Federal Way man auctioning off his piece of Superman history for $3M or best offer

It’s a piece of Superman history or rather, it’s the first piece of Superman history and it could be yours.

Before Christopher Reeves brought him to the big screen and even before George Reeves brought him to the small screen, DC Comics introduced the world to Superman in Action Comics #1, first published in 1938. It’s estimated only three dozen un-restored copies remain intact.

Darren Adams, owner of Pristine Comics in Federal Way, owns an original issue of “Actions Comics #1” and he’s putting it up for auction.

Adams said it’s nearly impossible for even the wealthiest collector to get their hands on this comic.

“It doesn’t matter how much money you have. First of all, you have to find out (who) has it. Then, if you do, it usually has to be more than money that motivates them to want to get rid of it or sell it,” Adams said. “It’s extremely difficult. It’s the proverbial needle in the haystack.”

Adams said he is the fourth owner of this issue of Action Comics, which he acquired in a confidential transaction.
If that sounds secretive, it is. The owners of high-end comics are often discreet.

“Once you get to the upper echelon, it seems like collectors become a little more private and they don’t want people knowing what they have,” he explained.

And for good reason. Actor Nicolas Cage famously had his copy of Superman’s debut stolen from his house in 2000. It later resurfaced and was auctioned off for just over $2.1 million. Currently, it’s the highest price ever that has ever been bid on the issue.

But Adams said he expects to get more. “I’d been offered $3 million. I turned it down,” he said.

According to price guides that evaluate comics, an “Action Comics #1” has increased in value by 40 percent since the Cage copy was auctioned off.

“But more importantly,” said Adams, “The Nic Cage copy was creamed off by half pages, indicating the interior life cycle of the book is more than half way through. (My) book is a freak of nature, perfect white pages that are yet to begin the aging process. So this goes to a whole new level. Really, it’s hard to say what it will go for. I’m fairly confident it will go for more than what I was offered.”

The comic hit the online auction block Thursday and will be up for bidding until Aug. 24. Adams said he just hopes his copy ends up somewhere where everyone can enjoy it.

“This isn’t being offered in a private sale. I wanted this to go out to the public and I wanted to use eBay as the forum because of the extensive reach. But my hope is that a museum will pick this thing up.”

Not that it will ever leave it’s protective mylar, but if you were to read Superman’s first story in print, you’d learn that infant Superman is dispatched to Earth by his father from an unnamed distant planet. He grows up an orphan, and finds out he has both super-strength and super-speed.

He can’t fly quite yet, but he can jump great heights.

He grows up, adopts the name Clark Kent, solves a murder, humiliates an abusive husband and rescues Lois Lane from an organized crime syndicate.

And it all takes place in 13 pages worth over $3 million.

KIRO Radio’s Sarah MacKay and MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven contributed to this report.