The Fantastic Four continue their fantastic run in recent auctions. Two early issues graded by Certified Guaranty Company® (CGC®) had already attracted bids over $100,000 more than a week before the Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, presented by Heritage Auctions, September 8-11.
Topping the list is a Fantastic Four #1 graded CGC 9.0 (lot 91044), with bidding at $220,000 more than a week before the sale. Released by Marvel Comics in 1961, this is the first appearance of Marvel’s First Family: the Fantastic Four, by the iconic duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This comic from the earliest days of the Silver Age began the modern Marvel era of comics as we know it today, and only higher-graded copies with the Universal label are recorded in the CGC Census.
Meanwhile, a Fantastic Four #5 graded CGC 9.2 (lot 91045) had reached $130,000 with over a week of bidding left. This 1962 issue by Lee and Kirby includes the first appearance of the villainous Doctor Doom. Doom has been a complicated figure in the Marvel Universe ever since his debut, and sometimes even played the part of reluctant hero. Beyond threatening the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom has challenged nearly every major Marvel hero, including Spider-Man and the Avengers.
Bidding had also reached six figures for an X-Men #1 graded CGC 9.2 (lot 91057) and a Detective Comics #27 graded CGC 7.0 Restored (lot 91041). These books feature the first appearance of the X-Men (in 1963) and the first appearance of Batman (in 1939), respectively.
Other CGC-graded highlights in the auction include:
an All-Star Comics #8 graded CGC 7.0 (lot 91032)
a Batman #1 graded CGC 3.5 (lot 91035)
a Captain America Comics #1 graded CGC 5.0 (lot 91039)
a Daredevil #1 graded CGC 9.6 (lot 91040)
an Incredible Hulk #181 graded CGC 9.8 (lot 91049)
a Showcase #22 graded CGC 8.5 (lot 91051)
a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 graded CGC 9.8 (lot 91054)
an X-Men #1 graded CGC 8.5 (lot 92183)