On April 4, a copy of Action Comics #1 featuring the first appearance of Superman sold at Heritage Auctions for $6 million. The comic book was graded by CGC (Comics Guaranty Company) in 8.5 (very fine plus) condition with off-white to white pages and was from the Kansas City Pedigree collection of comic books. This is a new record price for this particular book, and it is now the most valuable comic book ever sold at auction. Make no mistake, Action Comics #1 is a very scarce book, as it was published in 1938 and very few survived through the paper drives of the WWII era. Comic books were also not seen as collectibles back in 1938, which is also why very few books from this era are around today. In fact, CGC has only graded about 80 copies of Action Comics #1 according to their population reports that list how many copies they have graded and their corresponding condition. This particular book that sold was in very high grade for this issue compared to how many survived, and only two copies have ever been graded higher. The fact that this particular book continues to see such strong auction results is great news for the buyer, and should that individual decide to eventually sell this particular book, I am sure that they will do equally as well as a seller. That said, be careful thinking that this sale means good things for the vintage comic book market overall. Action Comics #1 is a book that is easily in the top 0.01 percent of the entire vintage comic book market at present time. I dont see that changing anytime soon. However, every time a sale like this occurs and the mainstream media reports on it, I get emails from collectors and casual enthusiasts who think this helps the market for back issue comic books overall. Does it? Because I would argue over the long term, it has very little effect on the market as a whole. I think we can all agree that the average person does not have $6 million dollars to pay for a comic book or any kind of item in general. Therefore, this book was most likely sold to someone of means who has a sizable net worth. And just to put this into perspective for you, according to the website Investopedia, to be in the top one percent of U.S. households in the year 2023 (2024 numbers are not available at this time), you would have to have a household net worth of $13.7 million dollars. I dont think too many households who just qualify as being in the top one percent are spending $6 million dollars on one single item, let alone a comic book. Therefore, we can fathom the individual who bought this most likely has a net worth significantly higher than the $13.7 million net worth that just barely qualifies to be in that ranking. In my opinion, I would venture to say that the individual who bought this item most likely has a net worth of $50 million or more, but that is only a guess. Another misconception that collectors make when they hear of a sale of this magnitude is assuming that this means that comic books make excellent financial investments. For the record, I do collect and invest in vintage comic books on a regular basis, and if you buy right it can be very rewarding. However, it is not without risk, and, in most cases, a good stock index fund like an S&P 500 is far better and easier to manage. Also, please know that most speculators and investors operating in any market within the overall antiques and collectibles trade rarely ever outperform the stock market over the long term. Antiques and collectibles can make for an excellent diversification hedge as part of a well-established financial plan, but they should only ever make up a tiny fraction of the total portfolio. There is numerous data to cite on this topic and it is readily available online. If you do want to try your luck at comic book investing, you will quickly learn that this sale of this top 0.01 percent book has absolutely no effect on the rest of the market at all. Over the short term, it is true that sales like this that are pumped up by the mainstream media do bring new participants into the market. I use the term participants because make no mistake, these are not collectors; true collectors do not just enter a collectibles market because they heard about a record breaking sale for an item they will never own. Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, this sale means very little unless if you happen to own this book. But what about the person who has the money and means to buy this comic book and is wondering if they should take the plunge? After all, the collectibles market has been booming these past few years, even if you remove the pandemic speculative boom that caused several pop culture collecting markets to hit new record highs. I would offer them the same advice that I offer everyone else, and that advice is simple: Slow your roll. Astute watchers of the History Channel show American Pickers will remember that advice from earlier seasons of the show, which are well worth watching. And before I conclude this article, I cannot help but to alert you that in our present higher-than-normal interest rate environment, many brokerage companies offer money market funds that are paying about five percent a year right now. To put this in perspective, that individual who paid $6 million dollars for this comic book could be getting $300,000 a year in simple interest alone (not factoring in compounding interest) for parking their money there instead. The economic opportunity cost of tying up money in antiques and collectibles is quickly forgotten by starry-eyed speculators but cannot be ignored by those trying to invest in these items. I am confident that the buyer of this book already took that into account and still went through with the purchase. Do with that information what you will because if you happen to own a copy of Action Comics #1, you own a piece of comic history, assuming Superman stays culturally relevant for years to come! Shawn Surmick has been an avid collector since the age of 12. He currently resides in his hometown of Boyertown, Pa., and is a passionate collector of antiques and collectibles. His articles focus on various topics affecting the marketplace.