David Gonzalez, a remodeler, bought a foreclosed house in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, for $10,100. While renovating, he found old newspapers used as insulation inside the walls. Among these papers, Gonzalez claims, was a copy of Action Comics #1. That comic was the first appearance of Superman in June of 1938. A copy of the comic graded 9 out of 10 stolen from Nic Cage (then recovered) recently sold for over $2 million, a new record for a single issue of a comic book.
Gonzalez’s copy of Action Comics #1 (pictured above) is rated 1.5 and is listed on ComicConnect with a current bid over $113,000. It was almost rated 3.0, but something went terribly wrong.
The comic could have been worth more had it not been for a heated argument with one of his in-laws. When his wife’s aunt grabbed the comic book amid all the excitement of the discovery, he grabbed it back and tore the back cover. Experts downgraded the comic book’s condition to a 1.5 on a 10-point scale. […] “That was a $75,000 tear,” said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of ComicConnect. [Star Tribune]
In-laws. Officially the worst. Also, this was my face when I read the “$75,000” part.
Gonzalez, a father of four, was a little less panicked about the $75,000 damage to his Action Comics #1. “Money won’t buy you happiness,” he told the Star Tribune. Cool, so, uh . . . can we have it? $113K would buy us a lot of happiness. And by happiness we mean heroin. Which, coincidentally, makes us very happy.
[Sources: Star Tribune and UPI via Gawker and Nerdcore. Pictures via CC and Buzzfeed.]