Detective Comics #27: First $1,000,000+ Sale!

The Caped Crusader surpassed the million dollar mark at a comic book auction today in Dallas, Texas with an anonymous superheroes fan paying a record $1,075,500 for a 1939 comic book with Batman’s first appearance.

Click image to enlarge.

"This is a world’s record price for any comic book," said Lon Allen, Director of Sales for the Comics Division of Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas, the auction house that sold the Batman book.

The name of the winning bidder was not disclosed.

"This is one of the finest known surviving copies of Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman, certified as VF 8.0 by CGC. Two weeks before the live auction ended, online bidding already surpassed the previous comic book auction record of $317,000 set last year for a copy of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. Live bidding opened at over a half million dollars, and there was applause in the room when the gavel pounded for the final price of $1,075,500."

Heritage sold the Batman comic on behalf of an anonymous consignor.

"It was owned for decades and kept in excellent condition by a savvy comic book collector who purchased it for $100 more than 40 years ago. In the 1960s and 1970s many people considered that an outrageous amount of money to spend for a 1930s era comic book," said Allen.

"The Bat-Man," as he was originally called, appeared for the first time in a six-page story in Detective Comics #27 with a cover date of May 1939.

For more information and to see the auction listing, visit comics.ha.com.