Action Comics #1: The Comic That Started It All

Every April 28, the country pauses to tip its cap to superheroes — the caped, the masked, the everyday folks in scrubs and uniforms who do the work without expecting a thank you. National Superhero Day was the brainchild of a group of Marvel Comics employees back in 1995, and it has grown into a celebration of every hero, real or imagined, who has ever made someone feel a little safer. And before any of these modern heroes existed, Action Comics #1 started it all.

Before there was a Marvel Cinematic Universe, before the Avengers, before Batman or Wonder Woman or any of the other names that define the genre today, there was one comic book that changed everything.

Action Comics #1: A Quiet Day in 1938

Action Comics #1 hit newsstands on April 18, 1938. It cost a dime. The cover showed a man in a blue suit and red cape lifting a green car over his head while terrified onlookers ran for cover. His name was Superman, and most kids who picked up the book that spring had no idea they were holding a piece of history.

Two young men from Cleveland created him. Jerry Siegel wrote the story. Joe Shuster drew it. Both were in their early twenties, both were the sons of immigrants, and both had been kicking the idea around for years before DC’s predecessor finally agreed to publish it. They sold the rights to Superman for $130 — a decision that would haunt them for the rest of their lives, but one that gave the world its first true superhero.

The issue ran 64 pages and included other features besides Superman, but it was the Man of Steel who stole the show. Lois Lane appeared in Action Comics #1 for the first time too, already sharp-tongued and unimpressed by Clark Kent. The whole template for the modern superhero — the secret identity, the powers, the love interest, the urge to fight for the little guy — was right there on those pages.

How Many Copies of Action Comics #1 Are Left?

DC printed 200,000 copies of Action Comics #1. Most of them were read until they fell apart, used to wrap fish, donated in paper drives during World War II, or simply tossed out by parents who thought comic books were junk. Today, the best estimates suggest that fewer than 100 copies still exist anywhere in the world.

That scarcity has turned the book into one of the most sought-after collectibles on Earth.

What Action Comics #1 Is Worth Today

The numbers tell the story better than any sales pitch could.

In 2014, a near-mint copy of Action Comics #1 graded CGC 9.0 sold privately for $3.2 million. In April 2024, a beautifully preserved Kansas City Pedigree copy graded CGC 8.5 sold at Heritage Auctions for $6 million, setting a public auction record. And then, earlier this year, Action Comics #1 shattered every previous record when another CGC 9.0 copy sold privately for $15 million — making it the most expensive piece of pop culture ever sold, period. More than any baseball card. More than any movie poster. More than any other comic in history.

Even rough copies are worth a small fortune. A coverless, beat-up example sold for around $82,000 back in 2018. A CGC 0.5 — meaning it is barely holding itself together — pulled in $408,000 at auction in 2023.

There is also the wild Nicolas Cage chapter. The actor bought a copy for $150,000 in 1996. It was stolen during a party at his home in 2000 and disappeared for over a decade before turning up in an abandoned California storage unit in 2011. The book was returned to him, and he eventually consigned it back to auction, where it crossed the $2 million mark for the first time in comic book history.

What It Means for the Rest of Us

Most of us are never going to find a CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 sitting in grandma’s attic. But the spirit of the hunt is part of what makes collecting fun. People still pull old comics out of storage every week and discover that what looked like a dusty stack of nothing is actually worth real money. Golden Age books, Silver Age keys, early appearances of beloved characters — they turn up in basements, garages, and hand-me-down boxes more often than people realize.

That is part of what we love about doing what we do. Every week we set up at hotels across the country, and every week somebody walks in carrying something they thought was worthless. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it absolutely is not. Comics, coins, watches, jewelry, sports memorabilia, old toys — we look at all of it, and there is no charge to find out what you have.

Today, Tip Your Cap

So on this National Superhero Day, raise a glass to Superman, the two kids from Cleveland who dreamed him up, and the little 10-cent comic that quietly changed everything. Raise another to the firefighters, nurses, teachers, and neighbors who do the kind of heroic work that never makes a comic book cover. And if you have an old box of comics gathering dust somewhere, today is as good a day as any to dig it out and take a look.

You never know what is in there. That is sort of the whole point.