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Detective Comics #27 (DC, 1939) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white pages....
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Description
Detective Comics #27 (DC, 1939) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white pages. An original-owner copy of Batman's first appearance would be a hotly sought-after item in any grade, but this one's eye appeal should make any serious collector take notice, and puts it among the most desirable single comics ever offered by Heritage.What a treat it is to see this key book with the yellow and red surfaces so clean and unsmudged! If you'd like to compare this to the average surviving copy of the comic, just go to our auction archives at HA.com.
The advanced collector knows all too well what an average "Tec 27" looks like, and will ask the obvious question: how does this compare to the other elite copies recently sold by Heritage, the VF- 7.5 "Aloha Copy" and the VF 8.0 Pinnacle Hill Collection copy?
Well, in comparison with the Aloha Copy, the present example has better centering, with none of the back cover ad wrapping around to the front. The staples of this copy are much nicer, and the red block of this copy is solid, with no color breaks apart from tiny dots. While the back cover does has some finger smudging, there's less of it than on the Aloha Copy.
In comparison to the Pinnacle Hill copy, it's worth noting that the present copy has no penciled distributor code or markings of any sort. Also, the book offered here lacks the "soft" lower left corner of the other two copies, though this one does have the tiniest of spine splits (approximately 3 mm) at the top and bottom.
Obviously the crease at lower left put a ceiling on this one's technical grade, but having seen both this copy and the Aloha Copy before they were sealed up in the CGC holders, we think many collectors would give this one the nod over the other book in terms of overall eye appeal. We encourage you to use the large scans on our website to decide for yourself.
The Overstreet "top of Guide" value for this book shot up by an almost unheard-of 83% in the newly released Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #40. It remains second only to Action Comics #1 in the overall ranking, and the only comic with a realistic chance to surpass Action #1 (Detective #27 did hold the top spot briefly in the past). Batman is certainly more of a force at the movie box office lately than Superman, so it will be interesting to see if the present generation or future generations elevate his first comic to the top.
Not only is this the debut of a character that has become a pop culture icon, the book is graced by one of the more distinctive and memorable covers of the entire Golden Age, drawn by Bob Kane.
The striking cover is the reason this copy's seller, Robert Irwin, kept the comic all of these years, in fact it's the only comic book he kept! Mr. Irwin and his brother were friends with the son of the man who owned a news agency. The son would let the brothers know when the new magazines were in, and they'd go to the local magazine dealer and check them out. A few years ago, Mr. Irwin was going through some boxes when he found late-1930s issues of National Geographic and Popular Mechanics... and his Detective #27.
This marks the first time Heritage has sold a "Tec 27" consigned by the same person who paid 10 cents for it at the newsstand.
Overstreet 2010 FN 6.0 value = $210,000; VF 8.0 value = $525,000. CGC census 10/10: 2 in 7.0, 4 higher.
View the certification for CGC Certification ID 913676001 and purchase grader's notes if available.
More information about Detective Comics.
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