Nic Cage's Action Comics #1, 1st Appearance of Superman Will Be Most Expensive Comic Ever

Nicolas Cage might be best known for his unique hair pieces for each role that he take on to hide his baldness, and of course his overacting. He is the absolute king of exaggerating his roles, sorry Al Pacino, you're a close second.

Sadly that isn't the only thing he is known for. If you've been wondering why every other movie seems like it has Cage in it, that would be because Nicolas is bankrupt. He is taking on as many acting gigs as possible. The once picky actor has become as easy to land as a case of herpes from a Mexican hooker.

And how did Nic get into the poorhouse? Well he bought a castle that he never slept in, two homes in New Orleans that recently foreclosed, and nine Rolls Royce, just to name a few. He is frivolous with his money, even going as far as buying two rare albino king cobras.

But this time it looks like Mr. Cage has made a sound investment when he put his money into his other passion, comic books. He bought a nearly pristine copy of Action Comics number one. The comic is expected to become the most expensive comic book ever sold. It went on the auction block online today at comicconnect.com and will conclude November 30th. Bidding has hit the $900,000 mark, and has plenty of time to eclipse the current record of $1.5 million, also an Action Comics #1.

Few comics have as interesting or complicated a back story as Cage’s copy of Action Comics no. 1. Certified Guaranty Company, the leading grader of the quality of collectible comics, recently assigned this copy a grade of 9.0, making it the best-preserved publicly-known copy of Superman’s first appearance. Approximately 100 copies of Action Comics no. 1 remain in existence. Experts believe only about five others, all in private hands, are of comparable quality to this copy. Sotheby’s sold this comic at auction in 1992 for a then-record $82,500. Cage bought it in 1997 for about $150,000.

On January 21, 2000, Cage reported the comic stolen to the Los Angeles Police, along with high-grade copies of Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics no. 27 and Marvel Mystery no. 71. According to an account Comicconnect CEO Stephen Fishler posted on a collector’s website, Cage had the books displayed in security frames mounted to the wall. The exact moment of the theft is unknown but the comics had possibly been missing for a week when Cage discovered the frames were empty. The Marvel Mystery resurfaced a few months later but the other two comics remained lost.

In April 2011, Cage’s copy of Action Comics no. 1 was recovered in a San Fernando Valley storage locker. The man who found the comic had bought the contents of an abandoned locker. Cage’s publicist released a statement from the actor at the time calling the recovery of the comic “divine providence” and expressing hope “that the heirloom will be returned to my family.” Cage had received an insurance payment for the comic but at the time expressed interest in reaching a settlement to regain ownership of the book.