‘Action Comics’ First Appearance Of Superman Sells For $3.2 Million

Action Comics #1 has sold, and the final price tag is staggering.

While the name of the winner wasn’t announced on Sunday — instant burglary target apparently — what we do know is that he or she paid a whopping $3,207,852 for the comic, which had just crested $2.25 million when The Inquisitr wrote about it 10 hours ago.

That means the final hours were packed with a lot of ferocious bidding.

With the sell of this edition of Action Comics #1, we have a new record for the world’s most expensive comic, which was previously held by another copy of the same issue.

That edition, notes USA Today, was owned by Nicolas Cage at the time that it was auctioned on ComicConnect in 2011, but it’s final sale price of $2.16 million didn’t come close to this one.

Part of that is because the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) rated the record-breaker at 9.0 (out of 10.0). That’s likely as close to Mint as you’re going to get with an Action Comics first issue, which also happens to be the first appearance of Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent.

While the previous copy was also rated 9.0, this edition was labeled as having “perfect white pages,” a rarity for a 76-year-old title printed on cheap newsprint.

More from the USA Today report:

“With a print run of approximately 200,000 in 1938, less than 100 are thought to be in existence, and CGC has only graded seven unrestored copies of ‘Action Comics #1’ over a 6.0. The lucky winner is also giving back — 1 percent of the proceeds from the same will benefit the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping individuals with spinal-cord injuries and paralysis that was started by the Superman movie star.”

How did the copy end up in such a condition? Seemingly, through blind luck, according to the collectibles dealer Darren Adams, who is selling the comic. The original owner lived in a high altitude area of West Virginia and kept Superman’s debut locked away in a cedar chest. This was an ideal solution to preserve the comic because it was cool, dry, dark, and had little air.

The copy of Action Comics #1 was eventually discovered by a comic collector in the late 1970s or early 1980s. He sold it to a dealer who held on to the comic for about 30 years before selling it to Adams. Consider it the right place at the right time with interest high in the character thanks to the excitement around Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Bidding for the listing of Action Comics #1 is limited to only pre-qualified buyers. The opening bid of August 14 was $1 million.

Would you have paid $3.2 million for a comic book?