DALLAS — Thursday’s first session of Heritage Auctions’ September 12-15 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction got off to a fantastic record-setting start. Among the four-day event’s centerpieces was one of only two copies of 1961’s Fantastic Four No. 1 awarded a Near Mint+ 9.6 grade by Certified Guaranty Company (CGC). In more than two decades as one of the world’s premier comic book auction houses, Heritage has never offered so highly graded — and coveted — a copy of the first Fantastic Four as this one. Collectors responded appropriately.

It opened live bidding Thursday afternoon at $1.05 million. But it didn’t take long for the book to soar to its final price of $2,040,000, a new record for this historic kickoff to the Marvel Universe. It’s also now the second-most-valuable Silver Age comic behind only the CGC Near Mint+ 9.6 copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 that realized $3.6 million in September 2021. For more information, www.ha.com or 214-528-3500.