First-Ever Superman Comic Becomes Most Expensive - Sold at Auction for $6 Million

The first-ever Superman comic book, dated 1938, was sold for $6 million at auction last week. This made it the most expensive comic book in history, according to Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, CNN reported. 

The story, written by friends Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, reveals the origin of Superman as an alien child who was sent to Earth to avoid the destruction of his planet and introduces his love, Lois Lane.

The auction house has called it "the most important, influential comic book ever published" as it introduced the world to Superman for just 10 cents per issue when it was released 86 years ago.

The price of this particular issue is such that individual pages are worth up to $60,000 each, the auction house added. Other copies have also sold for record-breaking prices, including one in 2021 that fetched $3.25 million, the most expensive comic book at the time.

"Who knows if there would have ever been a Golden Age of comics without Superman and the #1 action comic, or if the medium had become what it is today," said Heritage Auctions Vice President Barry Sandoval in a statement ahead of the sale.

Despite its age, this comic book is in very good condition, with rich colours and a slight worn top.

According to Heritage Auctions, there are only two other unrestored copies in better condition in the world and only 100 are estimated to have survived out of the 200,000 originally printed.

In the years since his first appearance, Superman has become one of the most recognisable and enduring characters in American pop culture. Blockbuster films, books, toys, and even chewing gum have been made based on the comic.

As The Gaze previously reported, a one-person tomb of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner was recently sold at auction for $195,000. The buyer happily announced that he had always dreamed of being close to Marilyn Monroe.