Absolute Batman Dan Quintana Sketch Cover Sells For $18,500. A Record?

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Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Batman, Dan Quintana, scott snyder, sketch cover, Whatnot, world record

Absolute Batman Dan Quintana Sketch Cover Sells For $18,500. A Record?

An Absolute Batman #18 Sketch Cover drawn by Dan Quintana has just sold for $18,500. Is this a world record sale for a sketch cover?

Published Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:58:33 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Last updated Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:04:45 -0500
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Article Summary

  • Dan Quintana’s Absolute Batman #18 sketch cover sold for $18,500 on Whatnot, sparking record-sale debate.
  • The sale highlights soaring demand for Dan Quintana art and the red-hot market around Absolute Batman collectibles.
  • Sketch covers are publisher-made blanks for commissions, but few have reached a price point anywhere near $18,500.
  • Dan Quintana’s rise tracks with Absolute Batman’s success, as DC’s hit Absolute Universe line continues topping charts.

It's a very good day to be selling anything and everything, with the name Absolute Batman. Including this sketch of Absolute Batman made by Dan Quintana on a blank cover version of Absolute Batman #18. Which was sold via Knight of Comics' Whatnot live-streaming service, with the top bid reaching $18,500. Here's the screencap for proof…

And here's the sketch cover in question. Sketch covers are usually made by artists using black sketch covers issued by publishers for the purpose of commissioning your favourite artist to draw a sketch on it, and are usually printed with appropriate cover stock to take the pencils and inks. Some comic book creators like Frank Cho have made a whole career creating satirical sketch covers as a result. And Dan Quintana is certainly a cover artist in massive demand as we have discovered. But $18,500 for a sketch cover? That has to be a record sale, right?

Dan Quintana is a Los Angeles-based artist and illustrator known for his atmospheric, eerie figurative work. He began experimenting with oil painting in high school, then shifted toward comics, street art, and murals, many of which are still visible around LA. He has worked in commercial art, including music labels, T-shirt designs, and TV shows like Pimp My Ride, West Coast Customs and Street Customs. He is self-taught and has never attended formal art school.

Bleeding Cool first broke the news regarding what would be the Absolute Universe in 2023, naming it in 2024 as something equivalent to Marvel's Ultimate Universe, with familiar titles reinvented from scratch, showrun by Scott Snyder, and part of a new relaunch at DC Comics called DC All-In. We named Kelly Thompson, Jason Aaron and Al Ewing as contributors before getting the news that it would launch at San Diego Comic Con last year. and getting the full creative line-up for Absolute Batman, Absolute Wonder Woman, Absolute Superman, Absolute Flash, Absolute Green Lantern and Absolute Martian Manhunter. Since then, the titles still top the charts, and Absolute Batman is the granddaddy of them all, with the most recent issue topping half a million sales. And Dan Quintana has helped sell quite a lot of them!

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