Is This the World’s Most Valuable Comic Book?

A 1939 Superman No. 1 will headline Heritage Auctions' Comic Books sale later this month with expectations that it will break comic book records.

It was uncovered by three Northern California brothers looking through their late mother’s belongings in their family home during the holiday season last year. It was part of a cache of six comic books in an attic beneath layers of faded newspapers  

“They’re in their 50s and 60s," said Heritage Auctions' Vice President Lon Allen, "and their mom had always told them she had an expensive comics collection but never showed them. It’s a twist on the old ‘Mom threw away my comics’ story.”

Among the collection are five early issues of Action Comics, the National Allied Publications anthology that introduced Superman to the world in its premiere issue. It includes issues 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21, as well as the Superman No. 1, issued in 1939 after National Allied changed its name to Detective Comics, Inc.

A copy of Action Comics No. 1 sold for $6m through Heritage Auctions in 2024, while a Superman No. 1 sold for $5.3m in a 2022 private sale. CGC graded that issue at 8.0, raising it to 8.5. The current copy coming to sale has bright colors, sharp corners and a tight spine, and consequently been graded a 9.0.

The comics will come to auction on November 20-22.