A uncommon copy of the comedian e-book that launched the world to Superman — and was additionally as soon as stolen from the house of actor Nicolas Cage — has been offered for a file $15 million.
The personal deal for “Motion Comics No. 1” was introduced Friday. It eclipses the earlier file value for a comic book e-book, set final November when a replica of “Superman No. 1″ was offered at public sale for $9.12 million.
The Motion Comics sale was negotiated by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comedian Join, which stated the comedian e-book’s proprietor and the customer wished to stay nameless.
The comedian — which offered for 10 cents when it got here out in 1938 — was an anthology of tales about largely now little-known characters. However over a number of panels, it advised the origin story of Superman’s beginning on a dying planet, his journey to Earth and his choice as an grownup to “flip his titanic power into channels that might profit mankind.”
Its publication marked the start of the superhero style. About 100 copies of Motion Comics No. 1 are recognized to exist, in line with Metropolis Collectibles/Comedian Join President Vincent Zurzolo.
Metropolis Collectibles 
“That is among the many Holy Grail of comedian books. With out Superman and his recognition, there can be no Batman or different superhero comedian e-book legends,” Zurzolo stated. “Its significance within the comedian e-book group reveals together with his deal, because it obliterates the earlier file.”
The comedian e-book was stolen from Cage’s Los Angeles house in 2000, however was recovered in 2011 when it was discovered by a person who had bought the contents of an outdated storage locker in Southern California. It will definitely was returned to Cage, who had purchased it in 1996 for $150,000. Six months after it was returned to him, he offered it at public sale for $2.2 million.
Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles/Comedian Join, stated the theft ultimately performed a giant function in boosting the comedian’s worth.
“Throughout that 11-year interval (it was lacking), it skyrocketed in worth,” Fishler stated. “The thief made Nicolas Cage some huge cash by stealing it.”
Fishler in contrast it to the theft of Mona Lisa, which was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris in 1911.
“It was saved beneath the thief’s mattress for 2 years,” Fishler famous. “The restoration of the portray made the Mona Lisa go from being only a nice Da Vinci portray to a world icon — and that is what Motion No. 1 is — an icon of American popular culture.”
