And the records just keep falling. Back in August 2025, this autographed Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant double Logoman card sold for nearly $13M setting a new record for the most expensive sports card of all-time. Little did we know then that sale would be the first domino to fall in a chain reaction of record breaking sales across the collectibles market that has continued through Q1 of 2026.
On November 18, 2025, the world was shocked when Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" sold at Sotheby's for $236.4M setting a world record for the most expensive modern artwork ever sold. Two days later, TWO record setting sales occurred: (1) a Frida Kahlo self-portrait sold for $54.7M, setting a new record for a female artist; and (2) a CGC 9.0 copy of Superman #1 sold for a record-setting $9.12M on Heritage Auctions, shocking the comic book market.
That last record only lasted for about seven weeks -- on January 9, 2026, Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect announced that they had brokered a private sale of a CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 for a mind-blowing $15M.
While that record still stands about a month later, we had two more mammoth sales in February 2026. On February 5, Heritage Auctions brokered a $13M private sale for a CGC 9.4 copy of Batman #1 and a CGC 8.5 Pedigree copy of Superman #1, for a combined total of $13 million:
The Batman #1 sold for $6M and the Superman #1 sold for $7M. If either of these sales had occurred two years ago, either one would've tied the previous record or broken it. Still, the CGC 8.5 Pedigree copy of Superman #1 could be seen to be a little low in comparison to the 9.0 copy that sold for $9.12M just a few months ago. This Pedigree copy was a part of the Edgar Church / Mile High comic book collection, the first original owner collection to ever be called a pedigree by CGC.
The sale of the CGC 9.4 copy of Batman #1 is significant. It's the highest graded copy of Batman #1 (famous for including the first appearances of the Joker and Catwoman) on the CGC Census. Just over five years ago, this same copy sold for $2,220,000 on Heritage Auctions during the height of the "comic boom."
Even though most of the comic book market has experienced a severe downturn since then, this book still produced an approximate 170% total return in just over five years. That performance more than doubled the approximate 75% total return delivered by the S&P 500 over the same period. Some have argued that you can't make "real money" by investing in comics; however, this sale demonstrates that investing in a major grail like Batman #1 can function as an alternative asset that produces a huge ROI.
For the moment, it's the highest selling Batman comic of all-time; however, it's been many years since a high-grade copy of Detective Comics #27 has sold at public auction. A CGC 7.5 or higher graded copy of Detective Comics #27 hasn't sold since 2010. The $6M sale of Batman #1 may encourage the owners of high-grade copies of Detective Comics #27 to bring their books to market.
