Be a Shareholder in Batman #1

 

Ah, first issues. They are one of the most fun aspects of collecting comics! Every week over on ebay I include at least one first issue in my roster of comic auctions.

In the 45-year span of my collecting I have owned Justice League #1 and The Avengers #1 and Brave and Bold #1 among many other Silver Age first issues. On the Golden Age side I have owned Superman #17 (from 1942) and Flash Comics #9 (1940) but those are the closest I got to first issues of those series. I have never owned Batman #1 from 1940.

But now I can! Sort of...

A company named Rally is putting up their copy of Batman #1 for shared ownership. Theirs is a very nice copy valued at (gulp) $1,800,000, shown above and below. Next month Rally will be offering 180,000 shares of ownership in the comic book at $10 per share.

Interesting idea, right? I'm wondering how many people will be warm to this idea, whether it's fewer than 180,000 or more than 180,000.

I remember that there is a way to name a star in the sky if you pay a certain amount. The buyer in that situation would never take possession of the heavenly body, and yet they can claim 'ownership.' This Batman deal strikes me as in that same vein.

I'm thinking about it!