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Rare Superman #1 comic from 1939 sells for record $9.12 million after attic discovery
A remarkable near-mint copy of the 1939 Superman #1 comic book was sold for a staggering $9.12 million at Heritage Auctions, setting a new record for the highest price ever paid for a comic book at auction. This pristine copy, graded CGC 9.0, the highest certified grade for this issue, surpassed the previous record of $6 million set by an Action Comics #1 in April 2024, establishing Superman #1 as the most valuable comic book in history.
The comic's exceptional condition is attributed to it being found by three brothers last Christmas while cleaning out their late mother's attic in Northern California. The comic had been stored in a cardboard box amid old newspapers for decades. Their mother had purchased the comic at the age of nine during the late 1930s in San Francisco and had often mentioned owning rare comics, though the family never saw them until this discovery. The cool climate of Northern California also helped preserve the issue in near-pristine condition.
Superman #1 holds a significant place in comic book history. Published in the summer of 1939, it was the first comic book dedicated entirely to Superman, following the character’s widely popular debut in Action Comics #1 in 1938. The comic originally sold for 10 cents and had a print run of 500,000 copies. Today, only 209 copies of any grade are recorded by CGC, and high-grade examples like this are extraordinarily rare due to factors like children cutting out the back cover poster.
This sale reflects the growing recognition of comic books as high-value collectible assets, elevating the status of pop culture memorabilia to the same level as fine art and rare manuscripts. As Jim Halperin, co-founder of Heritage Auctions, noted, the sale represents a key moment in the maturation of popular culture collectibles in the auction market.
