It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a rare Superman comic book! And it
fetched $9.12M!
[November 25, 2025]
By JACK BROOK
A copy of the first Superman issue, unearthed by three brothers cleaning
out their late mother's attic, netted $9.12 million this month at a
Texas auction house which says it is the most expensive comic book ever
sold.
The brothers discovered the comic book in a cardboard box beneath layers
of brittle newspapers, dust and cobwebs in their deceased mother's San
Francisco home last year, alongside a handful of other rare comics that
she and her sibling had collected on the cusp of World War II.
She had told her children she had a valuable comic book collection
hidden away, but they had never seen it until they put her house up for
sale and decided to comb through her belongings for heirlooms, said Lon
Allen, vice president of comics at Heritage Auctions. The brothers
uncovered the box of comics and sent a message to the auction company,
leading Allen to fly out to San Francisco earlier this year to inspect
their copy of "Superman No. 1" and show it to other experts for
appraisal.
“It was just in an attic, sitting in a box, could have easily been
thrown away, could’ve easily been destroyed in a thousand different
ways,” Allen said. “A lot of people got excited because it’s just every
factor in collecting that you could possibly want all rolled into one.”
The "Superman No. 1" comic, released in 1939 by Detective Comics Inc.,
is one of a small number of copies known to be in existence and is in
excellent condition. The Man of Steel was the first superhero to enter
pop culture, helping boost the copy's value among collectors, alongside
its improbable backstory, Allen said.
The previous record for the world's most expensive comic book had been
set last year, when an "Action Comics No. 1" — which first introduced
Superman to the world as part of an anthology — sold for $6 million. In
2022, another Superman No. 1 sold for $5.3 million.
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A view of a DC Comics, Superman No. 1 issue is shown Monday, Nov.
24, 2025, in Irving, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
 A small, in-house advertisement in
the comic book helped experts identify it as originating from the
first edition of 500,000 Superman No. 1 copies ever printed. Allen
estimates there are fewer than 500 in existence today.
The copy was not given any special protection, but the cool Northern
California climate helped preserve it, leaving it with a firm spine,
vibrant colors and crisp corners, according to a statement from
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The copy was rated a 9.0 out of 10
by comics grading company CGC, meaning it had only the slightest
signs of wear and aging.
The three brothers, in their 50s and 60s, did not wish to be
identified due to the windfall involved nor did the buyer of the
comic book, according to the auction house.
“This isn’t simply a story about old paper and ink,” one brother
said in a statement released by the auction house. “This was never
just about a collectible. This is a testament to memory, family and
the unexpected ways the past finds its way back to us.”
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