Super Rare Superman Issue Sold at Blastoff Comics

NoHo’s sole comic book store recently sold a copy of what may be the most obscure issue of Superman ever printed.

The story goes that in the late 1980s, British property tycoon Godfrey Bradman's 13-year-old son was a huge fan of the Man of the Steel as he approached his bar mitzvah.

So in typical millionaire fashion, Bradman reached out to DC Comics staff and requested a custom issue that had his son woven into the story. The price tag: $18,000, according to Recalled Comics.

Drawn by late comic book artist Curt Swan himself, it’s believed only about 100 copies of the issue were published.

But even the most extreme cases of rarity are never a challenge for Jud Meyers, owner of Blastoff Comics at 5118 Lankershim Blvd.

Meyers, who's owned two other comic book shops in the San Fernando Valley before selling their shares, specializes in hard-to-find titles in addition to selling current issues.

He said he got an unexpected email from Bradman not too long ago.

“[Bradman] said I happen to have one of these in my closet in the box it came in when DC Comics sent it to my son,” Meyers said. 

So Meyers made the buy and eventually sold the copy of the “Superman Bradman” for $5,000 to a French collector.

“It’s stuff like that that is fun and different,” he said. “Sure you can have an X-Men #1 or an Avengers #1, but there are other people who have it. I don’t know of any store I’ve seen [the Bradman issue] in.”

Transactions like that are common for Meyers, who caters to collectors and lately, investors.

Meyers says he has a number of well-off customers that treat the paper pages of a rare comic book like solid gold.

“Since 1962, the collectable comics industry has never gone down,” he said, adding: “It’s a great thing to put your money into. … The less there is of something, the more people want it.”