Throughout January, nothing could top the eye-popping $3 million price tag on Action Comics #1, but Detective Comics #27 and Marvel Comics #1 made a go at it. Step inside for the Golden Age Chartbusters.

There are holy grails in the collecting community, and then there are the holiest of grails. All three comics on today’s list are the mecca of collecting with the sales figures to prove it. Few copies of each circulate in the marketplace, and single pages can fetch thousands of dollars. It’s no wonder that when Heritage had a massive auction on January 17 that included Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, and Marvel Comics #1, the prices were enough to blow minds. 

1. ACTION COMICS #1

The mold for holy grails, Superman’s first appearance never fails to impress whenever a copy goes up for auction. During the famous January 17 sale, a graded 6.0 sold for $3.1 million, which is just flexing at this point. Don’t forget that last year, an 8.5 had the hefty price tag of $3.25 million after an April auction.

Before January, the last Action Comics #1 to set the world on fire was a lowly 3.0. That grade still managed to trade hands for $1.6 million. For that matter, even single pages from AC #1 easily fetch four figures, and that’s without a Superman panel.

I would not be surprised if a high grade managed to hit the $4 million mark in the next year or two.

2. DETECTIVE COMICS #27

The other massive sale that made headlines came from the same Heritage Auction. This time, a graded 4.5 Detective Comics #27 was purchased for the bargain price of $1.14 million. For a superhero icon that is a household name around the world, that comes with the territory of owning his first appearance.

Not only are complete copies of DC #27 rare, which would automatically make them expensive, but seeing Batman for the first time does have its perks. Apart from January 17’s auction, the last one to sell online was in June when a 5.0 sold for $1,125,000.

The thing is, those prices are only going to keep climbing. Superman may be the first costumed superhero and have the DC legacy firmly behind him, but Batman has supplanted him as the more popular character. While Superman can seem outdated in a modern context, Batman is reimagined for each generation without losing his appeal. That will keep the million-dollar-plus sales coming for decades to come.

3. MARVEL COMICS #1

Only in the world of Golden Age chartbusters would a six-figure comic look like a good deal. With Action Comics #1 raking in over $3 million and Detective Comics #27 cracking the $1 million mark, it makes a 4.5 Marvel Comics #1 seem like a consolation prize. If it hadn’t been up against that competition, the $360,000 sale price it earned would have been grabbing headlines of its own. Again, this is a rare comic that isn’t too far from its 100th birthday. With the immense popularity of the MCU, the Marvel logo is more globally recognizable than ever before. It all started with Marvel Comics #1, the first issue published under the Timely banner, which would later become Marvel Comics.

What could potentially push this issue further on the fair market value scale is Namor. He made his second (and much more famous) appearance in this issue, and there have been heavy rumors of him coming to the MCU for years. Granted, a holy grail of this magnitude is usually not affected by the latest movie speculation. However, the added attention on the Submariner would have an impact on Marvel Comics #1 due to the MCU’s massive fanbase. 

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