John Cassaday's original art auctioned to help his family, with Planetary, X-Men, Captain America as well as Jim Lee and Darwyn Cooke
Comic book creator John Cassaday died at the age of 52, on the 9th of September, 2025. Co-creator of Planetary with Warren Ellis, Desperadoes with Jeff Mariotte and I Am Legion with Fabien Nury, he was the artist on Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber and Jeph Loeb, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron with many awards to his name. Now Nick Barrucci, CEO of Dynamite Entertainment, tells us about a new listing at Heritage Auctions. "This is an announcement that is very personal to me. As many know, John Cassaday was one of my best friends. He was one of the best people I knew. Most of the comics world knows his creativity and art, which stands on its own. Others were as fortunate as myself to have been friends with John, and he was a shining light as a person as well as an artist. And for those who did not know him personally, he blessed the industry with his art, with the passion he brought to the comics he worked on. And his art will keep his flame alive forever."
"Since John passed, and with the help of Albert Moy, I've assisted his sister Robin and his partner Tara and set up this auction through Heritage to help raise money for them. And Heritage has been wonderful. They are giving all of the "hammer price" to John's family. (For those who do not know, the hammer price is the final bid, and Heritage is only keeping the Buyer's Premium, and not a percentage of the sale as they normally may)."
"Now this auction is incredibly special and personal not only to me, but to Robin, Tara, Albert and more. The most historic and personal piece of art is the cover to Planetary #1. This is a cover that John turned down all offers. He wanted to keep it as it was his first critically acclaimed series, his signature series. It catapulted him. And if you've read the series, you know why. And it's beyond the cover to Planetary #1 Cover in the auction; there are multiple covers and Planetary #1 pages. And now they are available to the fans. There are also other great Marvel and DC and Dynamite and more. From Captain America to Astonishing X-Men, Action Comics to Legion Worlds and Lone Ranger, Buck Rogers and more."
"Also available are some of John's personal collection of art from Marvel Fanfare cover by Michael Golden, New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke, Russ Heath Lone Ranger, Marvel Fanfare Kerry Gammill, Captain America by Gene Colan and Captain America by Jack Kirby. And beyond this, some artists have donated art. This includes Jim Lee, Liam Sharp, Paul Pope and others. It's very generous of these great creators. Thank you for your time. As stated, this is important to me, to help Robin and Tara. They've lost the most important person in their lives, and this is something to help them."