Auction Name: 2026 February 26 - 28 Comic Books Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 91018

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/7461*91018

Superman #1 (DC, 1939) CGC FN+ 6.5 Off-white to white pages. An astounding copy of the comic that has soared to new heights over the past few months, with a near-perfect VF/NM 9.0 copy selling for a record-breaking $9.12 million last November! This is a book that rarely shows up in unrestored condition; CGC has certified only five such copies with higher grades to date, and we have offered only two of them in our history.
This is literally a museum-worthy copy, having been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in an exhibit called "Superman: Many Lives, Many Worlds" that ran from June 24, 1987 through September 1, 1988. The exhibit was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Superman's debut in Action Comics #1, as well as the release of the movie Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, the last to feature Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel.
Following the release of Action Comics #1, Superman's popularity encouraged DC to give the Man of Steel his own title -- a first for any comics character and a bold move that reshaped the industry.
The content was handled by Superman's co-creators, with stories written by Jerry Siegel and masterfully illustrated by Joe Shuster, who also provided the cover and back cover pin-up.
It comes as no surprise that this historic comic book is currently ranked #3 on Overstreet's Top 100 Golden Age Comics list. By the way, since two variations of this comic are known to exist, we will mention that CGC's online graders' notes tell us that the house ad on the last page lists Action Comics #14 as "now on sale," as opposed to the copies that say the Action issue is "on sale June 2nd." Overstreet 2024 FN 6.0 value = $800,000; VF 8.0 value = $1,500,000. CGC census 1/26: 1 in 6.5, 5 higher.


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