I know I’m a little late on getting this to everyone – and I’m sure you’ve already heard – but another comic book has broke two previous records.

Action Comics #1 sold for $1.5 million dollars!

This particular issue was owned by a private collector and was found tucked inside of an old
movie magazine.

WOW! What a find?

This comic is considered the Holy Grail of comic books to own due to the debut of Superman, so very highly collectible.

The comic was sold through ComicConnect.com, bought minutes after they posted it to another private collector.

Goes to show you, that if you keep your eyes open you might end up with a very highly sought after collectible. Don’t quit looking and you also could could come across a comic that could bring in a nice chunk of change. Maybe it won’t be a million in a half, but you never know.

One has to wonder, are there going to be anymore that crop up in as good condition as this one (they say this has been the best one yet) or will it take another 10 to 20 years.

Here’s to finding that one collectible!

Patrick “the comic guy” Whitson

According to Heritage, there is no copy graded higher than an 8.0 CGC
universal grade and herein lies the point, higher grades sell for higher
prices. Here is what Heritage Auctions said about this beautiful comic:

Detective Comics #27 - First Batman

This clean, beautiful copy really delivers when it comes to eye appeal.

As far as this issue is concerned, most seasoned Golden Age collectors would be prepared to accept any number of flaws, but they will find only inconsequential ones, and none that mar the very strong impression you get the moment you lay eyes on the book.

Issue #27’s solid yellow background is ordinarily very prone to smudging, yet this copy somehow avoided it. The red block with the Detective Comics logo also discolors easily, and is almost never seen as the solid block you see here without a color break marring it somehow!

Also, note the absence of spine splits, creasing, and most other things that are known to mar comic books of this vintage. We can only encourage the prospective bidder to examine the scans of other unrestored Detective #27 copies in our online auction archives to fully appreciate how unusual this copy is.

You can read Heritages description of Detective Comics #27 at their
website.

Unusual indeed, a very nice collectible comic book that any comic collector
would want in their own collection to cherish and enjoy. Although, out of my
range for what I can purchase, this gives each comic book collector who has
been looking for a particular comic book hope that they also may find one in
as good condition, or possibly better, as Detective Comics #27.

Congratulations to the winning bidder of this gem!

Patrick “The Comic Guy” Whitson

I know, I know… It’s been awhile since I last posted but I am working on putting some good content together for you. Recently, I received this question from “Angela” a fellow collector:

“I have some old Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom Comic books that I have had since I was a teenager. They are still wrapped in plastic. They were limited editions. How would I find out what these would be worth today?“

First, thank you for the question and it is definitely a question that many collectors ask quite often before they determine to sell their comic books or maybe determine worth for their collection. Let’s get started shall we. (Thanks to my good friend Sean over at comicbooksecrets.com for the outline for this – go check out his site after you read this.)

Step 1: Gather Titles and Issue Numbers

If you have an “Amazing Spiderman” collection, what you would do is list all of your issue numbers on a piece of paper or in a text editor such as notepad. Here is an example:

Amazing Spiderman 300
Amazing Spiderman 316

Step 2: Determine Condition or “Grade”

A quick note here, grading your comics is subjective. As an example, I prep comic books for collectors to increase the grade of the book before they send them into CGC or PGX for grading. They may send me a “Wolverine 1 Limited Edition”. That collector may have graded that book a 9.2, but when I review the book to determine an estimated arrival grade, the grade may actually be a an 8.0.

That’s a huge difference when it comes to grading. So, what’s the best way to determine the condition or “grade” of my comic books? First, acquire for yourself the Bible of the industry, the “Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide” along with the “Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide” (you can find these in the right navbar under the blog signup form. Look for “Recommended”).

The basic comic book gades are:

For more details and descriptions of these grades, visit my good friend, Seans site and watch his video.

Mint (MT) and Near Mint (NM)
Vefy Fine (VF)
Fine (F)
Very Good (VG) to Good (G)
Fair (FR) to Poor (PR)

Step 3: Find The Value of your Comic Book

We have a couple of ways to find the value of our comic books. First, we can use the Overstreet Price Guide but, as my good friend Sean has said, this is really only good for research of first appearances, villains, etc. as the pricing is a year or more behind and can be biased as they receive a lot of data from dealers.

The best way to find values for your comic books is on eBay! Yes, you’ve read that right – the famous eBay site has the most up-to-date pricing on what you could get for your comic books.

So, what I’m going to do is a video for you guys on how to research your comic books on eBay. Keep watching this site as I will have this coming up soon.

Happy collecting.

Patrick
The Comic Collector