1938 Superman Comic Sells For $1M 267
slasher999 writes in to note a new world record sale for a comic: an instance of Action Comics #1, 1938, sold for $1 million at auction. Both the buyer and the seller remain anonymous. This comic marked the first time a superhero went to work in a city, and the first time a man flew without mechanical aid.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is gold? I can't eat it. Can't drink it. Can't hunt with it. Can't heal with it. Can't fuck it. It has some use in electronics, but there's better materials. The only reason to think it has value is because it did historically. If we actually entered a post-apocalyptic world where the dollar was useless, you'd quickly find gold to be equally useless- people would want food, ammo, medicine, sex, they'd have no use for gold. The comic book is just as likely to stand up as gold is.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:4, Insightful)
A small fraction of it is used for that reason - electrical contacts, jewelry.
Though there are other substances that don't corrode either.
So are John Lennon autographs and George Washington's teeth.
Fascinating. Would you care to explain why? I'd say iron's a lot more important. It's even got an age named after it.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:3, Insightful)
If we actually entered a post-apocalyptic world where the dollar was useless, you'd quickly find gold to be equally useless- people would want food, ammo, medicine, sex, they'd have no use for gold.
That's one of the things I loved about Fallout 3 - the idea of using bottle-caps as currency was sheer genius. If we're going to pick arbitrary metals as a system of exchange for our post-apocalyptic world, why not have some fun with it.
Re:Terrible Hero (Score:4, Insightful)
The point of Superman stories -- if they are well written -- is not to make you worry about whether Superman will survive. The point is to make you worry about whether everyone else will survive.
He's the archetypical protector. The dramatic tension comes from wondering whether he can do his job as a protector. His survival is not important to the narrative.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:3, Insightful)
I think this is a case, not where the buyer thinks the comic is incredibly valuable, but where they have so much money that 1 million dollars isn't really that valuable to them.
No, Batman is the *really* annoying one (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, well Superman is one of the few superheroes I *do* like. The superheroes I find truly annoying are the ones like Batman who have no special powers and yet act totally contrary to any form of rationality. If Superman is *overspecced* to be a superhero, the the exact opposite is true of Batman and other "regular human" superheroes. They fly in the face of every bit of common sense imaginable. They have no superpowers, but refuse to use guns or other practical weaponry which might actually give them an edge (there is a reason cops and soldiers carry those guns). They wear absolutely ridiculous costumes in which no one could possibly fight (Batman's costume is the worst of the lot--with no peripheral vision and that silly cape in the way he would be laughably easy to beat down). They have silly modes of transportation (why would a supposed vigilante who's trying to stay under the radar drive something as gaudy and easy to spot as the Batmobile/Batcopter/etc.?!?). Basically, the only "normal human" superhero who has ever made any sense was The Punisher (closer to what a real-world vigilante superhero would look like than any moron running around with a big cape on).
Superman may have too much Deus ex machina going for him. But at least he makes *some* sense, given his set of superpowers. Sure, it's silly for him to wear a cape too. But at least with him it doesn't matter (Superman could fight in a ballerina costume and still be every bit as effective). With Batman--the cape, the stupid costume, the ridiculous car, etc. are all just fucking stupid. He's supposed to be this smart detective, but he dresses like a drag queen and acts like brain-dead retard.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is why the currency standard should be cows. You can eat them, you can drink their milk, you can use their hides for clothing and you can fuck them in a pinch as well, they're the perfect standard to base an economy on.
Some may suggest women instead, but human milk tastes like crap and human meat can be toxic, so cows are still better. Goats would be another option, but the idea of fucking them is just sick.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:2, Insightful)