New York: Superman became the 1.5 million dollar man Monday, when a rare copy of the first comic to feature the superhero smashed all previous auction records for a comic book.
The 1938 copy of Action Comics, in which Superman debuted, easily bested the 1.075 million dollars record set at auction in February for a comic book giving Batman's first outing, online auctioneers ComicConnect.com said.
The same issue of Superman's Action Comics debut sold for one million dollars in February, but that was not in as good condition as the copy sold Monday, said ComicConnect.com.
Back in 1938 the Superman comic, boasting a cover picture of the red-caped hero lifting a green car, cost just 10 cents.
"This new record will be hard to break," said ComicConnect.com co-owner Vincent Zurzolo, "because this particular Action Comics Number One is literally the single most valuable comic book on the planet."
Incredibly, the comic book's existence was unknown for 50 years as it lay unnoticed tucked inside an old movie magazine, ComicConnect.com said.
"One minute, no one knew it existed. The next minute, everyone was dying to own it," Stepher Fishler, founder of ComicConnect said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 09:50