Article by Kevin M. Gallagher, Jr
Batman continues to prove his worth with his first appearance in Detective Comics #27. A copy of this 1939 comic recently sold for $1.5 million at auction. This is the highest price ever paid for a Batman comic book; the previous record of $1.075 million was for the same issue. That time it was sold in 2010 and held an 8.0 grade from the CGC (Comics Guarantee Company), while this new record-breaker was graded at 7.0.
It turns out, people aren’t tired of Batman’s first ever appearance quite yet.
It’s not a surprise that Detective Comics #27 sold as well as it did, according to CGC, there are only seven known, unrestored copies, including these two. The auctioneer’s Heritage Auctions description for the just sold copy reads:
While any copy of this key comic is something special, we think this one stands up extremely well against any we’ve seen offered to the public. The yellows on the cover are clean and unsmudged, and few surviving copies can make that claim. Also, notice that the back cover is also appealingly clean. The book is also well-centered, with none of the back cover ad wrapping around to the front. Also note that this book has no codes or markings of any sort, which can be said of very few 1939 comics!
A GOOD INVESTMENT
If you happened to invest in Detective Comics #27 back in 1939, it certainly would have been lucrative. Originally 10¢, it would have just cost $1.87 today. While the $1.5 million breaks a record for Batman and Detective Comics, Action Comics #1 – Superman’s first appearance – still holds the record for any comic book at $3.2 million.
Another copy of Detective Comics #27 sold earlier this year for $850,000, now the third-highest sale of the comic.
Would you be willing to pay a premium for an original copy of Detective Comics #27? Or are you content with reprints/digital versions? Let us know below!
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