A rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman sold Monday for $1 million, smashing the previous record price for a comic book. A 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, widely considered the Holy Grail of comic books, was sold by a private seller to a private buyer, neither of whom released their names. The issue features Superman lifting a car on its cover and originally cost 10 cents. “It's considered by most people as the most important book,” said John Dolmayan, a comic book enthusiast and dealer best known as the drummer for the rock band System of a Down. “It kind of ushered in the age of the superheroes.” Dolmayan, who owns Torpedo Comics, last year paid $317,000 for an Action Comics No. 1 issue for a client. That purchase is considered the “official public record” for a comic book sale, said Mark Zaid, the marketing director for the Comic Book Collecting Association. Monday's copy fetched a much higher price because it's in better condition. It's rated an 8.0 grade, or very fine, on a scale that goes up to 10. There are only about 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 believed to be in existence, and only a handful have been rated so highly. It's rarer still for those copies to be made available for sale.
