Pratiksha Shome
At New Jersey auctioneer Goldin on Wednesday night, two early Superman comics—one of them featuring the superhero’s first appearance—sold for more than a combined $3 million. The sales take place amid a burgeoning comic book auction industry, where top prices have only been reached in the previous two years, according to a 2022 Artnet News story.
According to Ken Goldin of Artnet News, “comics are a great market.” When you ask a 15 or 16-year-old, “Who is Hank Aaron? “, I’ve always been a sports memorabilia collector. Only a select handful will be familiar with Mickey Mantle. You enquire, “How about Superman? Everybody will be able to answer “Who is Spiderman?” If you travel to Europe or Asia, everything is 100%. He asserts that as long as superhero films are produced, more people will undoubtedly get interested in the topic and “gravitate towards where it began.”
DC Comics’ Superman #1 from 1939 sold for $1.6 million after a month-long battle between 18 bids. The superhero in a costume is seen on the cover hovering above a city’s rooftops. Superman has sold more comic books than any other character, according to the auction house, making him the first newsstand comic book to be devoted to a single character and paving the way for the pop cultural titan with superhuman strength and amazing abilities to still rule American entertainment today. The comic book, which was written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Jerry Shuster, relates the tale of Kal-El, who is transported from the dying planet of Krypton to Earth, where he is taken in by the Kent family and given the name Clark Kent. The single finest deal, in my opinion, will be Superman #1 out of everything we sold last night, including the sports memorabilia and the entertainment history, added Goldin. Only two have a greater state of preservation than this one. It’s a $5 million comic book, in my opinion.
After receiving 18 bids, Action Comics #1, which was initially released in 1938 by National Allied Publications, a forerunner of DC Comics, sold for $1.5 million. Superman is seen on the cover hoisting a vehicle over his head while thugs panic and run away. A comparison to Pollaiuolo’s 1475 work Hercules with the Hydra has been made by certain commentators.
Action Comics #1, which was also developed by Siegel and Shuster, was based on a previous short story by Siegel in which Superman was a formidable foe. However, when the publisher wanted a quick sequel to the popular series Detective Comics—in which the character Batman first appeared—and discovered the Superman tale in the rejections pile, their early pitches were rejected. The comic strip was revised by Siegel and Shuster, who made Clark Kent understand that he “must turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind.”
Since then, the comic book has grown in popularity among collectors and frequently breaks auction records. According to the auction company, just 100 copies of the comic book are believed to have survived. One of them, which belonged to actor and die-hard Superman enthusiast Nicolas Cage, was taken from him in 2000, recovered, and then sold for $2.16 million in 2011. Goldin said that “Action Comics #1 was the invention of the entire superhero concept.” “Action Comics #1 gave birth to every superhero,”
Source: Artnet news
