Lanciostory 1987 #43 Cover - Luis Royo

Do you believe in second chances? I feel like with OA collecting they happen occasionally and are usually more expensive. This piece came up at one of the European dealers, Corner4art I think and I debated about it for a few days. It's not on the list of Royo paintings I want to own. In fact before it came up for sale I don't think I'd ever seen this piece before in the art books or trading card sets. So I dismissed it. After all it's not First Light or Sundowner, the two Royo pieces I'd give my brother's kidneys for.

A few days later this was still nagging at me so I came back and saw that it was marked sold. Ok crisis adverted don't thinl about it ever again. Except that now I was kicking myself for not getting it.

Fast forward to a January 2026 and it pops at one of the European auction houses and I think to myself: maybe it was meant to be. I sign-up to bid and the day of the auction I overslept but luckily they went alphabetically by artist so I didn't miss it.

I believe that it was only used once as a cover for Lanciostory, a weekly, Italian anthology comic magazine. Which is slightly weird since this is the era where Royo pieces were being used multiple times and in different formats. It looks like something Royo would have painted a few years earlier, so I wonder if that's why it only saw print once.

Image area is 11.5" X 17.5" probably acrylic and oil.