The cover art for New Mutants No. 98 is being offered for the first time in almost two decades

Deadpool & Wolverine is currently smashing box-office records. And now a piece of Deadpool-related history could smash comic-book records, too.

The original cover art Rob Liefeld penned for New Mutants No. 98 is being offered by Heritage Auctions for a whopping US$7.5 million. If it achieves that asking price, it will set a new record as the most valuable piece of original comic-book art ever sold.

“I’ve long admired—and coveted—this work, which I consider the most important piece of comic book art from the 1990s,” Heritage co-chairman Jim Halperin said in a statement. “I’m thrilled we’re now able to offer it to someone who, like me, admires Rob Liefeld and adores his Deadpool, who is among the most beloved characters in comicsand, now, the MCU.”

Released in December 1990, New Mutants No. 98 introduced Deadpool to the world. The series had been doing quite poorly since debuting in 1983, so Marvel gave Liefeld and writer Louise Simonson the chance to flip the script. Their creation of Deadpool and other characters like Cable and Domino paid off: Shortly after its release, New Mutants No. 98 led Marvel to receive some of its most intense fan response, with comics nerds absolutely loving the Deadpool character.

The current owner of the comic art acquired it almost two decades ago, and it hasn’t been up for sale since. In fact, the owner has received many offers over the years, but until now they’ve always turned down the interested parties. Due to the current Deadpool renaissance, though, they decided it was an appropriate time to offload Liefeld’s art, and they approached Heritage to carry out the sale.

“Deadpool has never been more popular,” Halperin said. “And his popularity only continues to grow. I can’t think of a better time to offer Rob’s cover that introduced him to the world.”

With its US$7.5 million price tag, the New Mutants cover art would even beat out entire comics that have sold for record-setting amounts. Earlier this year, the issue of Action Comics in which Superman debuted became the most valuable comic ever when it hammered down for US$6 million. Spider-Man’s first comic, meanwhile, fetched US$3.6 million at auction in September 2021.

Deadpool, though, seems to have those superheroes beat when it comes to vanquishing records.

This story was first published on Robb Report USA