Copy of first comic featuring Superman from the 1930s sells for nearly $1million
Action Comics #1, which cost ten cents when it was released on 18 April 1938, is credited with creating the superhero genre
A DOG-eared copy of the first comic featuring Superman has sold for nearly $1million (£770,000).
Action Comics #1, which cost ten cents when it was released on 18 April 1938, is credited with creating the superhero genre.
The copy auctioned in Dallas, Texas, was described as “unrestored” and its condition rated by experts as 5½ out of ten.
Lon Allen, managing director of comics at US-based Heritage Auctions, who are selling the item, said:
"As the bidding went higher and higher, grateful bidders recognised this copy as the gem it truly is.
"Few copies of this comic survive, let alone come to auction with such a bright cover - it displays beautifully.
"Action Comics #1 is the holy grail for any dedicated collector.
"Superman's first appearance is of great significance.
"This comic book, and Superman's inclusion in it, started the superhero genre.
"Before him there weren't any and without him we wouldn't have Batman, Captain America or the Incredible Hulk."
Mr Allen added: "The collector mentality is all about originality and so it's vitally important that this piece is unrestored.
"In recent years this comic has seen a meteoric rise in value."
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The seller was said to have bought it from a dealer in the 1990s for £20,000.
It sold for $956,000 (£735,000).
Only 100 copies of the first issue are believed to still exist.
The comic, published by Detective Comics, had a line-up of superheroes.
But Superman was so popular he was soon given his own series.
A mint condition Action Comics #1 sold on eBay for £2.4million in 2014, making it the most expensive comic ever.
Action Comics #1 was published on April 18, 1938 by Detective Comics, a corporate predecessor of DC Comics.
The franchise was started by publisher Jack Liebowitz while Superman was the brainchild of co-creators
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who came up with the character as high school students five years earlier.
Action Comics was an anthology, featuring a number of superheros alongside one another, but Superman soon got his own series when his booming popularity became apparent.
The world's first superhero has remained as a cultural icon since his comic debut and plays the hero in Hollywood blockbusters to this day.