A rare Superman #1 comic book, which was first printed in 1939and sold for 10 cents at the time, sold for $2.6 million at an auction on Thursday.
The comic – «the complete story of the daring exploits of the one and only SUPERMAN» – featuring an image of Superman leaping over tall buildings on the cover sold on ComicConnect.com, an online auction, and comic marketplace, to an anonymous buyer.
The seller, Mark Michaelson, purchased the comic from the original owner in 1979 and kept it in a temperature-controlled safe ever since the auction website said.
The comic has only traded hands twice– once when first purchased in 1939, and then in 1979 when bought by Michaelson.
(MarketWatch )-When Mark Michaelson purchased what he considered the holy grail of comic books — Superman No. 1, dating from 1939 — he wasn’t thinking about it as an investment. Instead, the comics fan says he bought it from a private collector in 1979 for somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 simply because he wanted it.
Now living in Houston and semi-retired, Michaelson told The Associated Press that he paid his way through college by buying and selling comics.
Rare Superman #1 comic book from 1939 was sold at an auction for $2.6 million. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“Everyone sets a little goal for themselves,” said Michaelson, a Houston resident who has worked as a health-care executive.
Michaelson’s goal has now resulted in a huge payoff. The rare Superman just sold at auction for $2,604,750, one of the highest sums ever paid for a comic book. The online event, which ended late Thursday, was run by auction house ComicConnect.
The price is one of the highest ever fetched for a comic.
Such eye-popping figures are becoming the norm in the comic-book world.
This year has already seen sales of $3-million plus for two comics — an Amazing Fantasy No. 15, from 1962, which features the first appearance of Spider-Man, went for $3.6 million and an Action Comics No. 1, from 1938, which features the first appearance of Superman (before the character had his own book), went for $3.25 million.
Comics of more recent vintage are also selling for significant sums.
The iconic Superman character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and illustrator Joe Shuster, two Jewish-American artists.
Siegel and Shuster had originally developed the Superman story and character with plans to sell it as a syndicated newspaper comic strip, though after years of failures, they agreed to publish Superman as a comic book.
They sold all rights to Superman in 1938 for $130 ($2,390 today when adjusted for inflation).
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman. (credit: NEW YORKER)
While Siegel and Shuster had several subsequent copyrights battles, they periodically worked with DC comics until finally reaching a settlement with DC comics for a $30,000 annual stipend in exchange for never again contesting ownership of the copyright to Superman.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman. (credit: NEW YORKER)