Buyer Pays 7 Figures For Rare Comic Featuring Superman’s Debut

Eighty-four years after his first appearance in Action Comics No. 1, Superman remains a durable-enough force in pop culture that his comic book debut from 1938 just fetched more than $3 million at auction. A private buyer paid $3.18 million, to be precise, for the so-called “Rocket copy” of the comic issue wherein creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first introduced the Man of Steel to readers.

Eight decades removed from that singular moment in popular culture — when the American public got introduced to the last son of Krypton, kickstarting an explosion in superhero-driven entertainment — it’s not just the 7-figure price tag the comic was able to command at auction today that’s so extraordinary. Other forces at work grounding that eye-popping figure in the here and now include the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has sparked a kind of gold rush in the high-dollar purchase of original comics and artworks.

News related to Superman, the brand, also continues to generate headlines on a pretty regular basis. And even kick up a storm of controversy now and then.

The auction price is one example of the former. On the back of a year in which vintage comics and original comic book art were able to command increasingly high prices, this latest sale — of what’s regarded as one of the most important pieces of comic book lore in history — shows that this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

The sale of Action Comics No. 1 was handled by Heritage Auctions, and the collectibles marketplace Goldin bought the comic on behalf of a private buyer. “It was fun bidding and winning a $3 mil + item,” Goldin founder Ken Goldin tweeted after the sale. “I know it’s going to a great home!”

Also worth noting, as to why this issue is called the “Rocket copy” — it has to do with the stamp of a rocket that a young boy put on the comic when he bought it from a newsstand upon its release.

As for the occasional controversy we alluded to above? That’s a function of the Superman stories today plowing much different thematic ground than they did back in the Action Comics heyday. When the original vision for the character featured an alien strongman whose costume was bathed in American reds and blues, and whose motto became one of the most famous slogans in comic book history: Truth, justice, and the American Way. 

DC Comics, meanwhile, is steering the narrative around Superman today in a much different direction. The entertainment media giant took the noteworthy step in the fall, for example, of announcing that the superhero — whose original alter ego was more or less a farm boy from rural Kansas — will no longer fight for “The American Way.” But, rather, the more anodyne “a better tomorrow.”

That change, to be sure, only applies to the Clark Kent version of Superman. The same version, in a 2011 Superman comic book, who also renounced his American citizenship. “I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of US policy,” he said in that Action Comics issue from a decade ago. “Truth, Justice, and the American Way — it’s not enough anymore. The world’s too small. Too connected.”

The figure who currently wears the mantle of Superman in the modern comics, meanwhile, is actually the son of Clark Kent — Jon Kent, whose storyline also recently made headlines, for another reason. He came out as bisexual in a recent issue of the comic. “Superman’s symbol has always stood for hope, for truth and for justice,” a press release from DC announced, in conjunction with that issue. “Today, that symbol represents something more. Today, more people can see themselves in the most powerful superhero in comics.”