This rare Superman comic was once stolen from Nicolas Cage. It just sold for $15 million

A rare copy of the comic book that introduced the world to Superman and also was once stolen from the home of actor Nicolas Cage has been sold for a record $15 million US.

The private deal for Action Comics No. 1, co-created by Toronto-born cartoonist Joe Shuster and U.S. comic writer Jerry Siegel, was announced Friday. It eclipses the previous record for a comic book set last November when a copy of Superman No. 1 was at sold at auction for $9.12 million.

The Action Comics sale was negotiated by Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, which said the comic book’s owner and the buyer wished to remain anonymous.

The company’s president, Vincent Zurzolo, said the comic — which sold for 10 cents when it came out in 1938 — marks the beginning of the superhero genre and stands among the most valuable comic books in the world, estimating that about 100 copies of it still exist.

Shuster, who moved to Cleveland at the age of nine, and his school friend Siegel came up with the idea for Superman in 1933, five years before Actions Comic No. 1.

In that issue, Superman’s mild-mannered alter-ego worked as a reporter at The Daily Star (later renamed The Daily Planet) which was inspired by Shuster’s hometown daily — the Toronto Daily Star (now known as the Toronto Star). which he delivered as a child.

“This is among the Holy Grail of comic books. Without Superman and his popularity, there would be no Batman or other superhero comic book legends,” Zurzolo said.

“Its importance in the comic book community shows with his deal, as it obliterates the previous record,” he said.

The comic book was stolen from Cage’s west Los Angeles home in 2000 but was recovered in 2011 when it was found by a man who had purchased the contents of an old storage locker in southern California. It eventually was returned to Cage, who had bought it in 1996 for $150,000.

Six months after it was returned to him, he sold it at auction for $2.2 million.

Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, said the theft eventually played a big role in boosting the comic’s value.

“During that 11-year period (it was missing), it skyrocketed in value,” Fishler said. “The thief made Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it.”

Fishler compared it to the theft of Mona Lisa, which was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris in 1911.

“It was kept under the thief’s bed for two years,” Fishler noted. “The recovery of the painting made the Mona Lisa go from being just a great Da Vinci painting to a world icon — and that’s what Action No. 1 is — an icon of American pop culture.”

WATCH | See how Superman came to be in this video from the CBC Archives:

Co-created by Canadian artist Joe Shuster, the famed Man of Steel makes his first appearance in comic racks across the nation.