Yesterday, Yahoo! News reported that comic book collector Mike Wheat of Fairbanks, Alaska was selling a copy of 1940's "Batman" #1 (featuring the first appearance of Catwoman and the Joker) that he bought for $300 from a guy who found in a dresser that he bought at a yard sale.

This is exactly the kind of story that the mainstream media loves to jump on when it comes to comics, as it combines the "buried treasure" aspect with the "comics can be valuable!" story and a hint of pop culture relevance. But it also ran on Yahoo! News, which means that it had a comments section open to millions of readers, especially the kind who like to leave comments on Yahoo! News articles.

As you might expect, the results are magical. That's why today, I've gone through all 460 comments (and counting!) to bring you fifteen of the absolute worst!

#15. This was actually the one that got me reading the comments when blogger/retailer Mike Sterling pointed it out, and while it's not really terrible, it is monumentally clueless. I mean, c'mon, everyone knows that Batman and Robin were created in the '60s for television but were so awesome that they ended up going back in time, where they were featured in the obscure American "art" form of comic books!

#14. Hey, that's a pretty good idea! They could just make more. I wonder why they haven't --

#13. Oh, right, DC doesn't have any copies. That would explain why those early Batman stories have never been reprinted nine times.

#12. You hear that, DC? Get on this and get some photo definition scans. You might even be able to put 'em in a hardcover and sell them to people!

#11. This might actually be my favorite of the comments, because this guy is so mad that people would spend so much on a comic book, but is totally up to drop forty grand on pornography. Dude knows how to party.

#10. I was all set to get offended at being called a "neard" (which, now that I think of it, would be a great term for those terrible, terrible neck-beards) but then I saw what I believe is a winky frowny vampire emoticon at the end there and realized Jesse was j/k.

#9. One assumes that Barbara, having given up all worldly possessions to feed the needy, wrote this on a napkin with a borrowed pen and hand-delivered it to the Yahoo! News offices along with a hand-drawn avatar.

#8. It's nice that the bidder is thinking ahead, because he's certainly going to need entertainment when the Rapture comes and he's left on Earth for the sins of idolatry and failing to use that money to feed the "hungury," am I right Fred Phelps and/or Tim LaHaye?

#7. Whoa! Move over, Batman, looks like we've got a new World's Greatest Detective! If only there was some kind of news source that could clear this up, like, say, the actual article itself:

Batman No. 1 was the first solo spin-off for the character, who made his first appearance in 1939 as a character in Detective Comics No. 27. The debut includes the original appearances by two of Batman's key foes, the Joker and Catwoman.

Hm. Still not sure. Better keep this investigation ongoing.

#6. About half the comments of the article are made up of people who either think comics are stupid and don't know why anyone would ever pay so much, people who claim that they had every single first Superman comic from the '60s (which I met at a rate of one per week when I worked at a comic book store), and guys like this, who can't even go outside without tripping over stacks of mint condition Golden Age books because it's not like they're rare lol.

#5. The other half, of course, is made up entirely of people who will use any article as an excuse for political debate. Patrick, however, actually makes Obama sound pretty good with his insinuation that the President is just roaming around the country leaving super-valuable Batman comics in people's old furniture.

I sincerely hope that is how history will remember him.

#4. More stirring political debate from -- sigh -- "Frito Bandito," who has apparently never seen the episode of the '66 TV show where Batman runs against the Penguin to become Mayor of Gotham City, then resigns because it would limit his effectiveness as a crimefighter. No matter how much you might want to, son, you can't beat up the Capital Gains tax and throw it in Arkham Asylum.

#3. Despite the fact that it gets lazy in the middle with "Frank-guy" (that's the best you could do? Really?), I think I'd actually really like to see a comic about "Liberal Riddler."

#2. You know, I'm with this one, I was surprised that Batman the Real American lost the 2008 election, too. What, you guys don't remember that?

I still have one of the stickers on my car:

It's right next to my "Darkseid Is My Copilot" one.

#1. This... Man, I don't even know where to begin with this one. The implied racism, the completely off-topic nature, the hyperbole, the utter abuse of the poor comma. Still, I think the worst thing here isn't the comment itself, but the forty-seven people who "liked" it.