DALLAS, TX.- The cover wrap of Action Comics No. 1 shattered the auction record for a stand-alone cover Thursday when it sold for $408,000 in the first session of Heritage’s June 26-29 Comic & Comic Art Signature® Auction.

Per the independent tracking site GPAnalysis.com, the previous record for a loose cover was $20,000 for a Flash Comics No. 1 cover that sold in January.

“If a few months ago someone had asked me to find them an attractive loose cover for Action Comics No. 1, I probably would have laughed,” says Barry Sandoval, Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “So I wasn’t surprised by the fervent bidding as this may well be the only such specimen that will ever come up for sale.”

The image, drawn by Joe Shuster, has been called the most famous image in comic book history, and adorns the issue that launched Superman, the superhero genre and, in many ways, the entire comics collecting hobby.

Thursday’s auction marks what is believed to be the first public sale of just the cover wrap of what Overstreet once called “the most important comic book ever published.” Action Comics No. 1 is ranked first on Overstreet’s Top 100 Golden Age Comics list.

The auction continues with Friday’s floor session at 11 a.m. (Central time) and continues through Sunday’s Internet session, which starts at 11 a.m.

“Friday is going to be a big day,” says Sandoval. “Frank Frazetta’s classic Famous Funnies No. 214 cover should lead the way, and I think you’ll need two hands to count the art lots that sell for $100,000 or more … and Saturday and Sunday we have 1,100 more lots to go.”