While most collectors are familiar with the big Golden Age books that sell each month, there are so many more worth investigating. Rare comics, top of census books, record prices – let’s take a deep dive to discover a handful of April’s unique Golden Age sales.
Fantoman #2
The lone top-of-census 9.6 graded copy of this 1940 Centaur publication sold for a record setting $15,000 in the April 6 Heritage auction. This copy from the Edgar Church collection last sold twice in 2018, the first time for $4,780, the second for $5,280. There are only 12 copies in the CGC census and none in the CBCS census. Paul Gustavson did the lion’s share of work here, including the cover and multiple stories, but Jack Cole and Carl Burgos also contributed artwork. It’s definitely not a comic you see available every day, particularly not in this high of a grade.
Negro Romance #1
Another record was set when a 7.5 graded copy of this 1950 Fawcett publication sold for $9,600 in the April 6 Heritage auction. It wasn’t a top-of-census copy; there are two 9.2 graded copies and one at 9.0 out of the 16 graded in the CGC census. There have only been seven recorded sales, and the last time one of the two 9.2 copies sold was back in 2012 for $2,749. After that sale, the book seems to have disappeared from collectors’ minds – or wasn’t offered up for sale – for a number of years until the 2019 sale of a 1.0 for $1,106. Last year was a peak one for this comic, with the sale of a 2.5 for $8,400 and a 1.0 for $3,565. That makes the sale of this 7.5 for only 14% more than last year’s sale of a 2.5 look like an incredible bargain for the buyer.
Green Hornet Comics #18
The copy of this comic offered up in the April 8 Heritage appeared to have everything going for it: a low census count of only 22 graded copies, one of two top-of-census copies, only the second copy ever offered up for sale at higher than a 4.5 grade, and an Alex Schomburg bondage cover. So, it wasn’t particularly surprising when the 8.0 copy sold for a record-setting $4,080. The sale dwarfs the previous record holder: a 4.0 that went for $1,320 in 2022. This book is really hard to find in high grade and the high price paid is certainly justified.
Superman #72
While not a particularly rare Golden Age comic (there are 119 copies in the CGC census), it was the first time in five years that a top-of-census copy was made available when a 9.2 sold in an April 1st Comic Book Addiction fixed price sale for $4,050. That sale set a record, eclipsing the previous high of $2,160 for a 9.0 in a November 2024 Heritage auction. The last time a 9.2 sold was back in a 2020 Hake’s auction for $1,714. The issue sports a nice sci-fi Win Mortimer cover that actually showed up at the end of a first season episode of The Adventures of Superman television show in 1952.
Master Comics #11
In just the fifth sale ever recorded, a 7.0 graded copy of the first appearance of Minute-Man sold for $2,280 in the April 8 Heritage auction. It’s the highest graded copy to ever sell out of the 12 in the CGC census. Besides containing Minute-Man’s origin, this 1941 Fawcett published issue also sports a presumed Jack Binder cover and a nine-page story with early work by Mac Raboy. Somewhere out there the holders of the 9.0 and 8.5 graded copies of this comic must be smiling.
