It was preordained this one was going to break all records. If there was a surprise, it was by just how much. Comic books are highly collectible items, with prices in recent years reaching astronomical levels. The most desirable are the earliest issues of the granddaddy of the superheroes, Superman. Batman has given him chase, and Spider-Man and Captain America have also reached seven figures, but no one can quite catch mild-mannered Clark Kent when he puts on his Superman suit and becomes the Man of Steel. The only other member of the million dollar club was the French comic character, Tintin, who like Clark Kent, was a reporter, but he never learned how to turn himself into a superhero.
In the case of Superman, there are two “firsts,” both of which can reach multi-million dollar prices. There is the comic where Superman was first introduced. It is Action Comics #1, published in 1938. This was the previous record holder, sold by Heritage Auctions in 2024 for $6 million. In the comic book rating scale, this one was an 8.5. That is a very high rating, almost like new. Due to their typical use and target audience of young males, few survive in such good condition.
The new record holder blew that price away just two years later. Exceeding that price by more than 50%, it came in at an extraordinary $9.2 million, also at a Heritage auction. Just think how many mothers threw this piece of “junk” away decades ago. You knew better. The grade of this one was even better than the previous record holder, 9.0. And, this was the other Superman first. Following the new character's popular showing in Action Comics #1, he was given his own comic book. Published the following year, 1939, this comic is headed simply “Superman.” The cover describes it as “The complete story and the daring exploits of the one and only Superman.”
The cover also lists it's price – 10¢. For those keeping score, that is an increase in value of 9.2 billion per cent. That is a rather incredible return for such a small investment, and it was made by a mother for her children. What her motivation was in compiling a collection of this and other old comic books which she kept in mint condition is unknown. It was inherited by her three sons who knew almost nothing about their mother's collection. She told them she had a comic book collection but evidently didn't play it up as anything that significant. They discovered it in a box in the attic when they were going through her belongings after she died. This is one mother who didn't throw away her children's comic books, in fact, she got them herself and didn't share them with her children. Smart mother. Perhaps she knew they would turn the comics into worn out trash. Intentionally or not, she saved them until they could better appreciate them, to the tune of $9.2 million with more to come.
Comic book aficionados may be interested in another auction at Heritage, one of pulp fiction. Heritage describes pulp fiction as, “ Considered an antecedent to comic books, pulps date back to the 1890s and enjoyed their greatest popularity in the 1920s to 1940s. They were known for sensational and lurid genre fiction – science fiction, mysteries, horror, adventure tales – but the category also encompassed family-friendly popular fiction.” They come from the 50-years-in-the-making collection of Dr. Richard Meli. The auction runs from December 4-6. Click here to see the lots.
