A million dollar comic!
A 10-cent comic book could not possibly cost more than a few dollars today, right? The first comic book to feature Superman, in 1938, sold on August 14th for $3,207,852!
A comic book, like everything else new, loses its value as soon as it’s sold. Like a new car loses half its market sale the moment it is driven outside the showroom, a comic book is no different. A comic book’s value is usually graded from 1 to 10. A 9.0 rating for comics and the Superman comic that was recently sold became the second one; being graded a 9.0 out of 10. This issue has become the highest price ever paid for a comic book and has pristine white pages.
The comics in USA are graded in the most professional ways with many companies offering this service. After being examined by a restoration detection professional, the comic books are placed in barcoded mylar sleeves, and separated from their original invoice. This step is taken to ensure that graders do not know whose books they are grading, as a further guarantee of impartiality.
The book’s pages are then counted and any peculiarities or flaws that may affect a book’s grade are entered into the computer. Some examples of this would be “a tear on third page,” “a corner crease – does not break color,” “a ¼” inch spine split,” and so forth. When the grader examines the comic, he is not able to see a previously assigned grade, so as to not influence his own evaluation. After determining his own grade for the comic, he can then view the Grader Notes entered by a previous grader, and he may add to this commentary if he believes more remarks are in order.
Another restoration check is performed before assigning a grade. If all grades are in agreement or are very close, the book will be assigned a final grade. If there is disagreement among the graders, there will be a discussion with other graders until a final determination is made.
So you might own a really old copy or a Phantom or a Mandrake or even the very rare Bahadur comics but if it does not get a good grading, well, you do not get this price of million dollars.