The charity art auction is a comic book convention staple, but wow, I’m not sure if any convention runs a better one than Mike Negin does for New York Comic Con. The NYCC Art Auction took place on Saturday night after the show floor closed. Negin, the talent coordinator for NYCC (meaning he’s the one you should go up to and personally thank for Artist’s Alley being packed with awesome guests each year), amasses a huge collection of original comic book art from creators at NYCC.

The art in the auction ranges from interior pages to covers to sketches done at NYCC. I think that because all of the money raised is going to a very worthwhile charity, The St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, artists get very generous with what they donate. You will see some truly gorgeous comic art here. In total, this year’s auction raised $40,535, which I believe is a new record for the NYCC auction.

I attended the art auction in 2013 and 2014. Both years, the night was capped by two items, a Walt Simonson sketch and an Adam Hughes sketch. But really, sketch isn’t the right word to use here. This isn’t the quick $20 head sketch that Adam does at his table (also for charity by the way). This is a fully rendered figure. Last year, he drew Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, flying through space with a full sea of stars behind her. This year, he drew a truly amazing Spider-Man. But if you want to go home with the Adam Hughes piece, you need to be ready to spend. Figure on bringing about $10,000 to take his piece home, and even that might not be enough. The Simonson can be had at the relatively bargain price of about $2,500.

But not everything goes that high and there are bargains to be had. There were pieces that went for under $100. And sometimes the bidding works out in ways that items go for prices that seem criminally low. But Negin and his crew are good about not letting prices go too low. They’re collectors too, and they’ll swoop in to take something home themselves if the opportunity arises.

What really surprised me about the auction was how high some convention sketches were going. There were sketches going well above what the artists would charge in Artist Alley, but I get it, this is for charity and I’m not faulting people for being generous. What I am surprised about is how high some convention sketches went for compared to the original art for published comic book covers.

At this year’s auction, I took home a gorgeous mohawked Storm piece by Allison Sohn, an American Vampire interior page by Rafael Albuquerque and a Geoff Darrow drawing of Spider-Man meeting Darrow’s creation Rusty, the Boy Robot.

PS…anyone know what issue of American Vampire the above page is from? Even Rafael Albuquerque wasn’t sure.

In the weeks leading up to NYCC, Mike Negin will post art for the auction as it comes in on his Twitter page @mightymikenegin. But even if nothing there grabs you, show up to the auction. I don’t even know if half the items in the auction make it to his Twitter feed, mainly because he’s out in Artist Alley during the day at NYCC getting more art from artists.

If you are an original art collector, you need to start attending this art auction. Even if you don’t collect original art, the auction can be one of the most funs times you’ll see at New York Comic Con. The bidding can get epic, especially when two superfans go up against each other, as the two Trekkies did in bidding on a page of original art from IDW’s Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever inscribed by legendary science fiction writer Harlan Ellison. If you do go, just please don’t bid against me. I like going home with a bargain as much as the next guy.