Chris Farrell was a well known comic book retailer, shop owner, and DC Comics collector who passed away in April 2024 following a long illness. Farrell was a longtime comic shop retailer who owned Earth Prime Comics in Burlington, Vermont for at least 40 years.

But what Farrell was best known for was her collection of DC comics. Farrell was the first person to complete a collection of every DC comic from 1935 to the present day – an achievement that has been thought nearly impossible.

Now, Heritage will offer the Christine Farrell Complete DC Collection, starting with nearly 500 comics, including some of the rarest books, as well as pages of comic art. The auction will be held on October 25-26, 2024.

The auction contains some of the rarest, early DC books starting with 1935’s New Fun Comics #1 GD. There’s a copy of Double Action Comics #2 CGC 7.0, which is one of only seven copies known to exist today. Detective Comics #2 CGC 4.5 is one of only five unrestored copies and #3 CGC 3.0 is one of only 17 copies graded by CGC.

There are multiple Golden Age keys like Superman’s first appearance in Acton Comics #1 CGC Apparent 6.0 trimmed and Superman #1 CGC Apparent 8.0, featuring the origin of Superman and the debuts of Ma and Pa Kent. Dick Grayson, aka Robin the Boy Wonder makes his first appearance in Detective Comics #38 CGC 6.5 and the Justice Society of America debuts in All Star Comics #3 CGC Apparent 7.5 (Davis Crippin “D” copy). Flash Comics #1 CGC 5.0 has the first appearances and origins of the Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Johnny Thunder, and the Whip.

The original art is led by Bernie Wrightson’s Swamp Thing #1 story page 3 with Swamp Thing returning to the cabin where he was murdered and a flashback of Alec Holland and his wife arriving there. Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s The Dark Knight Returns #4 “The Dark Knight Falls” story page 9 shows Carrie Kelly/Robin, Alfred Pennyworth, an injured Bruce Wayne, and one of the Sons of Batman being interviewed on TV.

The auction contains some of the highest graded copies in CGC’s population reports, including All-Star Comics #32 CGC 9.6, Action Comics #182 CGC 9.0, the sole copy of All-Flash #6 CGC 9.2, and Superman #49 CGC 9.2.

“Her dedication was simply remarkable,” Heritage Vice President Lon Allen said. “She did most of this pre-internet! Now, you could put that collection together in several years if you had the money. But back then, tracking down every book took real devotion. And she did not own a single graded or certified book. They were in mylar sleeves, in boxes, sometimes in piles. It was clear that she just wanted to read these books, no matter how many thousands of dollars they were worth.”