Marvel Comics #1 sold for a staggering figure

If you’ve got a million dollars spare up your sleeve, it turns out that the second-hand market for comic books is a better investment than a house.

An anonymous comic book collector paid $2.4 million for a copy of wonder Comics #1. The first edition of the comic would have originally sold for 10 cents (about $2 today) in 1939. Luckily for us, a digital version is available through Marvel for $99.

The comics ‘that started it all’ was last auctioned in 2019 when it sold for 1.26 million its value has now doubled it will be interesting to see how the value increases if and when the new owner decides to sell it at auction. First published in October 1939 by Timely Comics, the comic featured some of the lesser-known characters like the original Human Torch, the Angel, the Masked Thief, and Namor the Submarine. Essentially, because Human Torch appears first on the list, it makes him Marvel Comics’ first superhero.

Its high price comes not only from the fact that it holds No. 1. but also from the fact that it is a “paid copy”, in which the publisher writes what he owes to the illustrators, adding to the rarity of comics. Marvel’s website lists cartoonists as Carl Burgos, Al Anders, Bill Everett, and Paul Gustavson, with Burgos, Anders, and Everett also getting writing credits, in addition to Ben Thompson.

It would be nice if the original contributors received royalties for resale, but who knows, maybe in the near future they will.

A rare piece of Marvel history, a publisher’s annotated copy of the first Marvel comic book, sold for $2.4 million.

The book, “Marvel Comics No. 1,” published in 1939, was used by the publisher to note payments it owed illustrators, an expert said.https://t.co/GQ5y6Y6sZ6

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 21, 2022