$343,057

Despite containing the first appearances of Captain America, his sidekick Bucky and main villain the Red Skull, this piece is best know for it’s cover art depicting Captain America punching out Hitler. Controversially, this book was released in 1941, a year before Pearl Harbor. This copy was graded at 9.2 (the highest on record is 9.6) and sold to a collector in 2011.

$350,000

The first appearance of mainstays The Human Torch and Namor, The Submariner, this is also the first comic published by the world’s largest comics publisher. Given all of those firsts and its place in history, this price is actually relatively low because the record sale happened way back in 2003 and the book was graded at 9.0. Experts expect this book to fetch a much higher number at auction in the near future to simply reflect inflation and the increased esteem of vintage comics in general. If a higher graded copy were to go on sale (several known exist), the price could really explode.

$375,000

The first appearance of Iron Man represents one of the potentially shakier investments on this list. This copy that fetched this price was graded at an astounding 9.6 and was sold in 2012, coinciding with the release of the first “Avengers” movie and Robert Downey Jr.’s beloved portrayal of a character that had not previously been quite as popular as its contemporaries. With Downey Jr. reportedly looking to move on from the role and, presumably, Iron Man playing a reduced role or disappearing altogether from the Marvel cinematic universe, it will be interesting to see if this price holds.

$450,000

Featuring the first appearances of The Flash and Hawkman, this book offers an interesting case. The record copy was graded at an uncommonly high 9.6, which as we’ve seen (and will really see in the next slide) can drive up price. However, this sale occurred in 2012, when The Flash’s overall profile was far lower. He’s since been featured in his own popular television show and has both a solo film and a role in Justice League coming up in the next few years, so he could be ripe for a profile increase similar to that experienced by Iron Man after the unexpected success of that film.

$492,937.50

The sterling condition of the record copy is the real story here (although I do love the random 50 cents tacked onto the end, which betrays the fact that this piece was sold online, in this case by Heritage Auctions). Though the fact that it’s the first appearance of uber popular super hero team, The X-Men, certainly doesn’t hurt. This copy, sold in 2012, was graded at 9.8, the highest grade on record for this particular book (only one other is known to exist). This sale perfectly illustrates the inflationary effect of small increases in grading. The previous record sale, for a copy rated 9.6, occurred only 1-year earlier (in a private sale) and fetched less than half the price.

$527,625

There’s not much mystery to this particular price (nor for the rest of the list, really, it’s only the big guns left, and the prices reflect it)—It’s Batman. This issue is the first in his ongoing series (although, importantly, not his first appearance) and features the first appearances of both the Joker and Catwoman. The record auction was held by Heritage for a copy graded 9.2 and occurred in 2013.

$1,075,000

The first appearance of Batman is, unsurprisingly worth a pretty penny. The most interesting aspect of this sale, however, is just how low quality the record copy is at only 8.0. When this book sold, also by Heritage, in 2010 it was briefly the most expensive comic of all time. However, its value has since been surpassed by higher quality copies of other books. That being said because Batman is largely considered the most universally popular and well-known super hero and a copy of this book graded higher than 8.0 hasn’t sold in over 20 years—even though there are several known copies graded at 9.0 plus—experts conjecture that a 9.0 plus graded copy of this comic would likely command the highest price of any comic ever if it were to appear at auction.

$1,100,000

Spider Man! This issue marks the first appearance of Marvel’s most popular super hero, but experts were still surprised by how high a price a 9.6-graded copy fetched in 2011 on ComicConnect. Prices for Silver Age (published roughly between 1956 and 1970) comics are generally lower than those from the Golden Age (late 1930s to 1950)—largely a function of age and subsequent rarity, so this sale actually surprised many industry experts. The previous record for a Silver Age comic was a mere $300,000.

$3,207,852

No surprise here, the first appearance of Superman tops this list. In fact, if we hadn’t limited it to one appearance per issue, we could populate most of the list with just various sales of this book. The record copy, graded at 9.0, actually sold on Ebay (!) in 2014, and represented an increase of more than $1 million over the previous record for the book set by actor Nicholas Cage when he bought a copy (also 9.0) for $2,161,000 in 2011. There are several known 9.0 graded copies and a, perhaps apocryphal, 9.2 still in circulation, so this price still has room to go up.