Comic book fans everywhere know the mystique behind Action Comics #1. First published in 1938, the comic is famous for featuring the first appearance of Superman, and subsequently launching the superhero phenomenon. It's the Holy Grail for collectors worldwide not only because of its cultural significance, but because there are only about 100 copies left in the world.
But in a very rare occurrence, Yahoo! is now reporting that a near-mint copy of the comic has been sold for a whopping $2.16 million at aComic Connect auction. Even though about 100 copies of the comic are still floating around, only a few of them are as pristine as this one. It was rated a 9.0 out of 10 by the CGC, a company that grades comics and places them in hard plastic cases. This is the first time a comic has ever been sold for more than $2 million.
"When we broke the record in 2010 by selling the Action Comics No. 1, graded at 8.5, for $1.5 million, I truly believed that this was a record that would stand for many years to come," said Stephen Fishler, CEO of Comic Connect.
This same comic set the record for most expensive comic ever sold in 1992 and 1997, but was stolen in 2000. It remained missing until April of last year when it was found in a California storage shed. At an original cover price of 10 cents back in 1938, this copy of Action Comics #1 sold for more than 20,000,000 times its original value.
[via Yahoo!]
