An investment partnership has paid a record price of $850,000 for a 1940 copy of the Batman #1 comic book, according to officials of Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas who arranged the private transaction between the investors and a collector. The comic book originally cost 10 cents when it was published 72 years ago.
The collector paid $315,000 for it about two years ago, and that was the record at the time for a copy of Batman #1, one of the most important comic books in the hobby. The market for high-quality, classic comic books has really skyrocketed over the past few years, said Ed Jaster, Vice President of Heritage Auctions.
The identities of the seller and the investors who purchased the comic book for $850,000 were not revealed.
The Batman character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, and was so popular he got his own comic book series the following year. This particular copy of Batman #1 is the finest known surviving example, graded near-mint condition 9.2 on a scale of one to ten by Certified Guaranty Company (CGCcomics.com), said Jaster.
Batman #1 introduced the first appearance of two other familiar comic book characters, the Joker and Catwoman.
