A comic book featuring Superman’s first-ever appearance has sold for $6 million, making it the most valuable comic edition in existence. Sold by Heritage Auctions during a four-day Comics & Comic Art Signature auction last Thursday, only two copies of ACTION COMICS #1 had ever graded higher in history.
“Without Superman and Action Comics No. 1, who knows whether there ever would have been a Golden Age of comics — or if the medium would have become what it is today,” said Heritage Auctions Vice President Barry Sandoval before the Action Comics #1 sale. Atop of being the introduction of Superman and Lois Lane, the comic is known for its high speculator sale value with sales often ranging in the millions.
While the speculator market for comics has cooled down as of late, it should be noted that the price for this particular comic and its quality grade has nearly doubled in just a short amount of time. The last time an ACTION COMICS #1 that was CGC graded 8.5 in quality had sold, was only three years ago, at a value of $3.25 million.
According to the CGC registry, there are currently only 78 confirmed copies reported left in existence of ACTION COMICS #1. Atop of this, estimates suggest that there are likely only 100 possible remaining copies at best of the originally 200,000 that were printed by National Allied Publications. Which was the predecessor to modern-day DC comics.
Coincidentally, the previous record for the most expensive comic sold was also for a Superman comic. A SUPERMAN #1 that sold privately for a whopping cost of $5.3 million in 2022. Previously, the most expensive comic sold at auction was $3.6 million for AMAZING FANTASY #15 which featured the debut of Spider-Man.
As to who bought the issue, no information has been made publicly available. Though whoever it is, now also holds the record for highest sale purchase ever for a comic book at auction.
