Action Comics No. 1, the 1938 comic book that marked Superman’s first appearance, sold for $15 million in a private sale, becoming the first comic book to reach eight figures and surpassing the record for the most expensive sports card.
The rare 9.0 graded copy was once owned by Nicolas Cage, a Superman actor hopeful and Academy Award winner, and was stolen from his home in 2000 during a party. The comic was recovered more than a decade later in a dramatic retrieval that involved detectives and a meeting at an industrial park in California.
The sale marks the first time a comic book has topped the most expensive baseball card ever sold. The previous record holder was Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps rookie card, which sold for $12.6 million in 2022. This copy of Action Comics No. 1 is one of only two copies to hold a CGC 9.0 grade.
Published in June 1938, Action Comics No. 1 introduced Superman, created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster. The issue is widely considered one of the most important books in the comic book medium, launching the superhero genre as it exists today.
This particular copy gained attention at a Sotheby’s auction in 1992, when it sold for $82,000, a world record at the time. Metropolis and Comic Connect sold the book to Cage in 1996 for $150,000, another record.
Photo courtesy of Metropolis Collectibles, Inc. & Comic Connect, Corp
The theft in 2000 remained unsolved until 2011, when Metropolis Collectibles received a mysterious call about someone wanting to sell the comic.
Stephen Fischler, Zurzolo’s partner at Metropolis Collectibles, called Cage with the news and then contacted the detective on the case. They arranged to meet the seller at an industrial park in Simi Valley, California. The asking price was $1 million, and the seller claimed someone had found it in a storage unit.
The representative for the book turned out to be Mark Bellello, who appeared on the television show “Storage Wars.” When the detective presented his business card and explained the situation, the man who had purchased the storage unit realized he would not be receiving a payday.
After it was returned to Cage, the book sold at a Comic Connect auction to an anonymous buyer for $2.2 million.
The book remained in that collection until last Friday, when the $15 million private sale was announced. Only approximately 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are believed to exist today. The original cover price was 10 cents.
Metropolis Collectibles and Comic Connect have sold 73 copies of “Action Comics” No. 1 over the years. Other high-value sales in recent years include “Superman” No. 1 CGC 9.0, which sold in November 2025 for $9.12 million, and “Action Comics” No. 1 CGC 8.5, which sold in April 2024 for $6 million.
