Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: all star comics 8, vintage comics, wonder woman

All Star Comics #8 CGC 9.4 First Wonder Woman Sells For Record $936,223.00

Published Sun, 27 Aug 2017 19:42:45 -0500

Last updated Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:55:14 -0500

An All Star Comics #8 graded CGC 9.4 has just sold on ebay for a record $936,223.00. The December 1941 comic book contains the origin and first appearance of Wonder Woman by Willam Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter. This CGC 9.4 copy is the sole highest graded copy of this issue ever graded by CGC, with the next-highest graded unrestored copies graded at CGC 9.0. This sale is far and away the highest price ever paid for any copy of All Star Comics #8, handily surpassing the $411,001 that a CGC 9.0 copy of the comic sold for at Comic Connect in March 2016.

Updated: The seller, Darren Adams of Pristine Comics, had two other census-topping Wonder Woman keys which closed at auction later last night. Sensation Comics #1 CGC 9.6 (January 1942, DC Comics) for $399,100.00, which is a new record for this issue, and Wonder Woman #1 CGC 9.0 'Solicitation Copy' for $226,877.77.

All Star Comics #8 CGC 9.4 Sale for $936,223.00

Giving that All Star Comics #8 sale a little more context, we can also compare sales such as:

Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 for $3,207,852.00 in August 2014 (first appearance of Superman, and incidentally, from the same seller who sold this All Star Comics #8)
Detective Comics #27 CGC 8.0 for $1,075,500 in February 2010 (first appearance of Batman)
Wonder Woman #1 CGC 9.0 for $291,100 in December 2016 (and this price point is about to get tested again, as this same copy closes later tonite at auction)

The seller of this All Star Comics #8 CGC 9.4 tonite, who set that $3M+ record with Action Comics #1 back in 2014, is Darren Adams of Pristine Comics. Adams told Bleeding Cool's Lauren Sisselman a little bit about the background about the collection this comic book came from earlier this week:

"The unique and ideal circumstances of the origin and retention of this collection seriously defies odds that can never be duplicated or replicated. These books never even made it to the newsstands, as the original owner of this collection was a Mom & Pop store grocer who bought his comics from a magazine distributor and took them directly to his home where they remained undisturbed, for over 70 + years. That just doesn't happen! It's not reality but a fantasy! It's something dealers dream of finding, and collectors dream of owning! If it were to happen, it would yield some spectacular results, and such is the case with this collection.

About six months before the start of World War II in 1941, The owner of the small Mom & Pop began collecting a select group of superheroes in their various titles. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, some Fawcett titles featuring Captain Marvel, and a single Timely title called Captain America Comics. He continued collecting for roughly 4 years right before the end of WWII in 1945… then he quits. ln all, his collection contained approximately 400 books, the scarcity and condition of which I, as a collector, may never see again."

Congratulations to the buyer. Anything under $1,000,000 for this particular copy at this time is a very solid purchase, in my opinion.

Sensation Comics #1 CGC 9.6 Sale for $399,100.00

Hitting the newsstand about 2 weeks after Wonder Woman's first appearance in All Star Comics #8, Sensation Comics #1 is an important and sometimes-overlooked key. It continues the origin story from All Star #8, introduces the invisible jet and Wonder Woman's and brings Wonder Woman to "Man's World" in her secret identity as nurse Diana Prince. This anthology comic also includes stories which introduce long-lived DC Comics characters Wildcat and Mr. Terrific.

This sale represents a major level-up for this issue, which is often overshadowed in the minds of collectors due to being sandwiched in between All Star Comics #8 (her first appearance) and Wonder Woman #1 (the debut of her solo title). But it is an indisputably important comic which introduces key elements to the Wonder Woman mythos, and is generally considered somewhat more rare than either of those other Wonder Woman keys, with 56 "Universal" (unrestored) entries on the CGC Census, vs 94 entries for Wonder Woman #1 and 106 entries for All Star Comics #8. However, it's important to note that census data is an extremely broad measure of rarity for a number of reasons. Previous top sales include Sensation Comics #1 CGC 9.4 for $83,650.00 in 2010, and it's interesting to note that as of this posting, the owner of that copy has received offers as high as $150,000.00 via Heritage's make-an-offer feature.

As with the All Star Comics #8 sale, despite the record price, this feels like a very solid purchase for the buyer.

Wonder Woman #1 CGC 9.0 'Solicitation Copy' Sale for $226,877.77

Bleeding Cool documented the importance and unique nature of this particular copy which last sold in December 2016 when it was put up for auction by hedge fund billionaire and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry. The Summer 1942 cover-dated release from DC Comics by creators William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter completed the character's launch into the comic book stratosphere during the Golden Age, following up her debut and regular appearances starting in super team book All-Star Comics #8 (Dec 1941) and lead feature from the beginning in anthology Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942).

This particular copy has an interesting and important provenance — it was part of a promotional packet sent by DC's All-American Comics branch associate editor Alice Marble — at that time, perhaps the most famous female athlete in the country with 18 Grand Slam tennis championships to her credit, and the US women's #1 ranked player from 1936 to 1940.

As this copy sold for $291,100.00 in December 2016 at Comic Connect, it's hard not to view last night's result for this copy as a disappointment. Despite the enormous level-up in popularity of Wonder Woman in the wake of the debut of the film in May 2017, putting this copy back on the market this soon after the December sale was always going to be a risk even in the best of circumstances. However, congrats to last night's buyer, who got a very good deal here.