Luke Alsford
Published November 23, 2025 4:48pm
Updated November 23, 2025 4:49pm
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The comic was hidden in a ‘recess’ of the attic
A Superman copy found hidden away in an attic has become the most expensive comic ever sold.
Three brothers stumbled upon the first ever issue of Superman, dating back to June 1939, when they were clearing out their mother’s attic after her death.
The first edition of the Man of Steel’s adventures had been ‘untouched for decades’ in a cardboard box in Northern California and preserved in mint condition under a pile of newspapers.
This led the Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions to classify the issue, which originally sold for 10 cents, as the ‘highest ever graded copy’.
The comic was graded a pristine 9.0 out of 10 condition (Picture: Heritage Auctions)
The print fetched a staggering $9.12 million (£6.97 million) on Thursday, making it the world’s most expensive comic book.
The comic was one of six discovered last year in the ‘recess of the attic’ by the brothers, who have chosen to withhold their names.
They had been brought by their mother and her brother between the Great Depression and World War II.
Heritage Auction’s vice-president Lon Allen said: ‘Their mom had always told them she had an expensive comics collection but never showed them.
‘It’s a twist on the old “Mom threw away my comics” story.’
The former owner and her brother decided the comics onto her sons.
‘Until then, she carefully tucked the box away, deep into the recess of the attic, hidden but safe,’ the youngest brother said.
The comic sold for close to £7 million at auction on Thursday (Picture: Heritage Auctions)
‘But as the years unfolded, life brought about a series of losses and changes. The demands of everyday survival took centre stage, and the box of comics, once set aside with care and intention, was forgotten. Until last Christmas.’
As soon as the brothers, now in their 50s and 60s, informed the auction house about their find, Allen visited them in person in San Francisco within days.
Their mother also kept five early issues of ‘Action Comics’, which was the anthology of National Allied Publications that first depicted Superman.
But the issue of ‘Superman #1’ was the first time the character appeared in his own dedicated comic.
The print run produced half a million copies, among them being the comic found in Northern California.
Superman is still a huge box-office draw nearly 80 years later (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
What are the other most valuable comics ever sold?
The Superman #1 comic lay undiscovered for years (Picture: HA.com)
Before ‘Superman #1’ smashed the record on Thursday, it was a copy of Action Comics No. 1 that held the top spot.
The 1938 work that first introduced Superman was awarded a 8.5 preservation grade by the CGC.
It sold for $6 million (£4.59 million) through Heritage Auctions last year.
Another Superman No. 1 copy comes in third at $5.3 million (£4.05 million) from a private sale in 2022.
That copy was first grade 8.0 by the CGC, before it was upped to 8.5.
It was not just the rarity of the find that made it so valuable, but its uniquely well-preserved condition.
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The cool northern California climate was perfect for preserving the comic’s old paper.
‘If it had been in an attic here in Texas, it would have been ruined,’ Allen said.
This led comic grading service CGC to give the copy a 9.0 rating on their 10-point scale, which bested the previous record of 8.5.
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