By VeVe Staff · January 15, 2026
Action Comics #1 has done it again.
A legendary copy of the 1938 comic that introduced Superman to the world has sold in a private transaction for $15 million, marking a historic record-breaking comic sale and officially becoming the most valuable comic ever sold.
For collectors, this moment feels inevitable. It is history snapping back into place.
This CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 now stands alone at the peak of the hobby, reclaiming a crown it has worn, lost, and reclaimed multiple times over decades. In a collecting world that spans comics, sports cards, memorabilia, and fine art, no other book carries this level of cultural gravity in a single object.
Before capes dominated movie screens.
Before shared universes became billion-dollar engines.
Before collecting became mainstream.
There was Action Comics #1.
Published in 1938, the book introduced Superman and, in doing so, launched the superhero genre itself. Everything that followed traces back to this single issue. Batman. Wonder Woman. Marvel. Modern fandom culture.
CGC President Matt Nelson summed it up clearly, calling the book the foundation of the entire comic book industry. This latest Action Comics #1 record reflects not just rarity, but historical importance that no other comic can rival.
That foundation is incredibly fragile.
Fewer than 100 authentic copies of Action Comics #1 exist today. At the highest condition levels, the population becomes razor thin. Only two copies are graded CGC 9.0. When one of those trades hands, the entire market pays attention.
This particular copy has been rewriting the record books for more than thirty years.
In 1992, it stunned the hobby when it sold at Sotheby’s for just over $82,000, becoming the most expensive comic ever sold at the time. In 1996, it reset expectations again when Nicolas Cage purchased it for $150,000, a staggering number in an era when comics were still fighting for legitimacy as serious collectibles.
Each transaction built toward what collectors now recognize as an inevitable outcome. A record-breaking comic sale was only a matter of time.
Then the story took a turn no one could script.
Four years after purchasing the book, it vanished.
During a party at Cage’s home in 2000, the comic was stolen. For more than a decade, it remained missing. Leads dried up. The trail went cold. The most valuable comic in the world had become a rumor.
In 2011, it resurfaced in the most unlikely way. Inside a California storage unit.
Law enforcement recovered the book and returned it to Cage, who consigned it to ComicConnect just six months later. That auction realized $2.16 million, marking the first time a comic book ever crossed the $2 million threshold and reinforcing the upward momentum toward another Action Comics #1 record.
The theft did not diminish the book. It elevated it.
Collectors were no longer just buying paper and ink. They were buying legend.
In 2014, another CGC 9.0 copy sold for $3.2 million. In 2024, a CGC 8.5 example reached $6 million at public auction, setting a benchmark many believed would stand for years.
Then 2025 delivered a surprise. A pristine copy of Superman #1 was discovered in an attic, graded CGC 9.0, and sold for $9.12 million. For a brief moment, Action Comics #1 was no longer the most valuable comic ever sold.
That moment did not last.
This $15 million private transaction firmly restores Action Comics #1 to its rightful place at the top. The sale, negotiated by Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect, now stands as the definitive Action Comics #1 record, surpassing every comic, every sports card, and every piece of pop culture memorabilia ever sold.
There is the hobby.
Then there is Action Comics #1.
According to Vincent Zurzolo, president of Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect, the book’s dramatic backstory has played a major role in elevating it from a rare collectible into a true cultural icon.
Zurzolo is not only one of the most respected figures in the comic collecting world. He is also a trusted partner of VeVe, bringing decades of firsthand experience at the highest levels of the hobby into the digital collecting space.
His creator-owned comic series, The Addiction, is available on VeVe, serving as a bridge between traditional comic storytelling and the next evolution of collecting.
When Zurzolo likens the theft and recovery of this Action Comics #1 to the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, the comparison resonates. That crime transformed a masterpiece into a global symbol. In much the same way, this comic’s disappearance and return helped cement its status as the most valuable comic in existence.
Stories do not dilute value. They compound it.
This moment is not about hype. It is about clarity.
Collectors have always known there is only one true first appearance of Superman. Only one book that started everything. This record-breaking Superman sale confirms that belief at the highest possible level.
It also reflects how the hobby has matured. Condition matters. Provenance matters. Cultural impact matters. Permanence matters.
In a world where content scrolls past in seconds, objects that anchor us to shared history become more powerful, not less.
Funny thing is, moments like this do not pull collectors backward. They push the hobby forward.
The sale of Action Comics #1 reinforces why collecting endures. It is about connection. Ownership. Preservation. Legacy.
At VeVe, moments like this underscore why the future of collecting is not about replacing the past. It is about extending it. Digital collectibles allow iconic stories to be experienced, shared, and preserved in new ways, opening the door for more collectors to engage with the history that shaped pop culture.
Not every collector will ever own the most valuable comic in the world. But every collector deserves to feel and know why it matters.
A reflective introduction to the lifelong Star Wars debate over who the strongest Jedi really is, and why the answer depends on what kind of strength you value.
Founded in 2018, VeVe was created for collectors by collectors to bring premium licensed digital collectibles to the mass market. With over 8 million NFTs sold, VeVe is the largest carbon neutral digital collectibles platform, and one of the top grossing Entertainment Apps in the Google Play and Apple stores. #CollectorsAtHeart
