DALLAS – A copy of a 1939 issue of Detective Comics 27 sold November 19 for $1.5 million – the highest price ever realized for any Batman comic book. The issue containing the Dark Knight’s debut was sold during the first session of Heritage Auctions’ four-day Comics & Comic Art event. The sale of this unrestored copy, which is graded fine/very fine 7.0 by Certified Guaranty Company, broke a decade-old record for a Batman title.

Another record was set when a sealed first edition Pokémon base set booster box sold for $360,000 to Thomas Fish, president of blowoutcards.com, as the winning bidder of the Pokémon first edition base set sealed booster box (Wizards of the Coast, 1999). Still sealed in its original shrinkwrap, the set is considered the pinnacle of Pokémon box collecting. The sale broke the previous world record, which was set at Heritage Auctions in September 2020 when a similar set sold for $198,000.

For the second time in 2020, the Super Mario Bros., have set a world’s record for the highest price paid for a video game at auction. A sealed copy of 1990s Super Mario Bros. 3 brought $156,000, shattering the previous record set in July when its 1985 predecessor Super Mario Bros. sold for $114,000. Bidding opened at $62,500 – already an impressive sum for the game graded Wata 9.2 A+. But 20 bidders got in the game, sending the final price soaring.

A more extensive sale recap will follow in a future issue.