Superman Saves Family From Foreclosure

It sounds like the stuff of superhero stories: a family on the brink of foreclosure saved their home when they found a rare copy of Superman's debut comic, Action Comics #1, in their basement.

ABC reports that the family, who wished to remain anonymous, were packing up for foreclosure on their home in the South -- where they have lived since the 1950's -- when they came across a stash of "old magazines" and "old comic books", according to Asylum. They contacted Stephen Fishler, co-owner of New York's ComicConnect, to see what they could pawn.

Fishler told Asylum, "They came across what appears to be an Action #1." Dubious at first, given that 99.9% of such calls were bogus, he realized it was the real deal when the couple texted him a photo.

Fishler took the copy to Comic-con last week for a valuation. It received a "Very Good" status with 5/10 points, ABC News reports. It is expected to fetch at least $250,000 through an auction on ComicConnect's website on August 27th.

"My partner basically had to explain to the bank, 'You'll have your money soon,'" ComicConnect co-owner Vincent ZurzoloZurzolo told ABC News. "We sent them information about our previous sales and what this could realize."

Interested? Place your bids here.

Superman's pre-DC Comics Action Comics #1 has been a valuable commodity this year. In March, Fishler and Zurzolo brokered the record-breaking sale of $1.5 million for a copy, preceded by a $1 million sale in February (which, notably, kicked Batman's butt). Bam!

Comments

[Amy Litt]

05:18 PM on 08/05/2010

Amazing! This isn't the only bizarre story of saving homes from foreclosure I've heard of. I just came across this article on houselogic.com: http://www.houselogic.com/articles/superman-save-our-house-top-5-craziest-foreclosure-rescue-attempts//?nicmp=social&nichn=HLblogs&niseg=20100805

[Ricardo01]

01:51 PM on 08/05/2010

I always say I would be a rich guy if my mom hadn't thrown away my comic books when I was a kid.

[Katy Welter]

10:47 PM on 08/04/2010

This makes me feel better about being a bit of a pack rat.

[zingdaddy]

02:20 PM on 08/04/2010

Heh. In remodeling our house, we tore down a wall, and found that some previous owner had insulated it with baseball cards, soccer cards, etc. etc. Sadly, they were all in poor condition. Still, how much money did they spend buying enough cards to insulate at least one whole wall? And why not just sell the cards and buy real insulation?

Is a mystery. They also left behind a kids' book from the 1940's that was very odd. The book itself wasn't odd, but on every page, someone had taken a black marker and written words like "LIES" "LOVE" "HATE", big enough to cover the whole page.

Cue Twilight Zone theme...

[MISTERUNCONVENTIONAL]

08:43 AM on 08/04/2010

A teenager up the block gave my brother and I an entire footlocker of comics. A lot of original ones; he'd also been given the collection by someone older. I remember a lot of Superman comics.

My mother, over time, threw them all out, god bless her.

[intolleft]

08:01 AM on 08/04/2010

Cool story. Make sure you do a follow up on the auction.

[pagansmom]

07:57 AM on 08/04/2010

What a great story! We live in a hundred year old and I'm always trying to figure out where people of the past may have hidden things. :)

[pagansmom]

08:46 AM on 08/04/2010

*house

[RobbieD]

05:56 AM on 08/04/2010

I have dealt with collectibles and antiques for many years and I'm always a little surprised to find someone who has no idea what treasure they have. It's not the really old stuff that people collect and pay top dollar for. It's a good idea to check around your home, jewelery, paintings, posters, old toys (tin or cast iron) even old post cards can bring in $100's of dollars.

[redcelt]

03:41 AM on 08/04/2010

Fairytales can come true, it could happen to you...

[Matt Osborne]

03:31 AM on 08/04/2010

Kinda makes up for being named Zurzolo.

[Pavane]

02:10 AM on 08/04/2010

Oh, I am so glad for these people! Yay. Something good happened.

[2million5Q]

02:06 AM on 08/04/2010

Miracles still have their magical works!

[2million5Q]

02:05 AM on 08/04/2010

This was the best news story I've read in a long, long, long time. Never give in ...Never give up!
No more words necessary!!!

[TStringfellow]

01:51 AM on 08/04/2010

Back in 97 there was a house in our neighborhood that had been abandoned and condemned since the late 80's. We used to throw parties in it, squat in the living room, basically used it as a clubhouse. One of the rooms upstairs was full of junk that we used to spend hours sifting through. Nobody ever found anything worth keeping until the day I discovered a Michael Jordan rookie card in a box worth well over $1000, which I wisely spent on my first trip to Jamaica.

[mech126]

01:48 AM on 08/04/2010

Good for them, I truly wish them luck...