It may have originally cost just a dime, but a near-perfect copy of Action Comics No. 1 from June 1938 has set the record as the most expensive comic book ever. An auction for the book closed Sunday night with the book going for $3.2 million.
The highly anticipated action was announced last month, when the Certified Guaranteed Company said it was selling the 9.0-graded copy was hitting the auction block. Collector Darren Adams was selling the book, which is one of 40 to 50 known to be left in existence. Still, this was the highest-graded copy ever to made available in an auction.
Only 200,000 copies of the book were printed back in 1938.
The auction on eBay started on Aug. 14 and closed last night. After just 48 bids, the lot closed at $3,207,852. That easily beats the previous record, set by another copy of Action Comics No. 1 in December 2011. That copy, once owned by Nicholas Cage, sold for $2.16 million.
One percent of the proceeds from the auction is going to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, named after the actor who played Superman in the 1978 film for those suffering from spinal cord injuries.
image of Henry Cavill courtesy of INFphoto.com