The question is always whether the second issue is worth anything, and the answer is yes, considerably.
Superman #1 is one of the most valuable comics in existence and everybody knows it. Issue two, from the autumn of 1939, gets almost no attention, and people holding one frequently assume it is a common back issue. It is not.
The numbers I can actually source
| Grade | Result | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 8.0 | $78,000 | Heritage Auctions, September 2024 |
| CGC 3.5 | $11,422 | Hake’s, July 31, 2024 |
| CGC 9.2 | $94,000 (reported) | reportedly 2013 |
A documented sale at each end of the scale is more than most books this old can show, and this one now has exactly that.
A CGC 3.5 is a well-worn comic — creased, rounded, showing eighty-seven years of handling. It brought $11,422 in 2024. That is the figure I would put in front of somebody who has just found one in a box, because it describes the copy they are most likely to have.
The 8.0 is the other end of the story. A copy that sharp brought $78,000 at Heritage in September 2024 — weeks after the Hake’s result, which makes the pair unusually clean: two documented sales in the same season, one describing the floor and one something near the ceiling. From 3.5 to 8.0 the money multiplies roughly seven times. Two points will not draw a full ladder, but they bracket it honestly.
The $94,000 for a 9.2 stays labeled. I could not open a source for it and it is thirteen years old, which are two separate reasons not to lean on it — and with a documented 8.0 on the table, nothing on this page needs to. I would rather hand you the two numbers I can source than the ninety-four thousand dollar one I cannot.
Why 1939 Superman books are scarcer than they sound
The print runs were not small. Superman was an immediate hit and DC printed accordingly. The problem is everything that happened afterward.
These were bought by children in 1939, read repeatedly, traded, and thrown out. There was no collector market, no protective storage, no adult who thought a comic book might matter later. Then the wartime paper drives came through and consumed enormous quantities of old magazines, specifically targeting exactly this kind of material.
So what survives is accidental, and it survives badly. Low grades dominate the census for early Superman, which is why a 3.5 selling for eleven thousand dollars is not an anomaly — it is close to the middle of what actually exists.
What is actually in issue two
The second issue is not padding, which is part of why it holds value.
The Superman feature was still being invented at this point. The character’s powers, his limits and the shape of the strip were all in motion, and the early issues document that. He could not fly yet in the way he later would, and the stories are closer to social crusading than to the cosmic material that came later.
For collectors that early-development period is genuinely interesting, and the 1939 issues are chased as a group rather than only for issue one. It is the same reason the first year of Action Comics is difficult and expensive well beyond the famous number.
So if you have issue two, you are holding part of a sequence that people assemble deliberately, not an also-ran to a famous comic. That is a better position than most sellers expect to be in.
Selling a Superman #2
- Do not assume wear means worthless. The low documented sale is a 3.5 at $11,422. Rough copies of this book are five-figure comics.
- Confirm it is the 1939 title. DC has used the Superman name across several relaunches; the year in the small print settles it.
- Check completeness, especially the centerfold. On early Superman a missing centerfold changes the grade category entirely.
- Leave it alone. No cleaning, no pressing, no tape, no flattening under books.
If an early Superman turned up, others may have too. Whoever bought issue two in 1939 was very likely buying the rest as they appeared.
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
- Superman #1, and what separates the two.
- Action Comics #7, another early Superman book people assume is worthless.
- 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.
