible editions depicting iconic characters and rare scenes sold for a combined $296,944, led by Superman #1, CGC Apparent 6.0, which reached $24,497.

Among the selection of original comic art, Jack "King" Kirby's and Frank Giacoia's cover for Tales of Suspense #84 ended at $167,300. The 22 bidders who wanted the piece set a new house record for a work of Kirby's art. Robert Crumb's original drawings for a complete three-page story "Ducks Yas Yas" from Zap Comix #0 quickly closed at $101,575, and sci-fi master Al Feldstein's original cover art to Weird Fantasy #6 cleared $71,700 following fast action by 19 bidders.

The hits just kept on coming as John Byrne's Annihilus original cover for Fantastic Four #256, just the fourth Byrne Fantastic Four cover ever offered at Heritage, sold for $60,946, an eye-popping splash page from Captain America #101, showing Cap throttling a room full of evil doers, finished at $56,762, and artist Wally Wood's original art for page 2 from Daredevil #6 sold for $53,775, setting a house record for a piece of Daredevil art.

Additional highlights include, but are not limited by:

Curt Swan's and George Klein's original cover art for Superman #186, showing the Silver Age ghosts of both Clark Kent and Superman, sold for $53,775.

The original title page art for Batman #9 drawn by Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and George Roussos sold for $50,787.

Gene Colon's and Joe Sinnott's original cover art for Captain America #117, featuring the first appearance of The Falcon, soon to be an important character in this summer's Captain America feature film sequel, sold for $44,812.

The original art for page 6 from the landmark The Dark Knight Returns #2 by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson brought $37,343.