LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. — Icons and heroes of all shapes and sizes crossed the block at Landry Pop Auctions’ February 18 Icons & Heroes: Comics and Comic Art auction. Just under 400 lots of comics and art featuring the world’s favorite superheroes, beloved story book characters and other pop culture symbols were on offer, earning the sale a 97 percent sell-through rate by lot and a $498,709 total realized. Swooping in to lead both comic books and the auction as a whole was a 1939 DC Comics Detective Comics #31, which featured a “classic” cover by Batman creator Bob Kane and additional art by Fred Guardineer and Joe Shuster. Featuring stories by Gardner Fox and Jerry Seigel, “this issue introduces Batman’s first Batplane and marks the first appearances of the Monk — one of the Dark Knight’s earliest supernatural foes — and Julie Madison, Bruce Wayne’s original love interest,” catalog notes explained. Rated 5.0 with cream to off-white (C-2) pages by the Certified Guarantee Company (CGC), the comic was bid to $39,040, including buyer’s premium. Additional highlights from this sale will be featured in an upcoming issue.