Vintage Toys Lead Hake’s Pop Culture Auction & A Lesser-Known Comic Crossover Rises in Value

by Amanda Sheriff & J.C. Vaughn

Star Wars Toys, Comic Art Produce Top Results in Hake’s Auction

Hake’s July Premier Auction was packed with nearly 1,000 lots of pop culture memorabilia, anchored by toys, original art, and key comics. The auction closed on July 29, 2026, with Star Wars toys and original comic art taking the top spots.

The Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi 12-back-A AFA 85 figure with the double-telescoping lightsaber and SKU on footer was the auction’s top seller at $70,332. “Double-telescoping” refers to the lightsaber that has a second extendable piece that was only produced in the earliest figures.
Mark Bagley’s New Warriors #10 cover showing the White Queen standing over the defeated New Warriors hammered for $28,524. Featuring inks by Larry Mahlstedt, the cover sees Justice, Firestar, Kid Nova, Namorita, Night Thrasher, and Speedball lying at White Queen’s feet.

Top sales from Star Wars toys included the Jawa 12-back-A AFA 85 vinyl cape variety, produced before the cape was replaced with one made of cloth, that brought $20,964. The Power of the Force Anakin Skywalker 92-back AFA 85, one of only 15 examples at the grade, went for $20,964. The Turkish Uzay Blue Star figure AFA Qualified 50, which is one of the well-known unlicensed Star Wars figures, totaled $19,966.

A pair of rare toys set new records in the auction. The Star Wars Hong Kong double-telescoping Ben Kenobi figure AFA 80 sold for a world record $19,014. The G.I. Joe Dreadnock Air Assault Series 5 vehicle set AFA 80+ (Sears exclusive) also set a world record when it cleared $15,103.

The massive Masters of the Universe Eternia Series 5 playset AFA 80 realized $15,641. It features a Central Tower, Grayskull Tower, and Viper Tower with a Battle Tram, Sky Cage, and Jet Pack Fighter that run on a monorail system around the whole playset. It has an elevator, a weapons rack, ladder, grappling hooks, laser guns, and ramps. This is in the second release box with a full-color label featuring art by William George.

The auction contained two pages of original art from Infinity Gauntlet #5 by Ron Lim with inks by Joe Rubenstein. Page 22 has a splash highlighting Eternity’s massive size and unique appearance, and a half-page inset panel of Thanos facing off against the cosmic entity. It reached $12,455. Page 18 has a splash with three inset panels featuring Thanos emerging triumphant from battle despite being blasted by Galactus and other cosmic beings. It went for $9,356.

The G.I. Joe Dreadnok Ground Assault Series 5 vehicle set AFA 80 (Sears exclusive) drove to $9,125. Described on the box as a “Motorcycle with 20mm cannon and 4-WD vehicle with removable ground to air rockets,” it was sold with the original Sears twine and shipping label in place as issued.

The Bullwinkle original pencil art for the very first strip by Al Kilgore drew $6,991 in bids. This first introduction daily was from Monday, July 23, 1962, announcing the regular series start the following day. Main characters Rocket “Rocky” J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose appear on the art, as well as antagonists Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale.

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First Issue of Django/Zorro Comic Crossover Sees Jump in Value

Comic book crossovers have been around for nearly as long as comics themselves. Heroes from the same publisher cross paths, occasionally resulting in ongoing team-ups like Green Lantern and Green Arrow. There are team-ups between different publishers, putting heroes like Spider-Man and Superman in the same book. Some crossovers are odd combinations that strangely work, for instance when the Archie crew was hunted by the sci-fi movie villain Predator.

In 2014, Dynamite Entertainment and Vertigo brought together one of the earliest masked vigilantes with a newly created spaghetti Western hero in Django/Zorro. Overstreet Pricing Editor Yolanda Ramirez did a recent valuation update on their crossover, and noted that the first issue has seen a big rise in value.

The seven-issue comic about the sword-wielding hero and the star of Django Unchained is set several years after the movie. Django is working as a bounty hunter when he meets Diego de la Vega, aka Zorro. He is fascinated by the wealthy man, and when Django agrees to act as Diego’s “bodyguard,” they are soon drawn into a fight to free the local indigenous people from servitude.

The book was written by Django creator and the film writer/director Quentin Tarantino with Grendel creator Matt Wagner. Django/Zorro is the official sequel to Django Unchained and is the first comic book sequel based on a Tarantino film.

Django/Zorro #1 (November 2014) has seen a recent value change that has taken the Near Mint-/9.2 grade up to $100, marking a 2,400% increase. The first issue featured seven variant covers, all of which have grown in value to some degree. Variant cover G, which is a virgin variant of the cover A art by Esteve Polls, has also jumped up to a $100 value at the 9.2 grade. The other variants have all risen in value with 9.2 grades now priced at $15 to $50, depending on the cover.

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Amanda Sheriff is Editor-Digital for Gemstone Publishing. J.C. Vaughn is Gemstone’s President.