We’re back with another look at our Chartbusters! These are the comics that sold for the highest prices in the month of October. Golden Age DC firsts were the big sellers in a late October Heritage auction of comics from Christine Farrell’s complete DC collection that had the hobby buzzing. Let’s dive deep to determine what these sales tell us about the market for the comics every collector wishes they could own.
Superman Firsts
It’s hard to imagine an auction with as many key first appearances of DC’s Golden Age greats as were available in the Heritage auction ending October 26. The auction featured numerous comics from the collection of Christine Farrell, a lifelong collector of DC comics who had amassed a complete collection of the publisher's comics from 1935 to the present.
Most notable were the key Superman issues, starting with Action Comics #1. A 6.0 Restored copy sold in the auction for $324,000. It’s a fairly respectable price, although far below the last price paid for a Universal graded copy: $3,180,000 in a 2022 Heritage auction. Considering that slightly north of 40% of the 81 graded copies in the CGC census of Superman’s first appearance are Restored copies, it’s worth paying attention to auction values. It’s also worth noting that it beats the $300,000 paid for a 6.5 Restored copy in 2021.
An 8.0 graded copy of Action Comics #23 featuring the first appearance of Lex Luthor and the first mention of the Daily Planet set a record with an $84,000 sale that tops the $72,000 paid for an 8.5 in 2020. It’s one of the top seven highest graded copies in the CGC census. An 8.0 Restored copy of Superman #1 also sold in the auction for $81,000.
Other DC Golden Age Firsts
An astonishing number of other DC first appearances sold in the auction as well. A 5.0 graded copy of Flash Comics #1 from Ms. Farrell’s collection brought in $174,000. That’s down roughly 9% from the $192,000 price paid for a 5.0 in a January 2023 Heritage auction.
A copy of More Fun Comics #52 – the first appearance of the Spectre – in a 6.0 grade sold for $132,000. That’s the second highest recorded price paid for a copy.
A 6.5 graded copy of Detective Comics #38 featuring the first appearance of Robin went for $72,000. It’s the only copy in that grade to ever sell. For comparison, the last sale of a 6.0 was for $64,000 in a 2019 ComicConnect auction.
Dr. Fate’s first appearance in More Fun Comics #55 also brought in big bucks when a 7.5 Pedigree copy from Ms. Farrell’s collection sold for $50,400. That tops the previous price paid in the grade back in 2017 by a staggering 67%.
Rounding out the first appearance sales in the auction was All-American Comics #16, the first appearance of the Green Lantern. A 5.0 Restored copy sold for $50,400.
New Adventure Comics
There were some incredibly rare issues of New Adventure Comics that sold in the auction, some being Pedigree copies from Ms. Farrell’s collection. Topping the list was a 9.6 copy of New Adventure Comics #27. The issue includes an ad for Action Comics #1 and sold for $168,000. That’s ten times the highest price previously paid for a 6.0 in 2022 for one of only 15 graded copies. Other Pedigree copies of issues from the series that went for record setting prices include a 9.0 graded copy of New Adventure Comics #25 going for $84,000, a 9.4 graded copy of New Adventure Comics #17 selling for $66,000 (one of just nine graded copies), and a 9.4 graded copy of New Adventure Comics #28 also selling for $66,000.
Double Action Comics
One of the scarcest DC comics ever printed sold in the auction when a 9.6 Pedigree copy of Double Action Comics #2 went for $132,000. The issue contains black and white interior pages with a color cover and is the only issue in the series. While DC insists that the few known copies are from a very low print run of ashcan copies that existed only for trademark and copyright purposes, others say that the book was published as a test to see if customers would buy black and white reprints of color comics. In any event, this was only the second recorded sale ever for one of only eight graded copies in the CGC census, and was by far the top price paid, a record likely to be unsurpassed any time soon.
