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Just as there are alternate realities in the Marvel [NYSE:DIS] Multiverse, there are alternate realities in people’s perceptions of comic books. To some, they’re priceless; to others, not so much.
Both can be true, just as the X-Men’s Doctor Strange can coexist with Doctor Strange Supreme. But mere humans may struggle to separate comics’ sentimental value from their market value.
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Imagine Theo, 64, whose brother Anthony started collecting X-Men comics in the 1970s. Sadly, Anthony died last year and his widow Denise wants to throw out Anthony’s comic collection as she prepares to sell their home.
Theo is begging her to hold off. Based on what Anthony told him, Theo believes his sister-in-law could get more money selling the comic collection than she’ll get for the house.
It’s true that some comic books have sold for thousands, even millions, of dollars in the past few years. Heritage Auctions has seen record comics sales in the past two years, including:
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Action Comics #1 (1938), the first edition in which Superman appears, sold for $9.1 million
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Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962), the first edition in which <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/first-spider-man-comic-book-record-sale-1235010420/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Spider-Man appears, fetched $2.4 million
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Marvel Comics #1 (1939), sold for $1.26 million
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Incredible Hulk #181 (1974), sold for $245,000
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Tales of Suspense #39 (1963), first time Iron Man appears, sold for $230,000
Moneywise reached out to Aaron White, Heritage Auctions’ vice president of Comics & Comic Art, to find out what makes some comics so valuable — and whether someone like Anthony is dreaming.
White described a real-life scenario very similar to Anthony’s.
Reality versus fantasy in the world of comic book values
One of White’s clients inherited comics in “an old brown box” that had been in his family for more than 70 years. When White and a colleague opened the box and started pulling out the comic books, they were in awe.
“We were just shocked how gorgeous they were,” he told Moneywise. “That was a real delight.”
White was present this September when one of those books — the first-ever edition of Captain America, published in 1941 — sold for over $700,000.
Likewise, the 1938 Superman comic book that sold for $9.1 million in 2025 was stuck in a cardboard box for decades. Three brothers discovered it when they were sorting through their mother’s possessions after she died. She told her sons she had a valuable collection of comics but never said where. Turns out they were all in the attic.
