So who would win in a battle between The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel? After today, the smart money is on Batman over Superman.
Two ultra-rare comic books were auctioned today. Action Comics #1 features the first appearance of Superman - considered the first superhero with super powers. And a copy of Detective Comics #27 was also auctioned Thursday as well - that issue marks the first appearance of Batman.
"Those characters are obviously two of the biggest fictional characters ever created," said Aaron White, the consignment director of Heritage Auctions. "Getting back to their first appearance is tremendously interesting to a lot of people. There are a lot of people who collect a lot of different things who would like to have copies of these comics because of their pop culture significance. That, and there aren't very many out there."
So who won the auction today in Dallas? Superman’s high bid stands came in at $528,000. Batman’s high bid end up at is $1.215 million.
Each comic is being sold individually at auction. They cost 10 cents when they were bought back in the 1930s. Back then, no one expected comic books to be worth money. In total, there are less than 50 known copies of each comic book.
In addition to the two headline auctions of Batman versus Superman, collectors are watching another treasure trove: More than 5,000 Golden Age comic books will hit the auction block from what’s been dubbed “The Promise Collection.”
“Belonged to a family, so it’s a single-owner collection, originally bought off the newsstands and has just stayed with the family for decades,” White said. “The Promise Collection, it’s incredibly high-grade, Golden Age books. A lot of the highest-graded copies known to exist.”
So after 75 years, we can finally end the debate: Batman beats Superman ... at auction. Now, if it was Batman vs. Geralt of Rivia - my money's on The Witcher all day.
