This comic book could herald some batty prices.
A rare, unrestored copy of Detective Comics #27— Batman’s 1939 debut — is on the auction block, and the ultimate bid could approach the rare issue’s record price of $1.74 million, based on an independent seller.
“$1.5 million just isn’t an unreasonable guess,” said Ted VanLiew, owner of Super World Comics in Holden, Mass. “It might set a record. It’s so wanted that it’s gonna get crazy attention.”
Online bidding for the ultra-coveted piece of comics history, which received a 6.0 “Wonderful” rating from the Certified Guaranty Company, began at just $1 on March 8 through Heritage Auctions.
Already, the highest bid has soared to $612,000 as of early Friday afternoon, with the auction ending March 30 via live bidding in Dallas.
“There are principally two comics in existence which might be the holy grails of comics,” VanLiew said. “One is Motion Comics #1 from 1938, the primary Superman, that began the superhero craze, after which Detective Comics #27, which got here out the subsequent 12 months.”
Detective Comics #27 cemented its place in comics lore by introducing the world to Gotham’s millionaire orphan Bruce Wayne with “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” by artist Bob Kane and author Bill Finger.
Within the feature, Commissioner Jim Gordon invites the socialite Wayne to the crime scene of a murdered man named Lambert, who’s the co-owner of Apex Chemical Corp., and whose son at first is believed to have knifed the person to death. Donning his disguise as Batman, Wayne tracks down Lambert’s real murderer: his greedy business partner who was killing fellow co-owners to realize control of their company.
CGC has graded just 75 copies of Detective Comics #27, with 14 unrestored books bearing the next rating than the present one on the market.
The copy up for grabs at auction is surfacing now since the unnamed seller needs the money for a ritzy latest pad, based on Ed Jaster of Heritage Auctions.
“This particular consigner is trying to purchase a latest home, and it’s a multimillion dollar home, so a few of his comic assets became available,” he said.
One other copy of Detective Comics #27 with a 6.5 grade fetched the record $1.74 million in May.
Superman No. 1, which raked in a colossal $5.3 million in a 2022 private sale, hold the record for costliest comic book.
Robert C. Storms of High Grade Comics said that the comics market broadly has chilled in comparison with the COVID years, partially because of uncertainty within the stock market and banking systems. Still, sales of “super high” items like Detective Comics #27 have been largely proof against such economic fluctuations.
“There’s only a certain variety of buyers which might be gonna lay out that type of money, so it truly is about how comfortable are they with spending that type of money,” Storms said. “The present economy won’t influence their sale.”
The Detective Comics #27 sale comes as part of a bigger comic auction that features copies of Batman #1 and Marvel Comics #1, and a restored Superman #1 book.
