Highest Graded Copy Of Batman No. 1 Heads To Auction
Newly Discovered 9.4 Graded Copy Of The 1940 Dark Knight’s First Solo Title To Be Sold By Heritage
January 08, 2021
Heritage Auctions will begin the new year by offering the finest-known copy of 1940s Batman No. 1, which until now has never been sold at auction. This near-mint issue, the sole copy ever to receive a 9.4 grade from the Certified Guaranty Company, is the centerpiece of the auction houses Thursday and Friday, Jan. 14 and 15, Comics and Comic Art Sale. This unrestored copy comes to market only weeks after Heritage sold a 7.0-graded copy of Detective Comics No. 27 for $1.5 million. For the moment, at least, thats the highest price ever paid for a Dark Knight title. This Batman No. 1 is just breathtaking, according to Heritage Auctions Senior Vice President Ed Jaster. Of course, no one can say for certain, but its highly unlikely that a better copy is anywhere out there. It has great color and white pages, not off-white, not off-off-white, but white, said Jaster. It is as though it has just been bought off the newsstand. And the color strike is exceptional. This extraordinary book, not just the first issue of Batman, but still one of the best, provides the template for countless Dark Knight tales to follow over the next 80 years. First, theres the iconic, oft-imitated cover image, Batman and Robin, smiling at each other as they swing across the Gotham City skyline against a bright yellow backdrop. Then theres the back-page pin-up autographed by the Caped Crusader and his fledgling sidekick promising bigger and better thrills. Inside, readers are presented with The Legend of the Batman, an origin story, which first appeared in Detective Comics No. 33, filled with grief and anger that will one day be retold, endlessly, in movies and television shows built upon that two-page narrative. After that comes the debut of a villain more popular now than ever before, star of his own blockbuster franchise, a man with a changeless masklike face but for the eyes, burning, hate-filled eyes, called only the Joker. Then, a few pages later, Batman squares off against the monsters of Hugo Strange, who made his first appearance only months earlier in Detective Comics No. 36 and quickly became one of the heros first recurring villains. A few pages after that follows another iconic debut: a burglar and beautiful young woman called The Cat, who, 80 years later, is married to Batman in an acclaimed new book penned by writer Tom King, who won an Eisner Award last year for his run on Batman. This copy, too, has a storied background, having spent the last 38 years in the hands of a collector who bought it from a renowned comic book shop in Houston, Texas. In 1979, Billy T. Giles moved from Shreveport, La., to Houston, when Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Co. relocated its headquarters to Texas. Giles fell in with the local comics shops and dealers and helped his son complete an Amazing Spider-Man collection and obtain other key comics. Giles then decided to collect Batman for himself, starting with the purchase of six of the first nine issues from Camelot Bookstore owner Willie Pattersons personal collection. Camelot was located in downtown Houston, where Giles spent many lunch hours discussing comics, especially the Batman No. 1 with Patterson. Around that time, Patterson advertised Camelots copy of Batman No. 1 in the Comics Buyers Guide for $5,000, at the time a costly investment. When it failed to sell at such a steep price, around 1982, Giles offered him $3,000 cash, which Patterson accepted. When Giles retired, he began a comic book business called BTandWDGiles and spent the rest of his life buying and selling comics. His passion hobby had turned professional. When he died in 2019, Giless son inherited his fathers collection, and a year later decided it was someone elses turn to own the finest known copy of Batman No. 1. For more information, visit www.HA.com.
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