Frank Frazetta is nothing less than the master of fantasy art. His book covers in the 1960's made Conan the most popular of Robert E. Howard's many heroes. His style is unmatched in this genre with creations such as the Death Dealer I and Conan the Usurper and even Tales from the Crypt with many, many more. He worked in comics primarily during the 1950's on Famous Funnies and Weird Science-Fantasy. Many collectors focus on specific artists that really floor them. Even speculators are vulnerable to this trend. My uncle and I have been on a Bernie Wrightson buying spree ever since Bernie died more then a year ago. The big Batman artist that every DC Comic fan collects is Neal Adams. Frank Frazetta is of this mold a truly collectible supreme artist. Can spurious speculators find profit in Frazetta's old comic book covers?
But Frank Frazetta had a thriving business outside of comics. Hollywood, as he grew in fame, was paying him a great deal of money for movie posters. One such poster "What's New Pussycat?" earned him the equivalent of a years salary in one afternoon (source: Wiki). This was just the tip of the iceberg for Frazetta he would go on to have paintings sell for well over a million dollars. Huge artists like these attract big-spending collectors.
For a while in the 1950's Frazetta earned a name for himself drawing Buck Rogers as the cover story for Famous Funnies #213. They were some incredible Frazetta covers created for Eastern Color in 1954. One of these comics recently sold on eBay for $393 in grade (2.0). Five years ago Famous Funnies #213 in grade (5.5) sold for $750. The most recent lower grades to sell in 2017 returned the following positive results: grade (4.5) +100.4%, (6.0) +100.7%, (6.5) +44.3%. This last grade (6.5) sold for $902 (eBay). While 2018 returns have advanced in grade (7.0) a positive +83.3%. There is no catalyst for this return on investment but as the twentieth-century slips away these old Frazetta Sci-Fi continue to increase in value. It makes sense to pick them up where you can on the cheap Frank Frazetta's books have value.
Famous Funnies #215 another Buck Rogers cover Frazetta did was in January 1955. These comics for Famous Funnies which had seriously cool Buck Rogers illustrations, got him noticed by Al Capp. Where he began drawing Lil' Abner comic strips for about nine years. The current highest sale to date has been on Comic Connect on 3/21/18 for $1965 in grade (8.0). The most current low-grade sale has been $364 for a grade (4.5) on 11/30/14. This is not bad for appears to be a relatively inventory number and under $500 purchase price.
Another sci-fi comic Frank Frazetta did was Weird Science-Fantasy #29. This book had some of the all-time greats in comics. A who's who in the comic art world doing pencils on Weird Science: Frank Frazetta, Marie Severin, Wallace Wood, Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, and Joe Orlando. The comic was written by the team of Albert Feldstein, Carl Wessler, and Otto Binder. This is also the final issue which becomes a new title: Incredible Science Fiction comic book after the 29th issue. This book is a heavy hitter by having early work from some of the major talents in the comic book industry. There is only 163 comics in CGC Census inventory which means very limited supply. The high-end grades (9.6 thru 9.0) have returned positive +37% to upwards of +87%. The lower grade has some very inexpensive sales for a grade (3.5) at for only $197. You want to be at the top of the heap like Conan on a Frazetta painting? Then purchase an early comic of this immortal master of science and fantasy.
