Holy Kryptonite! Superman Debut Fetches $1.5M

Superman's first appearance has sold for a price that would have allowed his creators Seigel & Shuster to retire on the spot. A mint-condition copy of Action Comics No. 1 from 1938 went for $1.5 million on Internet auction site Comics Connect. The sale broke the record for the most expensive comic book in history for the third time this year.

This comic is "the Holy Grail of Holy Grails," Comic Connect co-owner Vincent Zurzolo told CNN. Fewer than 100 of the 200,000 copies of Action Comics' first issue are still around and copies in good condition are even rarer. All Zurzolo would disclose about the buyer is that he is, unsurprisingly, a hardcore comics fan. "Our buyer, much like most of the superheroes out there, has a secret identity and would rather remain that way," he said.
(More Action Comics stories.)