Russ was the first to start publishing an illustrated catalog of comic art originals. Cochran's catalog, Graphic Gallery, contained comic strip art, comic book art, as well as paintings and drawings by Carl Barks and Frank Frazetta.

Collectors could see, for the first time,  what the art being sold looked like with the aid of illustrated  originals, and the subscription list for Graphic Gallery grew tremendously. 

After publishing 13 issues over a period of a few years, Bill Gaines, of Mad Magazine, offered Russ Cochran the chance to sell all of the original EC comic book artwork. This was a great opportunity for Russ to offer collectors never before available EC artwork. One thing Russ knew was the EC original art would be in demand, but none had been sold before so there was no established market. The problem for Russ became how to price the art in the catalog.

Russ Cochran creatively solved this problem thirty years ago by starting Russ Cochran's Comic Art Auction. Russ stopped selling the originals at set prices in the Graphic Gallery Catalog and began auctioning the one of a kind originals to the most committed collector.

For more than thirty years, Russ Cochran of West Plains, Missouri, has been buying, selling and auctioning original comic and illustration art such as Charles Schulz' original drawings for PEANUTS, original covers drawn for TALES FROM THE CRYPT, gag cartoons drawn for SATURDAY EVENING POST, and editorial cartoons drawn for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. The auction often includes animation art drawn for theatrical cartoons (SNOW WHITE, LADY AND THE TRAMP) or for TV cartoons (FLINTSTONES, SIMPSONS, etc).