In 1939 nobody had settled what a superhero looked like. DC’s answer in Adventure Comics #40 was a man in a green business suit and a fedora, wearing a military gas mask, carrying a gun that fired sleeping gas.
That is the Sandman, and he is one of the last major heroes created before the cape-and-tights template hardened. He reads like a pulp magazine character who wandered into a comic, because that is essentially what he was.
What it brings
| Grade | Result | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 5.0 | $53,155 | ComicConnect, June 2024 |
| CGC 4.5 | $35,905 | ComicConnect, September 2025 |
Two documented sales, and they are good ones to have. A mid-grade sale is a more useful thing to hand a seller than a record, and on this book that is what exists.
A 5.0 is a comic with obvious wear that presents honestly — the sort of copy that actually turns up. Knowing that band sits above fifty thousand dollars is worth more than knowing what a hypothetical 9.0 might do, because almost nobody has a 9.0 of a 1939 anthology. The 4.5 fifteen months later brought $35,905 — half a grade down, about a third less money, which is the kind of gap 1939 books produce and nothing to read a trend into.
I am not going to extend two points into a ladder. But two mid-grade sales, fifteen months apart, bracket the copy most people actually find.
Which Sandman
The mix-up here is generational, and it costs people time rather than money. Ask anyone under fifty about the Sandman and they will describe Neil Gaiman’s character from 1989 — the pale figure in a long coat who rules dreams. That is a different creation with a different first appearance, and copies of it are common and inexpensive.
The Gaiman series does help this book indirectly. It has kept the name in circulation for nearly forty years, and the television adaptation put it in front of a large audience again. Some of that attention reaches back to the 1939 original even though the characters have almost nothing in common.
If a comic with Sandman on it turns up, the year settles it immediately: 1939 is this book, 1989 is the other one, and the difference is roughly four orders of magnitude.
Adventure Comics is worth going through issue by issue
This title ran for decades and buried significant debuts inside, with covers that usually give no clue. Issue 40 is the exception that proves it: DC actually put the Sandman on the front and banner-lined his debut — “Starting this issue” — which almost never happened.
The usual pattern across DC’s anthologies of the period ran the other way. A new feature went in the back, ran for a few issues to see whether readers responded, and only reached the cover if it worked. So the covers of these books advertise whatever was already established, not whatever became important later.
If a run of Adventure Comics turns up, the sensible approach is to check numbers against a reference rather than flip through looking for something recognizable. It is slow and it is the only way that works.
Selling an Adventure Comics #40
- Check the year first. I will tell you which Sandman you have before we discuss anything else, and it takes one photograph.
- Do not sort anthologies by cover. This one does announce the Sandman on the front — but most anthology debuts are not advertised at all, and the feature usually runs in the back until it earns a cover.
- Expect a mid or low grade and do not be discouraged. The documented sale is a 5.0.
- Leave the paper alone. Nothing you can do at home improves a 1939 comic.
Have a copy?
Send three photos: front, back, and the small print. That is all I need to tell you where your copy really sits.
Related
- More Fun Comics #73, another DC anthology hiding first appearances in the back.
- The 100 most valuable Golden Age comics, and what each one really sold for.
Cover images on this page are shown small, for identification, with the publisher credited in the caption. If you are a rights holder and want an image removed, contact me and it comes down.
