Archie was a six-page filler strip in the back of a patriotic superhero anthology. He outlived every hero on the cover, and the comic he first appeared in is now among the most valuable non-superhero keys of the Golden Age.
The guides put this book around $258,000, a real sale, but from August 2011, and for a higher grade than the copy that just beat it. In March 2026 a CGC 8.0 sold for $431,250. If you are holding one, the number you have been quoted is years out of date.
A CGC 8.5 of this book brought $264,000 in 2022. A restored 7.5 brought $22,425. That gap is not about one grade point, and understanding why it exists is worth more than any estimate I could give you.
Nobody remembers the stories inside. This comic has sold for a quarter of a million dollars because of one image on the front, painted by a man most people have never heard of. What Suspense Comics #3 actually sells for, grade by grade.
There is no Whiz Comics #1. The first issue Fawcett ever put on a newsstand is numbered 2, and the reason involves a copyright dodge, a character who was nearly called Captain Thunder, and a lawsuit that killed him off.
People call me about this one thinking they have the first Joker. They do not, and the book they actually have is still worth a serious phone call. Three documented sales now, topped by a $324,000 record, and what they can honestly tell you.
A CGC 9.0 of this book sold for $66,700. An unrestored CGC 4.5 sold for $42,507 a few months earlier. Four and a half grade points apart, and barely any money between them. One word on the label explains the whole thing.
Most Golden Age keys have one famous sale and a lot of guesswork underneath it. This book has seven dated sales across six grades in four years, which makes it one of the few I can price honestly without hedging.
Half the people who call me about this book think they are holding Wonder Woman’s first appearance. They are not, and the real answer is better news than it sounds. What a Sensation Comics #1 actually sells for.
Three brothers found one in a Northern California attic and it brought $9.12 million. What Superman #1 actually sells for, how to separate a 1939 copy from the 1979 tabloid reprint, and why even incomplete copies still trade.
