Gambling on the stock market? It'll certainly get you fast results, but one of those results could be a fraud conviction. Starting your own business? You reap all the awards, but you suffer all the downsides too, and it's pretty risky. Robbing a bank? Well, you get to wear fun masks, but there's a good chance you'll get shot. Nope, the easiest way to get rich these days is a lot more simple than that: just sell some old comic books. Seriously! Since 2000, the Certified Guaranty Company - or CGC - have been "grading" comics on a ten-point scale (ten being mint condition, one being that mouldy old Beano you found in your grandparent's attic which the dog then ate), which means collectors can independently verify how much their funny books are worth. And as much as you covet your longbox collection, when you see how much some of the 2 million comics they've graded have later sold for at auction, you might consider throwing a couple under the gavel. Especially since some of those prices are totally mind-blowing, scaling heights that will make you feel embarrassed for ever getting in a tizzy about Forbidden Planet's exchange rate. Here, in order, are the most expensive comic book sales on record, to date.
10. Whiz #2
Sold for: $281,001.00Comics Guaranty Company Grade: 9.0 Sadly not a comic chronicling the super-powered adventures of rapper Wiz Khalifa - but also thankfully nothing to do with water sports - Whiz #2 features the first appearance of Captain Marvel, latterly known as Shazam to stop current copyright owners DC from running into legal trouble with another certain comic publishers... Sold in a private auction in 2012, Whiz #2 was actually the first published issue of the series, the first having been used by publishers Fawcett Comics to solicit advertisers and secure the character's copyright. Ah, the comics business. It makes just as much sense now as it did back in 1940. It's probably not a huge shock to learn that the cover, with Captain Marvel chucking a car at a wall, was inspired by Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1. More on that later.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
