A rare copy of the first comic book published by Marvel Comics was sold at a Dallas auction house this week for a record $1.26 million.
Marvel Comics No. 1 was claimed Thursday by an anonymous buyer in near-perfect condition, according to Heritage Auctions, which held a four-day sale of vintage comic books and comic art.
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Printed during an era known as the Golden Age of comic books, Marvel Comics No. 1 features the Human Torch burning through a steel vault door in pursuit of a gun-wielding hooligan.
The issue also introduces other characters such as Ka-Zar, Angel, the Masked Raider, and Namor, the Sub-Mariner.
Called “a historic copy of a historic comic book,” the issue was first sold at newsstands in 1939 for 10 cents.
In those days, Marvel was known as Timely Comics, which was later rebranded as Atlas Comics in the 1950s and then as Marvel Comics in 1961.
Credit: Heritage Auctions
Credit: Heritage Auctions
A mail carrier from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, who collected comics and magazines, bought the book off the rack 80 years ago, Heritage said. Since then, the issue only changed hands a few times.
The $1.26 million price tag is the most anyone has ever paid for a Marvel Comic book, the auction house said.
The previous record for a Marvel was the 1962 issue featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man, which sold for $1.1 million in 2011.
But the most expensive original comic book ever sold was "Action Comics #1," published by DC Comics and featuring Superman on the cover, which sold on eBay for $3.2 million in 2014.
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