Posted in: Comics | Tagged: action comics, adventure comics, amazing fantasy, amazing fantasy 15, amazing spider-man, cgc, jerry siegel, Legion Of Super Heroes, superman

The Stock Exchange – Selling Superman For Super Dollars

Published Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:33 -0600

by Bleeding Cool Staff Writer

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By the end of the day today, one of the most impressive Superman collections assembled in one auction will close, with the highlight being an much discussed Action Comics #1, graded 9.0 by CGC, making it the highest graded copy to go up for sale. In March of last year, a CGC 8.5 copy sold for $1.5M, and this one will surely eclipse that. With a tad over 10 hours remaining as of this writing, the bidding is already at $1,552,000, and it would not surprise me to see this book sell for $2M.

There are plenty more highlights in this lot on ComicConnect.com, and here are just a few of them.

The last time an Adventure Comics #247, the first appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes, went up for bid in CGC 7.5, it sold for $3,350. With 13 hours left on this auction, this auction has already passed that, at $3,844. One of the keys of the Silver Age, it would not be a reach to predict a price of over $4,000.
Can't afford an Action #1 but want a little piece of that action? Okay, try getting a single page from it, as there are three individual pages up for auction. None of the pages actually has Superman on them, but they are all still each at or over $225 at this point.
ComicConnect.com in their mailings points out that Action Comics #6, the first appearance of Jimmy Olsen, is scarce. How scarce? There have been only four sales in CGC 5.0 or 6.0, and none above that. This copy is 5.0, and has already topped the previous high of $3,700 with a bid at this time of $4,111.
Action Comics #7 featured the second cover with the Man of Steel, with a banner across the lower right proudly proclaiming that you could find Superman in every issue of Action. The CGC 6.5 up for bid is the second-highest graded copy ever to go on sale. Despite the historical significance of this comic, as well as how rare it is, with only two copies ever sold above a CGC 4.0, this comic is at a little over $15,000 with 10 hours to go.
Action Comics #47 features the first Lex Luthor cover appearance, but all we get is a shot of his back and side, as Superman throws him through a brick wall. That sure had to hurt… Anyway, this will be the third sale of a CGC 7.5 condition copy, the first since 2004. At $800, there's still a little bit to go before it hits its high, and is at a relative bargain so far. By comparison, a CGC 4.5 sold this month for $600.
There have been two sales this year of an Action Comics #252, the first appearance of Supergirl, that have sold at CGC 9.0, one in May for $14,340 and one in August for $13,145. Now, Comic Connect has the highest-graded copy to date, a CGC 9.2, up for bid, and the bidding has well surpassed those prices, currently at $19,125 with 12 hours remaining. First time bidders on their website looking to bid over $25,000 need to contact support first, and by the time this auction is done, I'm expecting people to have to make calls if they haven't already to bid here.
While their first appearance as a team came in Adventure Comics, quite a few Legionnaires made their first appearances in Action Comics. In Action Comics #267, the third overall appearance of the Legion, we are introduced to Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid, and Colossal Boy. Nine issues later, in Action Comics #276, the sixth-ever appearance of the team, we get to meet Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Triplicate Girl, Bouncing Boy, and Shrinking Violet. The Action Comics #267 in the auction has been graded CGC 8.0, and with less than half a day left it is at a paltry $133; this same comic in CGC 8.0 sold in August for $225. As for their Action Comics #276, at CGC 9.6 it is the highest graded copy to date, and is currently at $1,550 with 12 hours remaining.
Lastly, with all the focus being on Superman and Jerry Siegel-related memorabilia, it's easy to gloss over the spectacular copies of the Amazing Spider-Man found in these auctions. There are multiple copies of Amazing Fantasy #15, including this one in CGC 9.0, multiple copies of Amazing Spider-Man #1, and scores of keys throughout. With 14 hours remaining, the bidding on the Amazing Fantasy #15 at CGC 9.0 is at $125,000, and I expect that to be significantly higher before the auction ends.