First appearance appearance issues to remain. Furthermore, even fewer of those remaining copies will be in the pristine condition prized by collectors. What few remain can be worth thousands of dollars to interested collectors. For example, in 2004, a copy of "Flash Comics" #1 (January 1940), the first appearance of The Flash, was auctioned for $42,000 and a copy of "Captain America Comics" #1 (March 1941), the first appearance of Captain America sold for $64,400. In 2010, another copy of "Flash Comics" #1 sold privately for $450,000. The first appearance of Superman, "Action Comics" #1 (June 1938), has been regarded as the
Action Comics #1 (June 1938) sold at auction for $1 million, besting the $317,000 record for a comic book set by a different copy, in lesser condition, the previous year. The sale, by an anonymous seller to an anonymous buyer, was through the Manhattan-based auction company ComicConnect.com. Although DC had initially announced Marc Guggenheim as writer of the title following the "War of the Supermen" limited series, he was replaced by Paul Cornell. Cornell featured Lex Luthor as the main character in "Action Comics" from issues #890–900 and Death appeared in issue #894, with the agreement of the character's creator, Neil Gaiman.