Heritage Auctions is reporting that a high-grade copy of Batman #1, which was originally published in 1940, has sold for a record price (for the title) of $850,000 in a private transaction.  The copy, which was certified Near Mint minus (CGC-Grade 9.2) with off-white pages, was sold on behalf of a private collector and purchased by an investor partnership. 

According to The Overstreet Price Guide, Batman #1, which was not the first appearance of Batman, is the sixth most valuable comic book in Near Mint condition.  Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27, a copy of which sold for $1.075 million in 2010.

 

Not surprisingly landmark vintage comics featuring the characters from modern comic book-based movie blockbusters have been doing very well so it’s no surprise that this highly graded Batman #1 fetched such a high price just a few months before Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters.  The highest grade copy of Action Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman) recently sold for a record $2.16 million (see "'Action Comics' #1 Brings $2.16 Million"), and even though Joss Whedon’s The Avengers has yet to prove it can sell a lot of modern Avengers comics, sales of landmark Silver Age books featuring Avengers like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America have been fetching record prices.