mrhan

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...202033823.html

While remodeling his newly purchased home in Elbow Lake, Minn., David Gonzalez noticed something unusual amid the old newspapers that had been used as wall insulation.

It was a copy of Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, the very first comic to feature the granddaddy of all superheroes, Superman.

StarTribune.com spoke with Gonzalez about his amazing find as well as a subsequent family accident that knocked down the value of his windfall.

"I knew it was worth money," Gonzales told the Star Tribune. "But I had no idea how much."

So far, the answer is, well, a lot. With roughly three weeks left on the auction block, the high bid is around $113,000.

Not bad, considering Gonzalez bought the house for $10,100. But, still, the comic could be worth a lot more were it not for an argument among family members.

From StarTribune.com:

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. To put that in comic-book context, a 9.0-grade Action 1 fetched more than $2 million recently.

“That was a $75,000 tear,” said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of ComicConnect, a New York City online auction house that is selling Gonzalez’s treasure. He says the comic book would have graded out at 3.0 without the rip.

The Star Tribune also spoke with Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of ComicConnect.

"It’s so hard for anyone to fathom that, in this day and age, you could still discover a comic book that nobody has known about because this book was in a wall of a house for more than 70 years," Zurzolo said. "It’s pretty miraculous that it even survived and it’s only had one owner."

Got a small fortune burning a hole in your pocket? The auction ends June 11.

Trevor

Reminds me of the time when I was about 10 and my mom ripped one of my comics up.

She used to read my comics, but would fold the pages back behind themselves as she read, and/or not wash her hands before touching them. I would repeatedly gently remind her of their potential value and try to correct her cringe-worthy behavior. But one day I was a little too persistent and actually grabbed it away from her to show her the 'proper way' to read a comic book. While normally an incredibly gentle person, she grabbed it back and ripped it into three pieces.

I took that House of Secrets #142 and taped every page back together.

Bronkster

Saw the story the other day and cringed reading about the grabbing part. STUPID PEOPLE!! IT'S ACTION NUMBER 1!!!

Mike86

What a dummy for grabbing it back and tearing it. You'd think if you were excited enough to know how much it's worth that you'd be as delicate as possible with it and not go grabbing for it when someone else has it in their hands.

kodave

You'd think he'd have enough sense to not let anyone else handle it in the first place. I wonder how much damage they did from just passing it around the family prior to the dumb grab-n-tear. They should have put it in between something secure immediately before sending it off to be graded and slabbed.

mrhan

Man Finds Second Vintage Superman Comic in Old Home; 1st Comic Fetched $175K at Auction

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...112510979.html

The 1938 Superman comic that a Minnesota contractor found stuffed inside the walls of a dilapidated home has been auctioned for $175,000, and it seems the contractor's lucky streak is going strong.

David Gonzalez bought the run-down home to renovate it, and while he was working on the house, he found a rare copy of Action Comics No. 1 - which introduced the iconic Man of Steel to the world - inside the walls as part of the home's insulation. The comic went on auction last month, and sold Tuesday for $175,000.

Gonzalez was calm when he talked about the auction Wednesday night, and then he told ABCNews.com that he had found a second Action Comics issue featuring Superman while he was working on the house Tuesday. The second comic was also hidden in the walls of the house, he said.


Gonzalez doesn't yet know whether it's worth as much as his first find, which sustained some damage when an eager relative handled it too roughly, ripping the back cover.

"We know it's a Superman issue, we just don't know what issue," Gonzalez, 35, said of the second comic. "I know it's the one [of Superman] fighting with the dinosaurs."

The first comic was put up for auction at ComicConnect.com, which will get a 10 percent commission of the final auction price.

Vincent Zurzolo, the chief operations officer for Comic Connect, said the final bid exceeded his expectations. He'd anticipated it would sell for about $150,000.

"The buyer's happy, the seller's happy, we're happy, everybody's happy," Zurzolo said, adding that there had been 51 bids on the comic since it was offered for auction last month.

Gonzalez, a married father of four from Hoffman, Minn., paid $10,100 for the house where he found the comic.

A nearby restaurant had wanted to buy the vacant home for $10,000 in order to knock it down and build a parking lot. Gonzalez saw a renovation opportunity and outbid the restaurant by $100.

He said he doesn't plan a big spending spree. He plans to invest his winnings in his children's education and possibly buy another house to renovate. He also said he plans to donate $10,000 to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

Gonzalez has been thinking about buying his dream car - a 1992 Chevrolet Camaro IROC - but he's not sure about that.

"I'll think about it," he said. "Man, my kids are going to need that money in the future."

Bronkster

I can understand a non-comic person not differentiating between "Superman" or "Action" if it was missing the cover - but the article doesn't state that. Therefore, I'm confused by their confusion. editing to add: Could possibly be World's Finest, since I think the early issues had separate Superman and Batman stories - but if Batman was in it, that would probably be mentioned?

There are no dinosaurs on any Actions covers within the first 200 issues, although #129 and #201 depict cavemen. No idea about the contents, since the early covers rarely reflected the story inside. So, I'm thinkin' this new comic he found is coverless. Hopefully, someone with comic knowledge will add to the information given.

mrhan

^ I thought the description was vague, also. They should of had a pic of it at least. Whoever wrote the article should of at least done some research. How hard is it to do if he was interviewing the homeowner and actually saw the book. Lame.

dfmaverick2

From the story, it sounds like the fighting of dinosaurs is part of the story rather than a cover, so...

Superman does fight some dinosaurs in Superman #4 which would be 1940-ish, thus fitting in timewise when the house was possibly built. This would be my guess as to which comic it is.


EDIT

Found this additional information in the local paper here in MN:

"Earlier in the day, Gonzalez’s wife, Deanna, discovered a second comic book featuring the superhero in debris piled outside the Elbow Lake house that they are renovating. That book, wet from rain and missing its cover, shows “Superman fighting dinosaurs” and appears to be nearly as old as the 1938 Action Comics #1 book Gonzalez found in January amid the paper that a former owner used to insulate the home’s ceiling and walls. It also promotes the introduction of another superhero, named “Batman,” in an upcoming issue."

PhantomStranger

The whole story they've cooked up sounds phony and designed to catch public attention. Most of these "finds" have fabricated stories behind them, to juice interest in the auction.