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.
Value, Price, and Worth (Score:2, Interesting)
Although imo, it's still far more meaningful than a lot of what passes as modern 'art'.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:2, Interesting)
Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.
Gold at least is a store of value and a safeguard in bad times. A million dollars for a comic book? Cannot compute. To each his own, I guess.
Re:Anonymous, huh? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm just going to leave this here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/227765731/816ff19f/action_comics_01_-_superman.html
I thought Superman could just leap over things (Score:4, Interesting)
not "fly" (at first at least)
Re:Technically speaking ... (Score:5, Interesting)
>Superman is not a man. He is an alien from the planet Krypton. So
>this is NOT "the first time a man flew without mechanical aid."
And hence my favorite Tarantino fanboyism, courtesy of Kill Bill Vol. 2:
Bill: "As you know, l'm quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating. Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology... The mythology is not only great, it's unique.... Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He's weak... he's unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race."
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:4, Interesting)
That's exchange value, one of many kinds of value. Since Aristotle, people have recognized multiple kinds of value. For example, if a major copper mine shuts down temporarily, the price of copper pots will go up. But you copper pot does not become better at cooking; as a kitchen item, it is no more or less valuable than before, even though it has greater value on the market than before, if you wanted to sell it. Similarly, if a huge new copper mine is opened, your copper pot does not lose any value as a cooking implement, but is again just as good as previously.
Re:Value, Price, and Worth (Score:2, Interesting)
Why would I want to see a movie about some guy buying a comic book?
It's been done, sort of. "Take On Me" - A-Ha. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Excellent time to sell (Score:3, Interesting)
Once, I was at a sci-fi collectables fair. One of the most popular stands was selling Beanie babies. My 1 year old daughter, whom I was carrying, started stretching out for one of the beanie babies (a small pig I think). I picked it up and asked how much. The vendor told me £30 or there abouts. Watched by the many other collectors who were all sifting through the stand, I bought the beanie baby pig, tore off the tag, and handed it to my daughter.
The silence around me was deafening... I quickly retreated to the Star Trek area, where at least they can take a joke.
-Jar.
PS. She's 12 now, and still has the beanie baby pig, without tag, and without most of it's fur.
PPS. I bought an original lobby poster of Star Trek V at that same fair, signed by Shatner. It's one of my most valuable collectables.
Comics are a crooked business (Score:4, Interesting)
Collectible comics, that is.
I was heavy into collecting at one time. I still have my #1s of "The Nam" and whatever reboot cycle Supes was going through at the time.
Here's what put me off the whole business: At that time, the business model of collectible comics dealers was based on ripping off little boys. They'd come into shops with their few bucks and dealers would sell them crap by always hinting that "This is gonna be the next TMNT #1! Buy it now! Only a buck over cover!" I've never known any business that bought stock, put it out, stored it away when everyone realized it was crap and didn't sell, then dragged the same crap out of storage a year or two later, slapped on a higher price, and called it a "collectible". That shit is just ridiculous.
What broke the camel's back was when I managed, some time after the fact, to piece together what had happened with the Dark Knight hardcovers. When they were announced, you could prepay something like $75 and reserve a signed copy. There were delays and by the time all the signed copies had shipped, the book had totally blown up. The demand for the signed collectible hard cover was huge, with new stock selling for $300.
Every lousy fucking dealer in Houston that I was able to get info on (except one, A Few Books and Records on the SW side), told every kid who had prepaid for their book that their book never arrived and the order needed to be canceled. They refunded the $75. Some of them didn't wait a week before they stuck that kid's book in the display case with a huge price tag on it.
With just one exception, every comics dealer I've ever known has been a scumbag.
Re:Truth, Justice, and the American Way (Score:3, Interesting)