I thought I was over my love of comic books, but this makes me drool. It takes me back to fifth grade, when I first discovered DC Comics and began exploring the history of Batman.

Rare Batman Comic Is Discovered

“It started with a phone call,” said Todd McDevitt, 38, the owner of New Dimension Comics, a chain of five stores in Pennsylvania. He is now also the owner of a copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which in 1939 featured the first appearance of Batman. The seller, who Mr. McDevitt said asked to remain anonymous, discovered the comic while cleaning out an attic. “A lot of times I get these calls, and it’s a reprint of some kind,” Mr. McDevitt said. “I was pretty sure this was the real deal.” A near-mint copy of the comic is valued at $485,000; Mr. McDevitt’s copy is in fine to very fine condition, but he would not disclose the amount he paid, saying only, “I kept a little bit of my soul.” The opportunity to buy the comic was “the kind of deal that people say is once in a lifetime,” he said. “Truly, it’s my third.” Mr. McDevitt previously acquired several 1960s Marvel comics and a copy of All-American Comics No. 16, with the first appearance, in 1940, of the Golden Age Green Lantern.

Sigh.