Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Move the Decimal Point 7 Places to the Right

Link to February 24 New York Times article, "Superman's Debut Comic Book Sells in NYC for $1M".

According to Wikipedia, the first issue of Action Comics had a press run of 200,000. The New York Times article notes than less than 100 copies are believed to still exist.

Which means, perhaps, 199,900 moms threw out the others in the trash.

Retiring Guy remembers a visit to Springfield, Massachusetts (Mom's hometown) in the mid-1950s. My older cousin offered me a stack of his comics books, for keeps -- and it's likely that this visit served as my introduction to the format -- but Mom would have none of it. She politely interjected her refusal, though there was a hint of steel in her voice, enough for me to realize, even at the age of 6, that there was room for bargaining. I suspect, though, there wasn't an Action Comic among these castoffs.

No comments: