​While comics may have started as disposable entertainment, it's no secret that many books can fetch a hefty sum based on their rarity, CGC grade*, illustrator, and/or characters that may have first appeared in them. We talked to the people working every collectibles booth at this year's New York Comic Con and asked them what their most expensive item is, and what made these items so astonishingly valuable.





$17,000

Original Palitoy Star Wars figures, complete set

Jordan Hembrough, Hollywood Heroes:

"They're the first 12 [figures] that came out back in the 1970s and these were done by Palitoy Corp. which was over in England. They weren't available in the United States and the Palitoy Cards — the packaging from Palitoy — is extremely valuable right now."





$20,000

Gobbledygook #1 and Gobbledygook #2

Brian Tatge, Motor City Comics:

"Gobbledygook is very sought-after because it's the book that Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird put together to get the funding so they could produce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. So they did 50 of them… and distributed [them] within the Massachusetts area, where the guys were from. Once they were gone, they were gone. Up until the Internet, they were super hard to find. Some people classify it as the first appearance of the Turtles, so it sort of depends on your feeling on that."

$35,000

Pep Comics #22 [Restored**, CGC Grade 8.0]

Dan Gallo, Overstreet advisor and ebay store owner:

"What makes this book popular is that it's the first Archie. Most people don't realize that Archie has been around for a very long time. Not only is this the first Archie, but it's extremely rare. There's only 10 restored copies and 10 unrestored copies ever graded by the CGC, so that's 20. I'm sure there's more than 20 people on planet Earth that would like to have the first appearance of Archie."

$45,000

Strange Tales #110 [CGC Grade 9.4]

Robert Storms, High Grade Comics:

"It's the first appearance of Doctor Strange and Marvel is doing a new movie, so that's increased the price. Doctor Strange basically doubled in price in the last year since the movie announcement."

$65,000

Robert Crumb complete four-page story

Scott Eder, gallery owner:

"Robert Crumb is probably the greatest living illustrator, internationally. He's in museum holdings like the Museum of Modern Art, he's represented by the world's most important gallerist, David Zwirner. He's an underground comics legend and godfather. One of the most important American artists."





$75,000

Original art from Spider-Man #32

Mike Burkey, Romitaman Original Art:

"The main thing is because Steve Ditko drew it. Steve Ditko is the first person that drew Spider-Man. Pages with Spider-Man on it by Steve Ditko just go for incredible amounts of money. Like at auction, a page from #29 with no Scorpion on it, just Spider-Man swinging, went for $125,000 like three years ago. It's just supply and demand for this stuff."





$250,000

Cover of Spider-Man #300

Barry Sandoval, Heritage Auctions:

"Well it's Spider-Man #300, which is one of the most famous comic issues of the modern era. It's from Todd McFarlane's tenure on Spider-Man, which was a huge fan favorite and a huge top-seller. We sold a different McFarlane cover for around $650,000 a couple years ago. There's really intense interest in his art. CEOs of companies, doctors, lawyers, people in the financial field, a lot of people in the entertainment industry. Movie directors and such, you know, collect comics."

$550,000

Detective Comics #27 [Restored, CGC Grade 9.4]

Will Mason, Dave & Adam's:

"This is Detective Comics #27, the highest-graded copy in existence. It's worth this much because this is the origin and first appearance of Batman. It debuted in 1939 and it's also the first appearance of Commissioner Gordon. Just to give you a little bit of a background, the first Batman — which is Detective #27 — and the first Superman — which is Action Comics #1 — are considered holy grails of comic books. The reason this is only $550,000 is that it is a restored copy. That's the reason why it's got a purple label on it. But it is the highest graded copy in existence."

$3,200,000+

Action Comics #1 [CGC Grade 9.0]

Vincent Zurzolo, Metropolis/Comicconnect:

"Action Comics #1 is so valuable because it is the first appearance of Superman, and Superman is the first superhero. So without Superman there'd be no Batman, there'd be no Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Flash, Green Lantern — none of them. Superman is the character that started it all. He is the archetype from which all other superheroes are derived. There are less than a hundred copies known to exist in the world, and very few of them in unrestored condition. This copy happens to be the highest-graded copy — in 9.0 condition — with white pages. We just purchased it for $3.2 million and we're extremely excited about it. We feel this book has a lot of upside potential… we will be selling this and making a profit. I can guarantee that. We're not in a position where we desperately need to sell it. If we were we would not have bought it. But it'd go for north of $3.2 million, obviously."

*CGC, or Comics Guaranty, is in independent grading service that launched in 2000 whose purpose is to determine how well preserved a book is. The scores are given out of 10, and the color of the label implies its state: blues are unadulterated books, purples are restored, greens have a significant defect and yellows are books that have been signed in the presence of a CGC employee.

**Restoration can be accomplished in a number of ways including conservation (removal of dirt, debris, or stains) leaf casting (which fills in missing paper that may have rotted away) and color touch (recoloring worn pages). The process can be quite expensive, and restored comics are usually worth less than a blue labelled version of the same book.