The 10 Most Valuable Comic Books in the World

Not long ago a near-mint copy of Action Comics No. 1, the first comic featuring Superman, sold for a record $1 million.  A “Mint” copy would get even more (I honestly don’t know if there are any Mint copies of this comic available.  To get the rating of “Mint” requires standards some new comics don’t even meet.).  This made me wonder about the most valuable comics on the planet, so I looked them up.  

According to The Telegraph, a paper based in the UK, these are the Top 10 Most Valuable Comic Books in the World.  (In other words, I can’t take credit for this list or even some of the comments, this was done by the Telegraph.)

In order to give some perspective on the comics I have entered comments about each one along with their “value” in mint condition.  I put value in quotes because the pricing is subjective; being based on publications deemed reliable and the fact that this may not be what they actually sell for.  The prices listed here are pulled from Nostomania.com and adjusted for grade quality.

With no further delay, here they are in descending order:

10.)  Amazing Fantasy No. 15 - $280,000

Spider-Man debuted on the cover in August 1960, the thing is this comic book series had been scheduled for cancellation.  But, sales at the time showed this comic to be one of Marvel’s highest sellers.  The Amazing Spider-Man was soon launched thereafter.

9.)  Flash Comics No. 1 - $289,000

There are quite a number of DC characters that made their first appearance in Flash Comics, including Hawkman.  The first issue was published in 1940.

8.)  More Fun Comics No. 52 - $316,000

More Fun Comics was more of a comic book anthology than anything else covering 1935 - 1947.  This particular comic introduced The Spectre.  The Spectre has since become one of the more powerful magic characters in the DC Universe.

7.)  Batman No. 1 - $359,000

Detective Comics is where Batman made his first appearance, this is the comic that started his own series, or “self-titles” series.  This was also the comic in which Robin first appeared.  It was released in the spring of 1940.

6.)  Marvel Comics No. 1 - $367,000

This was the first-ever Marvel Comic.  It included the first appearance of Carl Burgos’ android superhero the Human Torch, not to be confused with Johnny Storm who is the human superhero the Human Torch.

5.)  Detective Comics No. 1 - $405,000

This was originally an anthology comic.  This comic, released in 1938, featured stories that revolved around the “hard-boiled detective” types of stories.  This is the series that went on to feature Batman and Superman.  A fun fact is that the “DC” in DC Comics were originally an abbreviation for Detective Comics, and later became part of the official name.

4.)  All-American Comics No. 16 - $430,000

Known for having the first appearance of Green Lantern, this comic was published in 1939.  This Green Lantern (whose name is Alan Scott) is not to be confused with the Hal Jordan Green Lantern of the Green Lantern Corps.  Although he is not a member of the Corps, he taps into the same energy using the magical “Starheart”.

3.)  Superman No. 1 - $671,000

This was the first comic dedicated to Superman only and was published in 1939.  Superman’s first appearance, however, was in Action Comics #1 (see below).

2.)  Detective Comics No. 27 - $1,380,000

The first book to feature Batman...ever.  It sold for 10 cents and is now valued at over $1 million.  That’s a good return on investment.  It was published in 1939.

1.)  Action Comics No. 1 - $1,390,000

The remarkable thing about this comic is not only the price, but it was the first comic book to feature a superhero of any kind.  You could say this was the one that started it all.  It was published in 1938 and is, arguable, the grandaddy of all comics.

It’s fun looking at the value of comics and how far the industry has come.

I’m looking forward to the wars continuing regarding who will have the largest share of the comic book marketplace.  It means that the companies will get more creative, offer captivating storylines, and work harder to please it’s loyal followers.  Are you wondering how much of a share Marvel and DC have in the comic arena?  So was I.  Here’s what I found:

In 2013, Marvel held a 33.50% share of the comic market and DC had a 30.33% share.

In 2008, Marvel held a 40.81% share of the comic market and DC had a 29.94% share.

It’s interesting to note two things:

1.)  It wasn’t too long ago that between Marvel and DC they held over 80% of the comic marketplace.  According to these numbers they held 70+% in 2008 and a 64% share in 2013.  It’s declining.

2.)  The gap between DC and Marvel has closed dramatically.  The gap was about 11% in 2008 and only a little over 3% in 2013.

This can only mean good things for comic lovers.  With Marvel www.marvel.com and DC www.dccomics.com running neck and neck and newer companies like BOOM Studios www.boom-studios.com, Darkhorse Comics www.darkhorse.com, Alterna Comics (which has a new comic I can’t wait for called “The Chair’.  It comes out in August 2015)  www.alternacomics.com, and Avatar Press www.avatarpress.com, comic book lovers all over the world can look forward to many years of good reading to come.