Who would have thought that a single page of artwork from a 1984 Spider-Man comic book will sell at a very high price?

According to CTV, the comic was sold on Thursday during an auction for a record US$3.36 million.

Mike Zeck’s artwork for page 25 from Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars No 8 brings the first appearance of Spidey’s black suit. The symbiote suit would eventually lead to the emergence of the character Venom.

The record bidding, which started at US$330,000 and soared past US$3 million, came on the first day of Heritage Auctions’ four-day comic event in Dallas.

The previous record for an interior page of a US comic book was US$657,250 for art from a 1974 issue of The Incredible Hulk that featured a tease for the first appearance of Wolverine.

One of the few surviving copies of Superman’s debut, Action Comics No 1, was also sold on the same day for US$3.18 million, putting it among the priciest books ever auctioned.

None of the sellers or buyers were revealed.