A historic DC Comics collection including iconic Superman titles has shattered records at Heritage Auctions. The rare comics auction surpassed $5.26 million, with many titles fetching record-setting historic high prices.

Nearly 1,800 bidders around the world collected every one of the 489 comics and pieces of artwork Heritage Auctions offered in the Christine Farrell Complete DC Collection: Comics & Comics Art Signature auction which took place Oct. 25-26. For over 50 years, Farrell amassed a massive collection of comics, and the huge collection did not disappoint interested bidders. Even more items from Farrell’s collection will go up for auction in the summer of 2025. The top lot of the sold items was a trimmed and restored CGC Apparent Fine 6.0 copy of 1938’s Action Comics #1, the DC Comics story that introduced Superman, which sold for a staggering $324,000.

Another Superman-related comic shattered records at the auction, with a CGC Near Mint+ 9.6 copy of 1938’s New Adventure Comics #27 selling for $168,000 — ten times more than the comic book’s previous high-water mark. The lesser-known and harder-to-find issue includes a cover by Creig Flessel, one of the earliest illustrators at DC Comics, and it also marks a historic moment for fans of the publisher. The issue gave readers their first look at Superman, who can be seen in a black-and-white ad for Action Comics #1 in the issue.

Two early entries in Superman’s career also fetched record-setting prices at the auction, with both Action Comics #8 and #23 getting $84,000 each. Action Comics #8 was graded CGC Very Fine 8.0 and was the first high-graded copy offered at auction by Heritage throughout the company’s long history. Action Comics #23 was also graded CGC Very Fine 8.0 and was one of Superman’s most significant issues, marking the introduction of Lex Luthor as well as The Daily Planet, which had been previously called The Daily Star in the comic books.

While Farrell’s rare Superman comics set a variety of records during the Heritage auction, other hard-to-find DC comics in her collection also sold for high prices. The second-highest-priced lot was Farrell’s copy of Flash Comics #1 (graded CGC Very Good/Fine 5.0), which sold for $174,000. A CGC Fine 6.0 copy of More Fun Comics #52 fetched #132,000; the comic marks the debut of DC’s antihero and Justice League member The Spectre. A CGC Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 copy of New Adventure Comics #25 sold for $84,000, with Heritage selling a Very Good 4.0 copy for only $2,880 earlier this year.

One of the rarer pieces in Farrell’s collection was one of nine known copies of Double Action Comics #2, which has been deemed an ultimate 10 on the Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books‘ Scarcity Index. Farrell’s CGC Fine/Very Fine 7.0 copy sold for $132,000, far surpassing the last copy Heritage auctioned in 2008, which sold for $16,730. Among the original artwork in Farrell’s collection, Harry G. Peter’s unpublished page from the 1940s Wonder Woman story “Nuclear, the Magnetic Menace” sold for $40,800. The page had been unseen for decades and was long thought to be lost.

The full results of the Oct. 25-26 Christine Farrell Complete DC Collection: Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction can be seen on the Heritage Auctions website.

Source: Heritage Auctions