Superman rescues family from foreclosure
While packing up the home they expected to lose, a family finds their hero stashed in the basement.

More than 70 years after Superman first saved the day in the pages of a comic book, the Man of Steel has reached out and saved a family in the real world.

Asylum reports that a family was packing up their belongings after their bank had started foreclosure proceedings, when they came across a box of comic books in the basement.

But this wasn’t just any box, and the family suspected they’d struck gold when they discovered among the titles “Action Comics No. 1,” the comic that introduced Superman to the world and brought to life the superhero genre, which remains popular to this day.

It also happens to be worth upward of $250,000. Asylum writes: The house had been in the family’s possession since the 1950s, which is probably when the wife’s father stashed the issue in a box with some other, mere mortal titles.

When the family contacted Stephen Fishler, the co-owner of ComicConnect and Metropolis, he was naturally skeptical after receiving countless similar calls, of which “99.9%” turn out to be reprints, he told Asylum. But then they texted him a cell phone picture of its cover, which features Superman holding a car, and Fishler knew he’d found the key to comic book fans’ collections all over the world.

The comic is expected to fetch more than a quarter-million dollars when it goes up for auction on ComicConnect — and that’s a low estimate. In February of this year, an unrestored copy of “Action Comic No. 1″ sold for $1 million, according to the Los Angeles Times, followed a month later by the sale of another copy in better condition at $1.5 million.

But don’t go hunting down the family for what’s left over after they get back up to speed on their mortgage. They told Fishler they’d like to remain anonymous, although they did tell Asylum that they were “shell-shocked about finding this book.”: “I know I am very fortunate, but I will be greatly relieved when this book finds a new home.”

Thankfully, it looks like they’ll get to keep theirs.

Posted by Mai Ling at MSN Real Estate on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 10:19 AM

Original article:   http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=1786978&_blg=1,1786978

Disney To Purchase Marvel

Disney has agreed to acquire Marvel and it’s extensive portfolio of over 5,000 characters.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

Click here to see the Marvel press release.

Superman Comic #1 Sells For $24,950 with Buy It Now on eBay

From the eBay auction:

One of the biggest and brightest of all comics collectibles, a holy grail for most.  This is an original copy of Superman Comics #1 from 1939.  Actually, there is no number on the indicia, as DC comics was reportedly not certain the book would sell enough to make a series.  But sales exceeded their expectations.  The series went on to a second issue and continues to this day.  It’s one of the very, very few comics titles that has continued from the golden age to today.   Only Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman stayed in publication from the golden age to the present day, and, of course, Superman was the first.

This is a very attractive lower-grade issue that has had minimal professional work:  to clean it, removing tape from the spine, and to seal tears with archival tape.  As you can see, there has been no attempt to mask the tears, only to seal them.  We’ve had quotes from restorers that this copy could be made to appear extremely nice with relatively little work or expense (just under a thousand dollars).   We decided to leave that to the next one who can decide on their own.

The interior pages of this iconic and world-famous comic book are very solid, with supple and off-white paper.  The stories include the origin of Superman:  how, as an infant, he was sent from the planet Krypton by his parents, to live on Earth, where his powers would be far beyond that of ordinary people.   That story, of course, is almost as well known as Superman himself.

Superman was an instant sensation, read the world over, and quickly transformed into a multi-media star, appearing not only in comics, but also toys and novels, radio and movies (in cartoons as well as live action).   His success sparked a flood of costumed superheroes who dominated culture during the “Golden Age” of comics and beyond.   When almost all other comic heroes disappeared in the 1950s, Superman not only survived but thrived as the star of an immensely popular film and television series.  His success continued strong through the “silver age” of comics with reruns of the TV show, more comics and toys, and even a Broadway play.   A new film series was a massive hit in the 1970s and 80s with several more blockbuster films.   The story of his “death” and resurrection made headlines for months in the 1990s, and in the new century he’s come back to the big screen yet again, with “Superman Returns” and another film in development.

Comics superheroes dominate the cultural landscape today as much as, if not more than, they did during World War II.  Superman is easily among the most beloved, as well as being the first, and the most enduring, of all.

There have never been enough copies of Superman #1 to feed the demand of collectors who would like to have, and to invest in, an incredible piece of cultural history.  That has never been more clear than in recent years, when the supply has dwindled to the point where even mid-grade copies in very good condition have sold for more than a hundred thousand.