Two powerhouse comic books that are graded by Certified Guaranty Company® (CGC®) just smashed records with six-figure sales in Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Art Signature Auction on April 3-6, 2025.
Leading the comic books in the auction was an Incredible Hulk #1 graded CGC 9.0 (lot 91013), which realized $312,000. This sale set a new record for Incredible Hulk #1 in CGC 9.0 grade (beating the previous mark of $264,000 set in 2018), and it is the fourth-highest result at auction for the comic overall.
Featuring the first appearance of the Hulk, this debut issue, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, delved into the origin story of Dr. Bruce Banner. A mishap with gamma radiation triggered a transformation, turning Dr. Banner into an uncontrollable behemoth when gripped by intense anger. Notably, the initial portrayal of the Hulk in this first appearance was in a gray shade. However, due to printing challenges, the character's color was changed to the now-iconic green hue starting with the second issue, released a few months later.
That wasn’t the only record broken in this auction — a Detective Comics #1 graded CGC 6.5 (lot 91009) set a record for any grade by realizing $228,000, breaking the previous record of $108,000 for a CGC 5.0 sold in 2022. Published in 1937, this historic comic featured detective and crime stories long before superheroes dominated the medium. The series continued its noir-inspired stories when it introduced Batman in issue #27. The series was so popular that National Allied Publications eventually adopted "Detective Comics" as its official name, becoming DC Comics.
There are only 37 examples in any grade found in the CGC Census. Fewer than half of those earned CGC’s blue label indicating the desirable Universal Grade, and of those, only one is graded higher than this example.
Other CGC-certified comics in this auction included:
Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.