Some collector didn’t get the memo about the recession.

According to Sci Fi Wire, an undisclosed seller sold an undisclosed buyer a copy of Action Comics #1, in I guess the best condition anyone has ever seen one, for a million bucks, beating the pants off the previous record of $317,000. It’s cool to see old comics continuing to be worth more and more, as they become harder and harder to find, though it’s sad that some of us weren’t aroud early enough to get some of these books when they were still relatively easy to procure. Though Action Comics #1 had relatively few printings, was made on cheap paper, and was sold during a time when comics were read and then quickly disposed of without a second thought, so that’s a book that was never easy to get.

I’ve mentioned Jim Hambrick several times on the blog before– he’s the collector in Metropolis, IL who put that little town on the map as the official home of Suprman. He’s actually got two copies of Action #1, though I’m sure they don’t come close to the prestiness of this one. When I visited, I didn’t get the chance to see them, because he’s no longer able to keep the books in the museum due to concerns from his insurance company, especially after part of his other museum, dedicated to other pop culture icons besides Superman, caught fire. Apparently he sometimes brings them out during the Superman Celebration in the summer– I didn’t get to see them at the last Celebration, but maybe I’ll get lucky at this one.

Back to the matter at hand, I’m not sure how much this has to do with what the comic is actually worth as it might be that whoever bought it was rich enough that he was willing to do anything to get his hands on something that meant that much to him. To put this into perspective, the model of the Enterprise D used for Star Trek: The Next Generation sold at the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Auction for half a million dollars, and it was built in 1987.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

A while back, I wrote a travel blog about my trip to Metropolis, Illinois, the official home of Superman. I enjoyed it so much I decided I had to go back for the Superman Celebration, a four-day festival held in June every year. I only went Saturday, but that was the day with the most events and definitely worth the trip.

 The Superman Celebration is an interesting hybrid of events. It’s a superhero convention, but it’s also a town festival and a carnival. There were lots of vendors selling arts and crafts along with Superman memorabilia and the kinds of food carts you’d expect to find at a carnival with hamburgers, pizza, funnel cake, ice cream, etc. and most everything was surprisingly reasonably priced. There were carnival rides and all kinds of things to see, like a BMX bike show, classic car and motorcycle shows, a dead-lift competition, a video game tournament, a dog show, and a kid’s pageant. I was impressed that the people who put it together had the locals in mind as well as us geeks.

But as far as geeky conventions go, it was among the best I’ve been to. There were comic book artists and writers speaking and signing and actors signing and doing a Q&A (Justin Hartley and Phil Morris from Smallville were especially entertaining). There was also a Superman jeopardy game, and I’m happy to report that I got three of the audience questions right and took home some random prizes that had nothing to do with Superman at all (a calculator and two of the same T-shirt from a local business). I got to see the original 1966 Batmobile and I bought a replica batarang, made from one of the original molds they used to create the real props on the show. I also met a fantastic independant artist named David Wong who sold me several great original Batman and Harley Quinn prints at a reasonable price.

The coolest thing about the whole show were fans with homemade costumes. I took lots of pictures of impressive costumes, but I think my favorite is the four guys who went together and did all four characters from Reign of the Supermen– Steel, Cyborg, Superboy, and the Eradicator. Enjoy!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan