If you are a fan of DC comics’ most famed character, Superman, you will definitely be interested in this piece of news. The original cheque used to buy the Superman comic character from its original creators has been sold in an online auction for a whopping $160,000! Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of this world-famous hero, were paid $130 (£82) for all the rights to Superman by Detective Comics (today known as DC Comics). While $130 is around $2,300 in today’s money, it is a minuscule amount considering the famed character’s earnings today. In fact, seeing the rise in popularity of their character, Siegel and Shuster later tried to win back the rights to Superman in court. Reportedly when the first Superman movie came out in 1978, Mr. Shuster was so poor he was working for a delivery company!
The cheque was used in a court case in the 1970s, the last time Siegel and Shuster themselves tried to get the rights to Superman. After their victory, a DC Comics employee was told to throw away the court papers, but he held on to the cheque, recognizing its significance. And smart this employee was true, for years later, it is this cheque that has brought in the moolah.
While the name of the winner of the auction has not been disclosed, we are sure the bidder must be another Superman memorabilia collector. This sale joins other Superman collectibles that have earned record prices at auctions like the first Superman comic, which fetched $1.5 million.
[BBC]
