DALLAS, TX.- Sometime in the early 1980s, one longtime comic book fan began getting serious about collecting despite not having a serious amount of money to put into the hobby. What he lacked in wealth, though, he made up for in determination.

Rather than make large bids on carefully selected prizes, he took a high-volume, low-bid approach. He would pore over auction house catalogs and call in lowball offers, hoping a listing or two had escaped the notice of deeper-pocketed collectors. Occasionally he’d win.

He got a telephone call one day letting him know his had been the highest bid for a copy of Action Comics No. 1, the 1938 issue that introduced Superman to the world — the Holy Grail of the hobby then and now. The bid he’d made was ridiculously low for the pinnacle of comics collecting, half its value if even that, but nonetheless a head-swimming amount of money for a young working man.

“So do you want to buy it?” the voice on the phone asked.

Fortunately for this hobbyist, the auction house offered payment plans.

Some 40 years later, his copy of Action Comics No. 1, the longtime top issue on the Overstreet Comic Price Guide, is the headline lot of Heritage Auctions’ May 7–9 Comic Books Signature® Auction. That is no small feat. The auction boasts Overstreet’s top seven most valuable titles and at least one copy of 20 out of the 30 most valuable from the Overstreet Golden Age list. The comics auction is one half of a superteam four-day event that also includes the May 8–10 Comic Art Signature® Auction, featuring a newly discovered Action Comics cover by Joe Shuster, four John Romita Sr. The Amazing Spider-Man covers (and preliminary art for a fifth), highlights from the Richard Pujol EC Art and the Robert “Bob” Barrett Edgar Rice Burroughs collections, and an unparalleled offering of Al Williamson Star Wars comic strip art.

Timmy Heague, a comics writer and owner of Arsenal Comics & Games stores in Newbury Park and Ventura, California, contracted with this Action Comics No. 1 copy’s longtime owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, to consign the book on his behalf. As a shop owner, Heague has stuck it out through hard times — Covid, wildfires, a burglary — and is inspired by his client’s doggedness.

“To me, what I really respect and relate to is the dedication, the hustle, the sacrifices he made to make sure he would own this book after getting that call,” Heague says. “He slept in his store, borrowed money, sold possessions. And then what’s even more special to me is after 40 years, he never once had to sell it — he kept it safe and sound, never needing to sell it when times got tough, only selling it when he was ready and wanted to sell it.”

The client kept it very safe, in fact. The copy has undeniable eye appeal, with bold cover colors and beautiful page quality that have earned it an impressive CGC Conserved 7.0 grade — the second highest of the five Conserved copies currently on the CGC census.

Heague is donating a portion of the commission the owner is paying him to broker the sale to three different industry-related organizations: the Hero Initiative, which helps comic book creators in need; the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, which provides assistance to bookstore and comic shop owners and employees; and Comics Professional Retail Organization, a trade organization that promotes advocacy, education and opportunity for comics retailers. They’re close to his heart, having helped him through some of those aforementioned tough times, and his client has agreed to match his donation.

“We’re really excited about this because it’s a Conserved label, so it has had a little work done, but that eye appeal and bold colors — you don’t see that very often,” says Heritage Auctions Vice President Barry Sandoval. “We have had some copies of Action 1 sell for a lot of money that didn’t look as good as this one.”

Detective Comics No. 27, the 1939 debut of Batman, has long been just behind Action Comics No. 1 on the Overstreet guide, and an outstanding CGC 6.5 copy adds even more thrills to the auction. This copy is one of only six graded a 6.5, and only eight have higher marks.

Moving down the rest of the top seven on the Overstreet list, in order: Superman No. 1, Marvel Comics No. 1, Batman No. 1, All-American Comics No. 16 and Captain America Comics No. 1. Multiple copies for some issues are available, and they have grades varying from high to low — and thus a wide range of prices that will open the bidding to just about every serious collector.

Other noteworthy lots include:

• A CGC 8.5 Amazing Fantasy No. 15, Spider-Man’s debut

• A CGC 7.0 Action Comics No. 10 , Superman’s third cover appearance

• A CGC 6.5 Suspense Comics No. 3, a classic macabre cover by Alex Schomburg

• A CGC 9.8 Marvel Spotlight No. 5, Ghost Rider’s debut and origin, one of six copies at the top of the census

• A CGC 9.2 Crime SuspenStories No. 22, an infamous decapitation cover

The May 8–10 Comic Art Signature® Auction has an exciting Superman lot as well: Action Comics No. 24 original cover art by co-creator Joe Shuster, with several elements of an iconic Man of Steel cover: Superman busting through a wall at a sprint, his hair perfect; a sharp-dressed, thin-mustached villain bursting into a sweat at the sight of the hero; a captive woman fainting. Surviving Golden Age DC art, especially from the late 1930s and early ’40s, is rare in general, as the publisher routinely destroyed original art after publication. Shuster cover art is scarcer still, as he drew Superman himself for a relatively short time. In fact, this is only the second original published Shuster Superman cover Heritage has ever offered.

John Romita Sr. original cover art for The Amazing Spider-Man is another uncommon treat for dedicated comic art collectors. Having one turns an auction into an event. Having four, spanning 1966 to 1974, is simply amazing. On The Amazing Spider-Man No. 41, the Rhino practically leaps off the page in his first appearance cover, charging toward the reader. Spidey is rocked by the Shocker on the villain’s second cover appearance on No. 72, surrounded by a gang of classic supporting characters on No. 91 and shares the page with an infamous antihero in the Punisher’s second cover appearance on No. 135.

A collection of 30 Al Williamson Star Wars comic strip original artworks is an exceptional world premiere. Williamson drew the strip from February 9, 1981, until March 11, 1984. One look at his exquisitely detailed work will make clear why famed science-fiction and fantasy artist Williamson was George Lucas’ first choice for the strip.

These are large originals, with an average image area of 16 inches by 24 inches for Sundays and 7 inches by 20-1/2 inches for the first year of dailies and slightly smaller after that. The generous size was necessary to fit all the meticulous details, and it makes them that much more desirable as display-worthy collectibles. The April 26, 1981, Sunday strip, for example, has a breathtaking portrait of Darth Vader, his armor gleaming and a galactic background framing him, and depictions of C-3PO and R2-D2 so close to how they looked in the movies you can practically hear Threepio’s chatter in Anthony Daniels’ voice.

“These have never been for sale before, so there is no telling what they could go for,” Sandoval says.

There’s also no telling what Jim Starlin’s original art for story page 14 of Iron Man No. 55 could fetch. It features the half-splash, first full reveal of the Mad Titan himself: Thanos.

And an assemblage of original illustrations of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ works from Robert “Bob” Barrett’s Burroughs collection is a distinguished highlight of the art auction. Lots include Frank Frazetta’s preliminary original art for Tarzan and the Lion Man, Jesse Marsh’s cover for John Carter of Mars No. 1 and Boris Vallejo’s Tarzan and the Lost Empire paperback cover painting.