This rare Superman comic was stolen from Nicolas Cage. It just sold for $15 million

A rare copy of the comic book that introduced Superman to the world and was also stolen from actor Nicolas Cage’s home has sold for a record US$15 million.

The private agreement for #1 Action Comicsco-created by Toronto cartoonist Joe Shuster and American screenwriter Jerry Siegel, was announced Friday. It eclipses the previous record for a comic book set last November when a copy of Superman #1 was sold at auction for $9.12 million.

THE Action Comics The sale was brokered by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, which said the comic book owner and buyer wished to remain anonymous.

Company president Vincent Zurzolo said the comic – sold for 10 cents when it was released in 1938 – marked the beginning of the superhero genre and was among the most valuable comics in the world, estimating that about 100 copies still exist.

Shuster, who moved to Cleveland at age nine, and his school friend Siegel came up with the idea for Superman in 1933, five years before Actions Comic strip n°1.

In this issue, Superman’s mild-mannered alter ego worked as a reporter at the Daily Star (later renamed The Daily Planet), which was inspired by the daily life of Shuster’s hometown — the Toronto Daily Star (now known as the Toronto Star). that he gave birth as a child.

“It’s one of the holy grails of comic books. Without Superman and his popularity, there would be no Batman or other comic book superhero legends,” Zurzolo said.

“His deal shows his importance in the comics community because it erases the previous record,” he said.

The comic book was stolen from Cage’s west Los Angeles home in 2000, but was recovered in 2011 when it was found by a man who had purchased the contents of an old storage locker in Southern California. It was eventually returned to Cage, who had purchased it in 1996 for $150,000.

Six months after it was returned, he sold it at auction for $2.2 million.

Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, said the theft ultimately played a significant role in increasing the comic’s value.

“During that 11-year period (he was missing), his value skyrocketed,” Fishler said. “The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing from him.”

Fishler compared it to the theft of the Mona Lisa, stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911.

“It was under the thief’s bed for two years,” Fishler noted. “The recovery of the painting took the Mona Lisa from just a large Da Vinci painting to a global icon – and that’s what Action #1 is an icon of American pop culture. »

WATCH | Find out how Superman was born in this video from the CBC archives:

Co-created by Canadian artist Joe Shuster, the iconic Man of Steel makes his first appearance on comic book shelves across the country.