Rare early Superman comic stolen from Nicolas Cage sells for $15 million

A rare copy of the 1938 comic strip that introduced Superman to the world has sold to an anonymous collector for $15 million (£11.2 million).

The private sale of the copy of Action Comics No. 1 – once stolen from actor Nicolas Cage’s home and returned to him more than a decade later – was announced on Friday.

The previous sales record for a comic book was set in November, when an immaculate Superman #1 sold for $9.12 million at auction. Both sales far exceed the original price of 10 cents, or about $2.25 in today’s money.

Superman’s debut is one of several tales anthologized in Action Comics No. 1, which is widely credited with defining the superhero genre as we know it today. Fewer than 100 copies are believed to exist.

Friday’s Action Comics sale was brokered by New York-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, which said the comic’s owner and buyer wished to remain anonymous.

The broker said the copy was rated nine points out of a possible 10 by the certified guarantee companyspecializes in authenticating collectibles, making this the highest rated comic book copy to date.

The broker said its value was further inflated by its historic association with Hollywood star Cage.

The Con Air and National Treasure star bought this copy in 1996 for $150,000 – a record at the time.

But the comic was stolen from a party at Cage’s home in 2000 and wasn’t found – in a warehouse in California – until 2011.

“Over that 11-year period, its value skyrocketed. The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it,” said Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis/ComicConnect.

Cage found the copy and, six months later, sold it at auction for $2.2 million.

Fishler likened the history of comics to the brazen theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911, which transformed the then little-known work into the world’s most famous painting.

“The recovery of the painting took the Mona Lisa from just a big Da Vinci painting to a global icon – and that’s what Action No. 1 is. An icon of American pop culture.”