Metropolis Collectibles/ComicConnect Sets New $15 Million Record with Action Comics #1 (CGC 9.0)
Historic private sale establishes a new high-water mark for comic books — and surpasses the all-time sports card record.
NEW YORK — January 10, 2026 — Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect announced the private sale of a CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 for $15,000,000, setting a new record for a comic book and placing the 1938 Superman debut at the top of the pop-culture collectibles market. The transaction was negotiated by Metropolis Collectibles/ComicConnect, with both buyer and seller remaining anonymous.
The $15 million sale eclipses the previous comic-book record of $9.12 million, set by a CGC 9.0 copy of Superman #1 at auction in November 2025.
It also clears the benchmark for the most expensive sports card ever sold — the $12.6 million 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card — underscoring the growing global demand for truly scarce “trophy” collectibles with cultural significance.
A record sale with a legendary backstory
Beyond its grade, this Action Comics #1 carries one of the hobby’s most remarkable provenances. The book:
Sold at Sotheby’s in 1992 for $82,000+, then a record.
Was sold by Metropolis to Nicolas Cage in 1996 for $150,000, again a record at the time.
Was stolen from Cage’s home in 2000, then recovered in 2011 after resurfacing in a California storage unit.
Returned to Cage, who consigned it to ComicConnect; the subsequent auction realized $2.16 million — the first time a comic crossed the $2 million threshold.
Why Action Comics #1 still sits alone at the summit
Often called the “foundation stone” of superhero comics, Action Comics #1 introduced Superman and helped launch the genre itself. At the elite end of grading, scarcity becomes extreme: fewer than 100 copies exist in CGC’s population data, and only two are graded CGC 9.0.
Metropolis Collectibles/ComicConnect President Vincent Zurzolo emphasised the book’s enduring cultural weight, describing it as one of the hobby’s defining artifacts.
Metropolis Collectibles/ComicConnect CEO Stephen Fishler noted that the theft-and-recovery story ultimately amplified the book’s mythology — a narrative arc he has compared to the famous theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911.
About Metropolis Collectibles & ComicConnect
Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect are New York–based leaders in brokering, auctioning, and facilitating private sales of high-end comic books and pop-culture collectibles, with a long track record of record-setting transactions for landmark issues.
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