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A 15% BUYER'S PREMIUM WILL BE ADDED TO THIS ITEM AT CONCLUSION OF THE AUCTION
light tan/off white pages; Q: slightly brittle cfld married, mod amt tp int. cvr & cfld. Married Cfld.
1st Slam Bradley/Spy by Siegel & Shuster; SEMINAL KEY, the title that put the "D.C." in DC Comics!
Ruben Blades Copy


This historic artifact isn't just the start of Detective Comics. This is the comic that launched Detective Comics, Inc., later famously abbreviated to become DC Comics. Detective Comics itself would go on to an initial print run longer than any other DC title. That legendary stint began with this Yellow Peril cover by Vin Sullivan, which helped to lure in the vital pulp market. (DC scribe Gene Luen Yang would do an impressive job retconning the art in New Super-Man #8 .) Printed more than a year before Action Comics #1 — with Batman's debut far in the future with Detective #27 — this comic set the stage for the two-fisted heroes who'd later take on the growing threat of Nazism.

Of course, Detective Comics #1 is also a cornerstone in the cutthroat history of the early industry: In debt after creating the comic book market with 1935's New Fun, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson turned to distributor Harry Donenfeld to finance Detective Comics . Donenfeld agreed if Wheeler-Nicholson brought in accountant Jack Liebowitz as a partner in the new company. Detective Comics, Inc. was soon forced into bankruptcy by Donenfeld. Liebowitz joined Donenfeld in acquiring Wheeler-Nicholson's other assets, and he would continue a reign at DC Comics into the early 1990s.

Detective Comics #1 is an incredibly rare and important book, with only 37 copies listed on the CGC census. This Qualified copy hails from the Ruben Blades Collection with a married centerfold, plus some tape on the interior cover and pages of the comic. This book remains an enduring investment at any grade, and this copy retains the vivid colors of the striking Vin Sullivan cover that hearkens back to the industry’s pulp origins.

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