And My Mom Said Collecting Comics Was a Dead End: Heritage Sells Batman's Debut For More Than $1 Million

When Unfair Park across-the-street neighbor Heritage Auction Gallery guesstimated that a copy of Detective Comics No. 27 -- featuring the first-ever appearance of Batman -- would sell for upwards of $425,000, folks thought that was awful high. Because last time a copy of the comic in this near-near-mint condition sold...

By Robert Wilonsky

February 25, 2010

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

When Unfair Park across-the-street neighbor Heritage Auction Gallery guesstimated that a copy of Detective Comics No. 27 -- featuring the first-ever appearance of Batman -- would sell for upwards of $425,000, folks thought that was awful high. Because last time a copy of the comic in this near-near-mint condition sold at auction, best Heritage and I can tell, it went for $275,000. But Noah Fleisher, PR man for the Oak Lawn auction house, sends word that at 2:26 p.m. today Heritage offloaded its copy (from an anonymous seller) to a buyer who likewise wishes to remain anonymous for $1,075,000.

"It's a happy place right now," Fleisher tells Unfair Park. In the release he sent over, it notes that the seller originally picked up this copy of the comic for $100 about 40 years ago. Says Greg Rohan, president of Heritage, "This is a world's record price for any comic book. There was applause in the room when the gavel pounded for the final price of $1,075,500."

Heritage's Batman buy comes only three days after someone plunked down $1 mil for a copy of Action Comics No. 1, the first appearance of Superman. I always said Bruce Wayne could kick Clark Kent's ass.

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.