What can really be said about Nicolas Cage? For over 40 years, the actor has certainly kept audiences entertained with his choice of movies. Cage also isn't afraid of showing off his nerd side. Did you know that he's a huge comic collector?

Cage -- whose legal last name is Copolla (yes, he's a part of that Hollywood family) -- opted to use the now-ubiquitous last name to stand out from his family. Inspired by the Marvel hero Luke Cage and Avante-Garde composer John Cage, Nicolas Cage has certainly made the name all his own. Cage even named his son Kal-El -- Superman's legal Kryptonian name. To say he is a big comic book fan would be a massive understatement.

So it should come as no surprise that Cage had a pretty impressive comic book collection. In his collection was arguably the holiest grail of comics, Action Comics #1, as well as Detective Comics #27 -- both of which were stolen alongside several other valuable books around the year 2000. While many of the books were recovered in 2011, a lot of his collection is still missing. Earlier this year Cage took to Twitter and (jokingly, maybe) asked for the public help to find the rest of his collection;

https://twitter.com/NickCageMovie/status/1514683756321259536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1514683756321259536%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fnicolas-cage-stolen-comic-books-video%2F

 

After that incident, Cage put the rest of his books up for auction. His collection included high-grade copies of Fantastic Four #1, Green Lantern #1, and Detective Comics #38. After being reunited with some of his books in 2011, Cage reportedly sent his other copy of Action Comics #1 to CGC, where it graded at a blue label 9.0.

Record-Setting Sale

That book would then be sold for $2,161,000 in 2011 via Comic Connect -- making this the first comic to make over $2 million dollars. In 2014, another 9.0 blue label copy sold for $3207852. It's hard to believe that more than one high-grade Action Comics #1 exists, but it does!

Let's look at two more sales from 2003. Action Comics #1 has always fetched high dollar amounts. In 2003, prices were still wowing buyers and sellers alike.

A CGC blue label 4.0 sold for $85,336.  In 2018, a similarly graded book sold for $573,600.
A CGC blue label 2.5 sold for $40,308. In 2009 a similarly graded book sold for $121,000.

Fantastic Four #1 is also a hot comic right now -- after all, a certain member of that team did appear in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. This is also a book that appears on the census more frequently (as more copies survived). Let's look at any sales data from 2002;

A CGC blue label 1.8 sold for $685 -- a similarly graded book sold for $18,600 in May of 2022.
A CGC blue label 2.0 sold for $1105 -- a similarly graded book sold for $19,750 in April of 2022.
Lastly, A CGC blue label 9.4 sold for $111328 -- a similarly graded book sold for $300,000 in 2011.

Cage's collection was (and is) likely worth millions. It's also a shame he's still missing so much of it. Cage is still a huge comic book fan and has appeared in several comic book-based movies, including Kick-Ass, Ghost Rider, and Into the Spider-Verse. Here's hoping he gets reunited with the rest of his books one day!

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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.