DALLAS – The finest known copy of 1940s Batman No. 1 sold January 14 for $2.22 million, far and away the highest price ever realized for a comic book starring Bruce Wayne and his caped-and-cowled alter ego. The issue, the sole copy ever to receive a 9.4 grade from the Certified Guaranty Company, was already a record-setter before the start of Heritage Auctions’ January 14-17 Comics and Comic Art event. A week before the auction even began, presale bids had pushed the Batman No. 1 past the previous record price of $1.53 million for a Batman comic, a mark Heritage set in November 2020 when the firm sold a 1939 Detective Comics No. 27 for $1.5 million. The book shattered estimates and expectations early, receiving more than two dozen bids since Christmas and accruing tens of thousands of pageviews worldwide. More than 700 Heritage clients also kept close tabs on its progress as it made its way toward the auction block.

“We knew when the book came in that it was beyond special, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime offering – from appearance, its blindingly bright cover to its white pages, to provenance,” says Heritage Auctions senior vice president Ed Jaster of this newly discovered copy. “As I like to say, this is just a breathtaking book in so many ways. So, we are not at all surprised that this has become a record-setting issue. But we are extraordinarily proud and honored to have brought it to market, to have done justice to its owner and to have found it a new home.”

Watch for a more extensive sale recap in a future issue.