1939 Detective Comics #27

The original flagship title of DC Comics (though it was called other things over the years before settling onto DC Comics) was Detective Comics, and what made Detective Comics so important was because of issue #27, May 1939.

Introduction of "Bat-Man" by "Rob't Kane"

Bob Kane was asked to come up with a character by fledgling DC Comics which had found itself with an unexpected hit on its hands with Action Comics #1. The management at DC was open to all ideas that might help them present new characters as the comic book superhero craze was catching on in 1939. Kane had been selling them filler stories of 1 and 2 page lengths and was anxious to come up with something that would earn him a better page rate, and Batman eventually did do that, to put it mildly.

Million-dollar Detective Comics #27

NO, THIS IS NOT THE THE TRUE DETECTIVE COMICS #27 COVER ART

Detective Comics #27 Sale

November 17, 2020 auction price: $1,005,000 - story at CGC Comics. Story about this copy at Barrons

Comic Swipes. The iconic image from Detective Comics 27, 1939 was taken from Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon 1-14-1937. A classic image of Batman from Detective Comics 33, 1939 was swiped by Bob Kane from a panel in a 1938 reprint of Hal Foster’s 1929 Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. pic.twitter.com/tboSPZSdp8
— Kevin Stawieray (@skeezix161) December 3, 2021

Other copies of Detective #27

Nov 2020

Story about a different copy: $849,999.90 Detective Comics #27 at TMZ - November 7, 2020. Story also at the Associated Press

Feb 2010 - Detective Comics #27 goes for $1,075,500 USD

[In 2020: The owner is fielding offers with a $1.575 million minimum.]

Heritage Auctions auctioned that expensive copy of Detective Comics in February 2010. It brought in a considerable amount of money, a staggering figure well above the numbers that used to surprise (or shock) people back in the collecting days of the 1960s when anything over $100.00 seemed amazing.

Detective Comics #27 is now one of the most valuable comics on the collector's market, for example a 2012 copy sold for $523,000 from the "Billy Wright Collection" (info about the sale at Comic Book Secrets.)

Heritage Auctions: "Detective Comics #27 is generally considered second only to Action Comics #1 as the most desirable comic in the hobby. "