Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: jerry siegel, joe shuster, superman

Most Valuable Comic: Superman #1 CGC 9.0 Sells for Record $9,120,000

The highest graded copy of Superman #1 CGC 9.0 has just sold for $9,120,000, the highest price ever paid for a comic book.

The highest graded copy of Superman #1 CGC 9.0 has just sold for a record $9,120,000 at Heritage Auctions. It's the highest price ever paid for a comic book, eclipsing the 2024 sale of an Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5, which sold for $6,000,000, by a significant margin. Superman #1 was a Summer 1939 cover-dated release by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster from DC Comics, featuring the debut of one of the longest-running and most important titles in American comics history. The issue contains the Superman stories from Action Comics #1-4, plus new material. With today's sale, the world record price for a comic book has now increased by over 26x since Bleeding Cool was launched in 2009, when it was at $350,000, a record held at that time by both the Marvel Comics #1 Pay Copy and the Edgar Church copy of Flash Comics #1. "What a momentous day," says Heritage Auctions Vice President Lon Allen. "I'm thrilled for our consignor. Superman No. 1 is a milestone in pop culture history, and this copy is not only in unprecedented condition, but it has a movie-worthy story behind it. I was glad to see the price reflect that and am honored Heritage was entrusted with this iconic book."

The emergence of this copy of Superman #1 onto the market is a classic story of vintage comic book discovery:  three brothers going through their late mother's belongings discover that she had six comic books tucked away in the attic of their family home.  Among them, a high-grade copy of Superman #1 which now holds the record. By way of direct comparison, a Superman #1 CGC 8.0 (note: this copy is now graded CGC 8.5) sold for $5,300,000 in January 2022. The previous record for the highest price ever paid for a comic book was set at Heritage Auctions with the April 2024 sale of an Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5 for $6,000,000. The top of the charts, including sales that surpass the $3M barrier, currently looks as follows:

• Superman #1 CGC 9.0 November 2025 $9,120,000
• Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5, April 2024 sale for $6,000,000.
• Superman #1 CGC 8.0 January 2022 $5.3 million. (note: this copy is now graded CGC 8.5)
• Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 9.6 September 2021 sale for $3,600,000.
• Action Comics #1 CGC 8.5, April 2021 sale for $3,250,000.
• Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 April 2014 $3,207,852
• Action Comics #1 CGC 6.0 Rocket Copy January 2022 $3,180,000.
• Captain America Comics #1 CGC 9.4 April 2022 $3,120,000.

A key driver of the market for high-grade copies of Superman #1 is the relative scarcity of high-grade copies compared to other major keys. On the CGC census, there are only three entries for Superman #1 above CGC 7.5, compared to five entries for Action Comics #1 in the same grade range. The relative scarcity of copies of Superman #1 in higher grades is an intriguing historical mystery. Superman #1 had a total print run of 900,000 copies through three printings, while Action Comics #1 had a mere 202,000 copy print run, of which only 130,000 copies sold through at the newsstand.  However, it is extremely likely that a large portion of the copies of Superman #1 were distributed in New York over the course of that summer, as DC Comics also produced a comic book for the New York World's Fair that year, and was likely able to take advantage of the excitement and tourism surrounding the fair to sell Superman as well.  Further, there are few copies of verifiable provenance which have surfaced west of the Mississippi. One theory on why that situation would result in fewer high-grade copies is that print runs that were concentrated in major metro areas very likely had a far higher rate of destruction than comics with a more standard distribution.  People are more likely to live in apartments, move, change houses after fewer generations, and generally have less space — far fewer of the fabled grandad's attic (or in this case, mom's attic) or basement finds in that scenario, and those that did survive were probably moved around a lot more, resulting in more general wear and tear.  This copy appears to be a remarkable survivor of that process, as it was long considered a special treasure by the original owners (the mother and her brother).  While it's unconfirmed that this CGC 9.0 copy was purchased in California, the Heritage Auctions press release suggests it was in that Northern California attic for quite some time.

In addition to collecting the Superman stories from Action Comics #1-4, Superman #1 contains seven additional pages done by Siegel and Shuster at the direction of M.C. Gaines.  These pages include an expanded two-page origin section, a four-page story showing Clark Kent becoming a reporter, which was added to the front of the story from Action Comics #1, and a 'Scientific Explanation' page explaining Superman's powers.  The new two-page origin names the exploding planet as Krypton for the first time, while also introducing "an elderly couple, the Kents." Those are all key additions to the Superman mythos.  On March 27, 1939, Gaines wrote, "We have decided that for the first six pages of the Superman book we would like you to take the first page of 'Superman' which appears in Action Comics #1, and by elaborating on this one page, using different ideas than those contained on this page, work up two introductory pages."  Also adding, "On these two pages, you will of course leave out the scientific explanation of Clark Kent's amazing strength, as we want a separate page on that item to use further back in the book with the heading as follows: 'Scientific Explanation of Superman's Amazing Strength', in which you will incorporate five or six various explanations, which we discussed while you were here in New York several days ago."  Gaines additionally requested "four pages of a thrilling episode which results in Superman becoming a reporter."

The iconic cover of Superman #1 is a reuse of Shuster's art from the title page of Action Comics #10, which hit newsstands in late January that year, with a border believed to be by Leo O'Melia added to complete the new cover image. It had already become clear that Siegel and Shuster had started a phenomenon with this character, and that competition from other publishers was coming.  At the time he was writing the March 27, 1939 letter, Gaines was likely preparing for the testimony he would give just days later in the DC v Bruns trial regarding DC's lawsuit against Fox's Wonder Man.  He told Siegel and Shuster to have the new material done in about a week, noting that "we want to go to press with this Superman book as soon as possible, to get it on the newsstands not later than May 15th to offset any competition which we now have or may get in the next month or so…"  Gaines was correct on that score, as the field would become increasingly competitive in the months that followed.  Even so, the Superman title was not originally conceived as a series — or they were hedging their bets, at least.  When this issue was released around May 18, it was copyrighted as a pamphlet, not a periodical, and without any issue number indications.  Issue #2 would hit newsstands five months later, and soon after, the title was well on its way to becoming one of the most important series in American comic book history.

Another interesting aspect of this copy is that it is a confirmed first printing, as noted by Heritage and confirmed by the CGC grader's notes. The issue includes a back-page ad for Action Comics #14,  and in first print copies, the ad notes the release date as "On Sale June 2," while second and third prints say "Now On Sale."  Up to now, there has been little or no detectable pricing difference between first print and later print copies, but information about the printings has only relatively recently become widely known in the collector community (note: a commenter on a previous Bleeding Cool about this copy of Superman #1 post traces the original discovery of this information to David Bachman in two APA fanzines in 1993. See post comments for more information). CGC started noting Superman #1 first prints in grader's notes sometime in 2023.  Given today's result, it will be interesting to see the trajectory of first print copies moving forward.

As Heritage Co-Chairman Jim Halperin notes, "This new record may someday be remembered as an early stage of popular culture collecting's trajectory into the upper reaches of the auction field," says Jim Halperin, Co-Founder of Heritage Auctions. "The value and historical importance of these objects are becoming even more well-known to collectors all over the world. And thanks in part to Heritage Auctions' reach and platform, market values have become more accessible and trackable than ever before. We're so proud of Heritage's role in helping standardize, popularize, and grow the entire collectibles hobby."

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