The late Chadwick Boseman put his John Hancock on a copy of the first "Black Panther" comic -- which has skyrocketed in value, and is primed to fetch a pretty penny at auction.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions is putting the rare autographed book up for grabs on Oct. 29, with the opening bid starting at $8,000 -- but it's expected, we're told, to reach anywhere in the ballpark of $25k when it's all said and done.
The reason ... other than Chadwick's signature, Stan Lee himself signed this variant of 'BP' #1, not to mention 'Black Panther' director Ryan Coogler. So, yeah, there's a trifecta thing happening here -- and with Chadwick's recent passing, and Stan's in 2018 ... the comic is worth even more now.
Just me and the @librarycongress #BlackPanther comic book collection. The collection incl his appearance with the Fantastic Four in 1966 and Black Panther no. 1 from 1976. Did you see the movie this weekend? pic.twitter.com/RlSHrp64cw
— Carla Hayden (@LibnOfCongress) February 18, 2018
You might notice the cover is different from the OG cover of the first stand-alone "Black Panther" comic from 1976 -- from which this iteration is derived, but with a modern cover. It's also vastly changed from Black Panther's first appearance ever in Fantastic Four #52 ('66).
The one for sale is the Middle East Comic-Con variant -- which got its own art whipped up and featured Stan next to T'Challa. For those of you in the know ... It's been certified a 9.8 rating with the CGC Signature Series rating system. That means it's REALLY valuable.
As you might imagine, the folks hawking this rarity are banking on demand to be way high ... and considering the impact Chadwick had on people -- especially kids -- we think they'll be right.