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Look! Up in the sky! It’s a stratospheric $3.25-million record sale of rare Superman comic

Man holding first edition of debut Superman comic book
Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of ComicConnect, holds a first edition of the 1938 comic book marking Superman’s debut.
(Metropolis Collectibles)
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One of the few copies of the comic book that introduced Superman to the world has sold for a super-sized, record-setting price.

The issue of Action Comics No. 1 went for $3.25 million in a private sale, ComicConnect.com, an online auction and consignment company, announced Tuesday.

It narrowly bested the previous record for the comic, set at the auction of another copy in 2014 for slightly more than $3.2 million.

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The comic book, published in 1938, “really is the beginning of the superhero genre,” said ComicConnect.com Chief Operating Officer Vincent Zurzolo, who brokered the sale.

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It told readers about the origins of Superman, how he came to Earth from another planet and went by the name of Clark Kent.

The seller of this particular issue bought the comic in 2018 for slightly more than $2 million.

Zurzolo said that although hundreds of thousands of copies were initially published, it’s estimated that only about 100 exist today, in varying conditions. He said this copy is among the best-kept ones.

“There’s no comic book that you could value higher in terms of a comic book than Action Comics No. 1,” he said.

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