Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a . . . comic???

I'm staggered to read about a recent Internet auction.

A rare copy of the first Superman comic book sold for $317,200 during an Internet auction, a New York auction company said.

The auction site ComicConnect.com said John Dolmayan, drummer for the rock band System of a Down -- who also happens to be a vintage comic book collector and dealer -- registered the winning bid late Friday for a client, the New York Daily News reported Saturday. It was one off the highest bids ever for a comic book, the newspaper said.




The 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1 -- the first comic to feature mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent and his Man of Steel alter ego -- had been purchased by its previous owner for 35 cents at a secondhand shop, the News said.

Comic book expert Stephen Fishler had described the issue last month as "the Holy Grail of comic books."

Only 100 copies are known to exist worldwide and this one is one of just a few that remain untouched, in mint condition.

Ye Gods and little fishes! Well over a quarter of a million dollars for an el cheapo comic that sold in its day for a dime? Clearly I've been investing in the wrong stuff! A return like that puts the stock market to shame!

However, I can't go with its description as the 'Holy Grail' of comic books. Given Superman's vulnerabilities, and the fact that it must be pretty old and fragile by now, how about calling it 'the Kryptonite of comics'? Certainly, if anything happens to it, that'll be a pretty good description of its impact on the new owner's net worth!



Peter