Rare Superman comic sells for $317,200

A rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman has sold for US$317,200 (€245,349) in an internet auction.

The winning bid for the 1938 edition of Action Comics No 1 was submitted yesterday evening in the US by John Dolmayan, the drummer for the rock band System of a Down.

In addition to being a musician, Mr Dolmayan is also a dealer of rare comic books. The auctioneers said he was acquiring the Superman comic on behalf of a client.

The price was one of the highest ever paid for a comic.

The auction site ComicConnect says the man who had owned the comic book purchased it in a second-hand store in the early 1950s when he was nine years old.

He paid 35 cents for it at the time.