A copy of Captain America Comics #1 CGC 9.2 sold at auction last night at comicconnect.com for a record $343,000 — the highest price ever paid for a copy of this comic. The iconic comic book by creators Jack Kirby and Joe Simon was released on the newsstands in December 1941 — showing Captain America punching Hitler on its cover a year before the US entered World War II — and solidifying the creative team of Simon & Kirby as key ingredients in the chemistry of what had become the Golden Age of comic books.

This particular copy is from the Atlantic City collection — a group of books that recently surfaced from the hands of an original owner who bought them off the newsstand himself in the 1930s and 40s, and kept them in impossibly good shape over the subsequent decades (other comics from this collection, such as the $258,000 CGC 9.0 Action Comics #10, were discussed on Bleeding Cool yesterday). This Captain America Comics #1 CGC 9.2 is tied with one other copy for the second best copy known to exist. The best copy (CGC 9.6 from the Allentown collection) sold for $265,000 a decade ago.

Other noteworthy sales from the second night of this widely-watched auction include a stunning Detective Comics #33 CGC 9.2 for a record $194,000. Pre-Robin Detectives (so called because some vintage collectors focus on the small group of Detective Comics #27-37 before Robin was introduced) have been among the most eagerly sought-after Golden Age comics around in recent years, and #33 is particularly well-regarded because it contains the first-told origin of Batman.

Captain America Comics #1 CGC 9.2 $343,000

Detective Comics #33 CGC 9.2 $198,000

Detective Comics #36 CGC 8.5 $44,500