Heritage’s Comics & Comic Art Auctions on May 7-10, 2026, boasts the top seven most valuable comics of the hobby based on The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide valuation. Going even further, the auction features 20 out of the 30 most valuable books in Overstreet’s Golden Age comic list.

The auction is led by Action Comics #1 CGC 7.0 Conserved with a unique backstory. A collector who did not have the wealth to buy top tier comics came up with a bidding strategy. He would make a high number of lower bids on key books at auction, hoping that a few would be missed by bidders that had more to spend. One such auction included Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1, which he won for far lower than its value and 40 years later he is selling it.

Timmy Heague, a comics writer and owner of Arsenal Comics & Games new Newbury Park and Ventura, California, helped the collector (who wishes to remain anonymous) by consigning it on his behalf. For his part, Heague is donating a portion of his commission to the Hero Initiative, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, and the Comics Professional Retail Organization.

“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,” Heritage Vice President Barry Sandoval said. “We have had some copies of Action 1 sell for a lot of money that didn’t look as good as this one.”

Just behind Action Comics #1 on Overstreet’s most valuable books list is Batman’s debut in Detective Comics #27. This auction features a CGC 6.5 copy, which is one of only six in that grade with only eight graded higher.

The top seven on Overstreet’s list are rounded out by Superman #1, Marvel Comics #1, Batman #1, All-American Comics #16, and Captain America Comics #1. Heritage is offering multiple copies of some of these books in a wide range of grades.

Comic highlights continue with Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 8.5 with Spider-Man’s debut, Action Comics #10 CGC 7.0 (Superman’s third cover appearance), Suspense Comics #3 CGC 6.5 (Alex Schomburg cover), Marvel Spotlight #5 CGC 9.8 with the debut and origin of Ghost Rider, and Crime SuspenStories #22 CGC 9.2 (famous decapitation cover).

The Comic Books Auction on May 7-9, will be accompanied by a Comic Art Auction on May 8-10. The original art auction is led by the Action Comics #24 cover by Joe Shuster, Superman’s co-creator. The cover sees Superman confidently bursting through a wall, not a hair out of place, to stop a visibly worried criminal who is holding a woman hostage.

Four of John Romita Sr.’s Amazing Spider-Man original covers from 1966 to 1974 are crossing the auction block. Rhino jumps off the page for his first cover appearance on The Amazing Spider-Man #41, the shocker blasts Spidey’s symbol on the cover of issue 72, the Wall Crawler is surrounded by supporting characters on the cover of issue 91, and Spider-Man appears with the Punisher on the antihero’s second cover.

There’s a collection of 30 Star Wars comic strips by Al Williamson from his February 1981 to March 1984 tenure. The large originals have an average image area of 16” x 24” for Sunday strips and 7” x 20-1/2” for the daily strips. “The generous size was necessary to fit all the meticulous details, and it makes them that much more desirable as display-worthy collectibles,” per Heritage’s press release.

Art highlights also include Jim Starlin’s Iron Man #55 story page 14 with a half-splash of Thanos and Edgar Rice Burroughs original illustrations from Robert Barrett’s collection. Frank Frazetta’s preliminary art for Tarzan and the Lion Man, Jesse Marsh’s John Carter of Mars #1 cover, and Boris Vallejo’s Tarzan and the Lost Empire paperback cover painting are also among the art highlights.