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Wolverine is introduced in the last panel of the page, and was featured in the story in the following issue, Incredible Hulk #181, for the first time. The character went on to become the most popular member of the X-Men, and was the subject of two feature films.
Trimpe gave the page to a teenager in 1983, and it’s been in his possession ever since. The anonymous owner who sold the page is donating the majority of the after-tax proceeds to the Hero Initiative, a non-profit organization which helps comic creators in need.
This is a record price for a piece of American comic art. A splash page from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns sold for $448,125 a few years back (see “Highest Price Ever Paid for Comic Art”).
Art for an Alex Raymond Flash Gordon Sunday strip sold at the same Heritage auction, the 2014 May 15-17 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, for $215,100.
And in a sharp demonstration of the way what’s depicted on a comic art page influences the value, a page from Dark Knight Returns sold for $50,787.50, only 11% of the value of the Dark Knight page referenced above.