A CGC-certified 9.2 copy of Tales to Astonish #27, the first appearance of Henry Pym, Ant-Man, has been sold for $65,000 by Pedigree Comics.
“Featuring the first appearance of the Ant-Man, Tales to Astonish #27 is one of the earliest, most popular and valuable early Silver Age keys, ranked as #12 according to latest listing in The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #43. It is also universally considered the most difficult Silver Age Marvel first appearance issue to locate in high grade, more so than even Incredible Hulk #1,” said Doug Schmell, President and CEO of Pedigree Comics.
“It has a cover date of January 1962 (same as Fantastic Four #2) the last month that Marvel comic books had a 10¢ cover price. The Jack Kirby cover is iconic and quite memorable, introducing us to “The Man in the Ant Hill!” The Stan Lee story (seven pages) is fabulous and features pencils by Kirby and inks by Dick Ayers. The story was intended to be released in an earlier issue of Tales to Astonish (issue #23, cover dated September 1961), but hit the newsstands in October in the now-famous issue #27,” he said.
“The $65,000 paid for the subject 9.2 is a record price. This same copy sold for a then record price of $45,000, also by Pedigree Comics in May, 2010, besting its previous sale (similarly by Pedigree Comics) of $32,500 in October 2009,” he said.
Schmell characterized the issue as having “unbelievable color strike, near-perfect centering, tight staples, razor sharp edges and corners and off-white pages.”
It is the second highest CGC-certified example and is considered the third best copy extant behind only two in 9.4; it is the only 9.2 certified to date.
The buyer had been looking for a high grade copy of the book for some time and contacted Schmell earlier this month. The sale price of $65,000 was agreed to on Sunday, December 15, 2013.
For additional information or to consign to the company’s upcoming January Grand Auction, contact Schmell by phone at (561) 422-1120 or (561) 596-9111 or by email at DougSchmell@pedigreecomics.com.
