Jerry Robinson Legend

There has been much talk in Creative Juicings lately over the price of art.  If it is return on investment  you are looking for, it is perhaps the Golden age of Comics you should be looking to. Just as the work of  artists such as Titian and Picasso define the spirit of the age in which they lived. The graphic art of the illustrator and the comic book artist defines our age.  Perhaps galleries who are wringing their hands over high prices of art they cannot afford should talk to comic book legend Jerry Robinson while his work is still in their price range.


Jerry Robinson, the creator of Batman’s villainous nemesis the Joker is auctioning off two of the world’s most valuable pieces of comic art for up to $1.4 million. Robinson was the driving force behind such comic book legends as Detective Comics, Batman and  Superman. He created his ‘Double-guns Joker’ cover for Detective Comics No. 69  at age 18.  Now 88 he is reluctantly selling the artwork through the online auctioneer ComicConnect.com. The  1942 cover artwork is considered to be one of the greatest ‘Golden Age’ superhero covers of all time. Most original comic art work from this era no longer exists as publishers had no will or facility to store such artworks and they destroyed it as a matter of course. The Joker cover, one of Robinson’s first, is the only image to depict the Joker using guns. It survived because Robinson made a personal request to the printer for its return.

A student of literature at Columbia University, Robinson had the idea of creating a Shakespearean super villain  with maniacal tendencies and warped sense of humor. His brother and mother were champion bridge players, watching them play gave him the idea of creating The Joker. Subsequent to creating this cover he realized it was the Jokers twisted personality, rather than guns that would be his defining mark of villainy.

The record for a piece of original comic art, attained this year, is $380,000 (£235,000) for a 1955 Weird Science cover by Frank Frazetta. The record for a comic book is $1.5 million (£927,000), set last year, for a 1938 premier issue of Action Comics featuring Superman .

Robinson, who is the subject of a new biography,‘Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics,’ is the only creator from the 1940’s  golden age of comics  still alive.