#record-sale

#record-sale

What's more rare than the first issue of Action Comics, the comic book that introduced the world to Superman? How about this: a copy of Superman's first comic book appearance which was once owned by an actor who almost (depending on how you feel about the film The Flash) played Superman on screen. The Man of Steel made his first appearance in the first issue of Action Comics; that issue, printed in 1938, is now a collectors' item.

The comic - which sold for 10 cents when it came out in 1938 - was an anthology of tales about mostly now little-known characters. But over a few panels, it told the origin story of Superman's birth on a dying planet, his journey to Earth and his decision as an adult to "turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind." Its publication marked the beginning of the superhero genre.

A 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7m (41.8m, A$84.7m) at a New York art auction, setting a new top sale price for a work by any female artist. El sueno (La cama), or The Dream (The Bed), which depicts Kahlo asleep in a bed with a smiling skeleton wrapped in dynamite on the canopy above her, sold on Thursday night at a Sotheby's auction of surrealist art after four minutes of bidding.