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Superman’s Debut Comic Smashes Records with $15 Million Sale, Cage’s Stolen Copy Finds New Home
A rare copy of “Action Comics No. 1,” the comic book that introduced the world to Superman and was once infamously stolen from actor Nicolas Cage, has been privately sold for a staggering $15 million. This historic transaction, announced Friday, shatters the previous record for a comic book sale, which was set just last November when a copy of “Superman No. 1” fetched $9.12 million at auction.
The record-breaking sale of “Action Comics No. 1” was brokered by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect. Both the seller and buyer have chosen to remain anonymous.
Originally priced at a mere 10 cents in 1938, this seminal comic book was an anthology, but its few panels detailing Superman’s origin story – from his birth on a dying planet to his journey to Earth and his decision to use his “titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind” – marked the genesis of the superhero genre.
According to Vincent Zurzolo, President of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, only about 100 copies of “Action Comics No. 1” are known to exist. “This is among the Holy Grail of comic books.
Without Superman and his popularity, there would be no Batman or other superhero comic book legends,” Zurzolo stated. “Its importance in the comic book community shows with his deal, as it obliterates the previous record.”
The specific copy sold for $15 million has its own storied past. It was stolen from Nicolas Cage’s Los Angeles home in 2000.
Eleven years later, in 2011, it was miraculously recovered by a man who had purchased the contents of an old storage locker in Southern California. The comic was eventually returned to Cage, who had originally purchased it in 1996 for $150,000.
Six months after its return, he sold it at auction for $2.2 million.
Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, believes the theft inadvertently boosted the comic’s value. “During that 11-year period (it was missing), it skyrocketed in value,” Fishler explained. “The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it.”
Fishler drew a parallel to the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. “It was kept under the thief’s bed for two years,” Fishler noted. “The recovery of the painting made the Mona Lisa go from being just a great Da Vinci painting to a world icon – and that’s what Action No. 1 is – an icon of American pop culture.”