Extremely rare first Marvel ‘Incredible Hulk’ edition sells for $ 490,000
With a cover featuring the story of “the strangest man of all time”, a rare first edition copy of Incredible Hulk # 1 was sold for almost half a million dollars to a private and anonymous collector. The comic, first published in 1962 by Marvel’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, was purchased after receiving a “Very Good / Near Mint” rating. “High quality copies of Hulk # 1 are notoriously hard to find, ”said Vincent Zurzolo, an executive at Comic Connect, the auction site that handled the sale. The issue describes the Hulk backstory, in which Dr.Bruce Banner is exposed to toxic gamma rays before transforming into the iconic, rabid hero, albeit with gray skin rather than his signature green. Marvel changed its color in the second issue of the series from the primitive printing technology of the day, causing the Hulk to appear in different shades of gray on different pages. Zurzolo predicted that the comic book would increase in value over time: “The values of vintage comics keep increasing.” Although the most expensive brand sale Hulk # 1 never bought, he doesn’t hold a candle at an auction last year for the Spider-Man comic book Amazing Fantastic # 15, which resulted in a sale of $ 3.6 million.
