Rare Superman Comic Book Sells for $1 Million

By Kelly Turner on February 24th, 2010

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It might be time to dig through the attic to see what you can find.

A rare copy of the first ever comic book featuring Superman has been sold for $1 million.

The 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, widely known as the Holy Grail of Comic Books, shows Superman lifting a car on the cover.  At the time of printing, the Superman comic cost a mere 10 cents. The private seller sold the comic to a private buyer via ComicConnect.com Monday, February 22nd.

The sale beats the previous comic book sale price record for $317,000, which happened to be for the exact same issue, but in lesser condition.  The record breaking issue was considered an “8.0 grade” or “very fine” out of a possible “10″ which is unheard of for an issue this old.

Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the Web site that facilitated the sale, said the comic sold just minutes after being listed and the seller, who has not released his name, was a “well known individual” in New York with a pedigree collection.

It is believed that there are only about 100 copies of “Action Comics No. 1″ in existence, and only a few have been rated so highly or available for sale.

“The opportunity to buy an un-restored, high-grade ‘Action One’ comes along once every two decades,” Fishler said. “It’s certainly a milestone.”

Especially with a million dollar price tag.

“It is still a little stunning to see ‘a comic book’ and ‘$1 million’ in the same sentence,” Fishler said.