First Star Trek comic sells for record price at auction

The first comic book in the Star Trek franchise was published by Gold Key Comics in 1967.

In 1967, Gold Key Comics published the first Star Trek comic book. It bore the characters of Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Sulu (George Takei) on the cover along with the Enterprise and an additional single image of Captain Kirk on the back.

On November 3rd, one edition of that first comic book went up for auction through Heritage Auctions during a Doug’s Dell and Gold Key Comics Auction. And it broke records with the selling price of $46,500, according to Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) – which is a third-party comic book grading service in Florida.

According to Fox Business, experts at the CGC gave this particular Star Trek issue a high grade of NM+ 9.6, which indicated it was “a very well-preserved collectible with several minor manufacturing or handling defects.” The book has the distinction of being one of only five copies that have been graded 9.6, with only one graded higher, and this sale broke the previous record of of $20,400 in 2019.

Doug Schmell, who owns Pedigree Comics, provided the Star Trek comic to Heritage Auctions. Pedigree Comics specializes in Marvel comics but also carries a vast array of comics for everyone, including Adam-12, Amazing Spider-Man, and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight.

In case you’re looking to add to your own collection, there is also one more Star Trek comic available, a Star Trek #2 with a CGC rating of 7.0 which, according to the CGC website means it’s “an above-average collectible with a major defect or an accumulation of small defects.” This copy bears the images of Spock and Captain Kirk along with the Enterprise, and the list price is $550.00, considerably lower than this sale!