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Talk about faster than a speeding bullet! It took just 48 bids to get from a 99-cent starting price to a final sale of $3,207,852 Sunday for a copy of Action Comics No. 1 that was auctioned on eBay by Pristine Comics of Federal Way, Wash.

The first bid, three minutes into the auction that began on Aug. 14 and ended Sunday, immediately made the first appearance of Superman a $1 million comic. It become $2 million on Aug. 18 and went over $3 million with a bid of $3,207,752 on Aug. 24, but that was $100 less than the highest bid. The original price for the issue, when it was sold in 1938, was 10 cents. In 2011, a copy of Action Comics No. 1, once owned by Nicolas Cage, was auctioned for $2.1 million. Both comics were graded 9 out of 10, but the Cage copy showed more signs of discoloration from age, which could help explain the million-dollar boost for the new record-holder.

Other comics in this rarefied club include two other copies of Action Comics No. 1 (one rated 8.0, which sold for $1 million in February 2010; the other rated 8.5, which sold for $1.5 million in March 2010); a copy of Detective Comics No. 27, featuring the first appearance of Batman, which sold for just over $1 million in February 2010; and a copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15, Spider-Man’s debut, which sold for $1.1 million in March 2011.