Fantastic Four No. 1 Sold for $2m

One of the world’s finest copies of the first issue of Fantastic Four has sold for $2.04 Million at Heritage Auctions's Comics & Comic Art auction.

LIve bidding for the sale of one of only two copies of the Near Mint+ 9.6 grade opened at $1.05m before it became the second-most-valuable Silver Age comic behind the CGC Near Mint+ 9.6 copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 Heritage sold for $3.6 million in September 2021. The previous auction record for Fantastic Four No. 1 was $1.5m for a copy graded Near Mint- 9.2 Heritage sold in 2022. 

“The state of preservation of this copy is simply unbelievable,” says Barry Sandoval, Heritage Auctions Vice President. “It’s one of the greatest single comic books we have ever handled, and the final auction price reflected that.” 

Other highlights from the auction, which featured various items from the collection of the late collector, historian, and author Roger Hill, included:

• John Buscema’s original artwork for the first issue of 1988’s Wolverine which made $600,000
• Don Heck’s original art for Page 8 from Tales of Suspense No. 39 featuring Tony Stark’s first steps in an Iron Man suit sold for $504,000
• Frank Miller's cover for Captain America No. 241 which included the first meeting of Cap and the Punisher ($228,000)
• a Steve Ditko page from 1966’s The Amazing Spider-Man No. 32 sold for $204,000, 
• Herb Trimpe’s cover for The Incredible Hulk No. 123, featuring The Leader wielding his Murder Module went for  $216,000
• the DC Comics cover of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane No. 106 in which Lois transforms into a Black woman for 24 hours realized $144,000
• Lee Elias’ original cover of 1954’s Tomb of Terror No. 15 (a woman reels in horror as a man’s face explodes) sold for $300,000 
• Wally Wood’s original artwork for the cover of 1951’s Tales from the Crypt No. 26 ($126,000)
• a copy of Batman No. 3 which contains the first appearance of Catwoman in costume ($66,000)
• a copy of Detective Comics No. 233 featuring the first appearance of Batwoman ($50,400)
• an August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories with Frank Paul’s cover featuring a rocketman mid-flight and Philip Francis Nowlan’s science-fiction novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. which introduced Buck Rogers, sold for $105,000