Cavewoman By Bud Root And Frank Cho, From 1998, At Auction Today

Budd Root‘s story in comic books is one of absolute persistence. Born on a US military base in Germany,  Root read plenty of American comics shipped into the army bases as a kid. After he joined the armed forces himself, rising to corporal in the Marines, his artistic skills were used for internal presentations. After leaving the service, he tried to break into comic books was repeatedly rejected from Marvel, DC Comics and other publishers, before meeting comic book writer and comic shop owner James Robert Smith, who hired him to draw stories for his own self-published comics, which sold so few copies that he had to pay Root in trading cards. But once Bud Root saw how self-publishing could be done, that’s what he did, as Basement Comics, with the first issue of Cavewoman in 1993, which was a genuine hit. Creating comics in the “good girl” sexploitation field, influenced heaving by Arthur Adams, Cavewoman was later published by Bleeding Cool’s own owner Avatar Press, as well as Caliber, before returning to Basement Comics. And despite some expectations, the series was nominated for a 1999 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story.

The comic book being auctioned today by Heritage Auctions is Cavewoman: The Mature Version, one of his Basement Comics issues. CGC slabbed and graded at 9.8, it featured a series of naked black-and-white pin-up images of the Cavewoman character, from Budd Root’s Pangaean Sea Portfolio, plus a reprint from “Jungle Tales The Mature Version” with a colour cover by Frank Cho, one of his earliest in comic books. And going under the hammer today.

Cavewoman: The Mature Version #1 (Basement Comics, 1998) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages. Jungle Tales #1 Mature Version. Frank Cho cover. Budd Root story and art. Not listed in Overstreet. CGC census 4/22: 6 in 9.8, none higher.