Original Superman comic becomes the highest-priced comic book ever sold

Provenance, condition, and authenticity

• Thread notes the mother and uncle bought the comics between the Great Depression and WWII, almost certainly at newsstand prices, and kept them for enjoyment, only later realizing their value.
• Commenters are impressed the book survived in 9.0 condition; scan photos look almost newly printed.
• Explanation of how graders distinguished first-print copies: a tiny text change in an in-house ad (“On sale June 2nd” vs “Now on sale”).
• Some ask about forgery risk; others say a top grading company handled it and that such a high-profile book would get their best experts.

Reading vs preserving; physical vs digital

• Debate over whether it makes sense to read such an expensive 9.0 “key” comic; several argue you’d lose more value from a single careful read than it would cost to buy a beat-up “reading copy.”
• Others emphasize the physical reading experience and dislike that slabbed comics can’t be read or fully protected from UV while on display.
• Multiple people point to legal digital options (publisher apps, libraries); others note infringement sites exist but raise ethical objections to piracy.

Copyright, piracy, and legality

• Discussion over whether viewing an unauthorized scan is illegal: some argue only distribution is infringing; others note that downloading a copy to your machine is co-distribution.
• Several object to long copyright extensions; point out this 1939 comic would have been public domain under older laws and is now locked up until ~2034.

Valuation, speculation, and comics as assets

• Reasons given for the extreme price: cultural importance (early Superman, first solo superhero title), record-high grade, extreme rarity of high-grade unrestored copies, and status as a “one-of-a-kind” investment object.
• Comparisons made to Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, and to fine art (Seurat, da Vinci) as prestige, scarcity-based stores of value.
• Some see this primarily as an inflation-resistant asset for ultra-wealthy buyers; others doubt long‑term stability, arguing interest in specific characters may fade.

Art, collectibles, tax, and money laundering

• Several comments link high-end art and collectibles markets to money laundering, tax avoidance, and off-shore storage in freeports.
• One detailed (and contested) example describes buying cheap art, inflating appraisals, then donating it for large tax deductions; others counter that misvaluation is tax fraud, not a “loophole.”
• General sentiment: prices at this level are driven by rich people speculating and chasing status, not by broad cultural demand.

Sentimentality vs cash and PR language

• Many mock the auction house’s line about “memory, family and the unexpected ways the past finds its way back to us,” seeing it as marketing gloss over a $9M payday.
• Some argue if it were truly about sentiment, the family wouldn’t sell; others respond that you can be sentimental and still rationally accept life‑changing money.
• A few share personal stories of lost or kept childhood collections, often with mixed feelings about financial vs emotional value.

Collectibles culture and “manufactured rarity”

• Several lament a modern shift from organic nostalgia to immediate speculation: people now buy comics, games, or cards, slab them unopened, and chase grading-based profits.
• This is contrasted with older items that became rare because they were heavily used and only a few survived in good condition.
• Some describe burning out on retro-game or card collecting after realizing they were chasing YouTube‑driven “rare” items they didn’t actually care about.

Heritage Auctions and market skepticism

• Some are disappointed Heritage Auctions handled the sale due to past controversies involving another collectibles market.
• A few commenters suspect potential market manipulation or “too good to be true” storytelling, though no concrete evidence is provided beyond general cynicism.

Meta: HN dynamics and writing style

• Brief side discussion on how time of day and randomness affect whether a story hits HN’s front page.
• Another tangent: people worry that using typographically “correct” em dashes now makes comments look like LLM‑generated; some say they’ve changed their writing style to avoid being mistaken for AI, others refuse to do so.