Copy of First Marvel Comic Book from 1939 Bags $2.4M at Auction

An auctioneer sold a treasured copy of the initial Marvel comic book — Marvel Comics #1 — for over $2.4 million last week.

Vincent Zurzolo, chief operating officer of the comic auction website ComicConnect, said the “pay copy” of Marvel Comics #1 is “arguably one of the top three comic books in the world of comics collecting,” the Associated Press reported.

The book went for $2,427,777.65 on March 17, ComicConnect’s website shows.

Zurzolo did not identify the buyer but told the AP he is “an extremely passionate comic book collector and investor.”

Marvel Comics #1 was published in 1939 and featured characters including Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch, Britannica noted. Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel, was the company behind the publishing. The Human Torch in Marvel Comics No. 1 was a forerunner to the well-known Human Torch featured in Marvel’s Fantastic Four, according to the AP.

The pay copy holds unique value for its hand-scribed notes from Lloyd Jacquet, whose company, Funnies Inc., “sold comic book stories and artwork to publishers,” the New York Times reported.

ComicConnect CEO Stephen Fishler told the outlet Jacquet had written on the cover and seven other pages. He even jotted a note about paying artist Frank R. Paul $25 for the cover art. The comic was found well preserved in Jacquet’s filing cabinet in 1993 or 1994, more than twenty years after his death in 1970, Fishler said.

“It was a freak of nature that this book was saved,” he told the Times.

Marvel Comics #1 was the first step towards the creation of the in-depth Marvel Universe that has dominated the comic book world for decades. The company brought the world characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Daredevil while also creating iconic superhero teams such as the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, the AP noted.

What started as a print comic book publication has grown into an entertainment juggernaut that is now owned by the Walt Disney Company. Today, Marvel produces blockbuster movies and television shows that chronicle the adventures of many of its characters through an interconnected universe. It has also capitalized on the video game market, and of course, it still prints comic books.

“Without this comic book being made, who knows? Maybe none of that happens,” Zurzolo told the AP. “Maybe the name ‘Marvel Comics’ resonated so much with people, in some way, that that’s what helped to birth all these other things.”