The King has returned.
Less than two months ago, a CGC 9.0 copy of Superman #1 sold for $9.12 million on Heritage Auctions making it, for a brief time, the most expensive comic ever sold. It obliterated the previous record of $6 million that was set by the sale of a CGC 8.5 Pedigree copy of Action Comics #1 in 2024. As you likely know, Action Comics #1 includes the first appearance of Superman. By the time Superman #1 was published over a year later in June 1939, Superman had already appeared many times throughout the first 11 issues of Action Comics.
Well, it didn't take long (seven weeks to be precise) for Action Comics #1 to return to its rightful place on the throne. On January 9, Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect announced that they had brokered a private sale of a CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 for $15 million.
With only one other 9.0 on the CGC Census, it's tied for top-of-the-Census. In addition, this particular 9.0 has a unique history that likely adds to its value. In 1996, Nicolas Cage, the star of films like The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off, purchased it from Metropolis Collectibles for $150,000. Along with his copies of Detective Comics #27 and Marvel Mystery #71, the comic was then stolen from his home in 2000 and then returned to him after it was found in 2011. Cage then sold it for $2.16 million during an auction hosted by ComicConnect:
During an interview, Vincent Zurzolo, the President of Metropolis Collectibles, confirmed that he personally went to CGC to have it reholdered and had the description: "FROM THE COLLECTION OF NICOLAS CAGE" added to the new label.
While Cage's ownership of this book doesn't make it a Pedigree copy (since Cage wasn't the original owner of the issue), it still makes for a unique chain of custody and likely adds a significant amount of value to the issue. Zurzolo compared it to the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911; while it was already considered a masterpiece at the time, the theft helped make it the most famous painting in the world. When you consider that no copy of Action Comics #1 has ever been graded higher, and the unique story behind this particular copy, it's not hard to see why this is the most valuable comic of all-time.
This particular copy of Action Comics #1 has set a record each time it was sold. It sold at a Sotheby's Auction for $82,500 in 1992. It was then sold to Cage in 1996 for $150,000. Cage then sold it for $2.16 million in 2011 after it was returned to him. The comic increased in value by about 5.94 times its 2011 sale price; in other words, it increased in value by nearly 600% between Cage’s $2.16 million sale and the 2026 $15 million sale. Remarkably, this is essentially identical to the ROI that the S&P 500 produced during the same period of time (i.e., from 2011 to 2026).
Will the owner of the CGC 8.5 Pedigree copy of Action Comics #1 that sold in 2024 be tempted to test the market in 2026? The $15 million sale of the Nicolas Cage copy may have reset the floor for this pedigree copy and the other 9.0 on the Census.
Multiple records have been set recently across different segments of the collectibles market during the past year. You may remember that, for example, this autographed Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant double Logoman card became the most expensive sports card of all-time selling for nearly $13 million in August 2025. Huge amounts of new money is flowing into the collectibles market on the high-end. Will we witness a trickle down effect that affects the broader collectibles market in 2026?
