Comics Wars Revisited

In a March 2009 posting, I shared that a rare copy of Action Comics #1 issue featuring Superman's first appearance sold for US$317,200, a record at that time. I'm sure that made some of us go check out our old comics collections gathering dust in some old box or cupboard.

A few days ago, the stakes were raised even higher. Take a look at this article from The Times.


The Times
February 27, 2010


Batman scores $1m knockout against Superman in comic wars
 
Chris Smyth
 

 
 
Who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman? The eternal schoolboy talking point has finally been resolved through the unarguable medium of cold, hard cash.

Batman knocked out Superman in a week that saw two comic books each sell for more than $1 million, leaving world records reeling.

Rare comics are now poised to join Old Master paintings as favourite purchases for the super-rich looking for safe investments, experts predicted.

But while the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel battle it out in America, Britain is firmly the Clark Kent of the comic book world. Here, the biggest risers have been restricted to girls’ comics.

On Monday, a copy of the first comic book to feature Superman, Action Comics No 1 from 1938, sold for US$1 million (£657,000) in a private sale arranged by the New York auction site ComicConnect.com.

Then on Thursday, the first appearance of “The Batman”, in Detective Comics No 27 from 1939, sold at auction in Dallas. The hammer price was a little under $1 million, but with buyer’s premium the price reached US$1,075,500 (£703,000).

“It pretty much blew away all of our expectations and now it’s the highest price ever raised for a comic book,” said Barry Sandoval of Heritage Auction Galleries, which sold the comic.

“We can really say that Batman has nosed out Superman, at least for now.”

The previous auction record was the $317,000 (£208,000) paid last year for a less well preserved copy of Action Comics No 1. In a world where pristine condition is everything, both comics sold this week scored 8 out of 10. Both sets of buyers and sellers remain anonymous.

Superman’s first appearance was described as “the Holy Grail of comic books” by the American comic expert Stephen Fishler. “Before Action Comics No 1 there was no such thing as a superhero or a man who could fly.”

Batman features on the striking front cover of Action Comics No 27, in a story described by the auction house as “pretty forgettable”. The copy sold this week was bought for £100 in the 1960s as an investment, a decision considered strange at the time.

But Malcolm Phillips, of the leading British seller Comic Book Auctions Ltd, believes that this could be the start of a trend. “What it tells you is that high-end comics are going into collections which have become like an extention of the equities market. They are going into a very wealthy person’s investment portfolio.”

He believes that the top end of the comic book market could start to resemble the art market, with vast sums paid for the biggest names.

Those million-dollar price tags do not necessarily reflect a great interest in comics, he said, describing those sold these week as “collectables that happen to be in the comic market but are essentially an extention of a portfolio of equities”.

Spider-Man’s first appearances in the early 1960s, which fetch around $20,000 (£13,000), will be the next to take off, Mr Phillips said. “These have got to be the future, no doubt.”

But there are still hundreds of copies of Amazing Fantasy No 15, which saw Spider-Man’s first appearance, in existence. By contrast, there are only 50 or so of the first Batman comic, and barely a dozen of Superman’s first outing.

Superheroes are increasingly big business. The last Batman film, The Dark Knight, took more than $1 billion (£657 million), while last year Disney bought Marvel, makers of Spider-Man and X-Men, in a $4 billion (£2.6 billion) deal.

The creators of these superheroes have not always shared in the wealth. Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster, creators of Superman, sold their character to DC Comics for $130. For the past decade, the Siegel family have been fighting for their share of the franchise, and won a crucial legal battle two years ago.

At the lower end of the comic book market, the prices are rather different. “Every day there are hundreds of thousands of comics that don’t get any bid,” said Mr Phillips. “eBay now is absolutely a buyer’s market. There’s a ton of stuff every day that gets no bid.”

British comics, in particular, are going cheap. “Comics from your childhood, whatever they are, are around for a few quid,” he said.

But one area has seen prices increase sixfold. “There are hotspots like girls’ comics. Men as well as well women are collecting them now,” Mr Phillips said. “Schoolgirls’ Own Library from the Thirties and Forties used to be a pound. Now they’re about five or six.”


I don't know about you, but I'm heading for the storeroom and the comics boxes once again ...