A RARE copy of a 1938 comic that first debuted Superman — and was once stolen from actor Nicolas Cage — has sold for a record £11million.
The Action Comics No1, which only cost ten cents, was the publication credited for starting the superhero genre — with only 100 believed to exist.
It told the first origin story of Superman’s arrival on Earth.
Face/Off actor Cage, 62, had once been its owner before it was stolen from his home in 2000.
It was returned to him in 2011 after it was discovered in a storage locker in California and he later auctioned it for £1.6million.
The latest sale to an anonymous buyer was negotiated by New York-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect.
The firm’s Stephen Fishler said the comic was “an icon of American pop culture”.
He added: “The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it.”
Fishler compared it to the theft of Mona Lisa, which was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris in 1911.
“The recovery of the painting made the Mona Lisa go from being just a great Da Vinci painting to a world icon.
“That’s what Action No.1 is.
“It’s an icon of pop culture.”
