Heavy metal legend John Dolmayan of System of a Down Acquires $825,000 Action 1 (first appearance of Superman)

Vintage comics still put the “pop” in pop culture. Metropolis Collectibles’ sales of Action #1 books stand out in a marketplace crowded with trading cards.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, October 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ —  

Amid the anime, cosplay, trading cards and celebrity panels at the 2026 New York Comic Con earlier this month, there was still plenty of interest in the original inspiration for the comic convention: the comic book.

Case in point: Metropolis Collectibles, the nation’s (and, really, the world’s) premier broker of vintage comic books and pop culture collectibles, sold two copies of Action Comics #1 (1938) for a total of over $2 million. It marked the first time in recent memory that two copies of the book that introduced Superman were sold at a convention.

One of the Action #1 sales went to John Dolmayan, drummer for the biggest touring heavy metal band in the world, System of a Down, for $825,000. That was a record price for a raw copy in original condition that hadn’t been graded by a third party.

“John has loved comic books for his entire life and when he’s not touring with System, he is wheeling and dealing comic books,” said Vincent Zurzolo, President of Metropolis and its sister company, ComicConnect. “He’s also the publisher and creator and writer of two very successful independent comic books, Ascensia and Dead Samurai.”

Dolmayan said he has been collecting rare comics for over two decades and has an online store, Torpedo Comics. “I started selling in the early ’90s because, at 18, it’s hard to go to your parents and say, ‘Can I borrow money to buy comic books?’” he said. 

Metropolis also set a record for its second sale of Action #1. A slightly restored copy, graded 9.0, sold for $1.3 million, a record for a book that had undergone restoration.

Restoration has historically been a controversial subject for collectors who prize books in their original condition, but that seems to be changing, Zurzolo said. “Collectors are increasingly recognizing that a restored book preserves an important cultural artifact that might otherwise disintegrate. And, relatively speaking, restored books are more accessible to collectors,” he said.

In January, Metropolis brokered the $15 million sale of an Action #1, graded 9.0 — the highest price ever paid for a comic book. “Our company is well known for buying and selling the very best in vintage comic books, particularly Action Comics #1,” Zurzolo said. “In 2026 alone, we’ve sold six copies of Action #1, bringing the total sales for our company close to 80 over our 27-year existence.”

Comic conventions these days attract all kinds of pop culture fans, as the 250,000 attendees who jammed the Javits Center attested. Costumed fans from the worlds of TV, movies and especially anime abounded. TCG (trading card game) vendors and collectors, a category that is red hot (think Pokémon cards), were also prominent.

And yet, comic books more than held their own, said Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis.

“This year’s New York Comic Con was the busiest, strongest and had the highest sales for Metropolis Collectibles,” he said. “And we were not alone. Many other exhibitors publishers, vendors, grading companies, artists, writers and celebrities said similar things.

“The overvalued sports and TCG market is bringing a slew of investors and collectors into comics, which are perceived as undervalued and have a higher potential upside as investments.”

Fishler said he sees the comic book market on an upswing. “We are expecting more and more buyers from the world of sports cards and TCG cards like Pokémon to continue buying vintage comic books,” he said.

For Zurzolo, New York Comic Con was the culmination of a childhood dream come true.

“I’ve loved comic books ever since I was a kid,” he said. “When I was selling dollar comic books out of bins in my teens, I never imagined I’d be selling the most valuable comics in the world.”

Joanne Levine
Lekas & Levine PR
joannepr@aol.com

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