Throwing Away Comics? You Could Be Tossing Thousands

Parents throwing away comic books became an involuntary coming-of-age ceremony for teens in the 20th century. It would also be something that one could regret in the future. You never know what comic books will retain or grow in value relative to others. Most importantly, you never know what comic books will become valuable in the future, as dictated by the collectors’ market.

Think more than twice before you begin throwing away comics. Here are five situations where throwing away comics miraculously created fortunes decades after the fact.

1. 20th Century Morality Panic and Comic Book Burnings

In the early 20th century, the idea of your mom throwing away comics you spent years collecting was a daily reality, not a trope. In the 1940s and 1950s, parents, religious leaders, and moral authorities hated comics. They believed comic books cause illiteracy and moral degeneracy in children.

The moral panic of the era would help to create censorship authorities for comic book publishers. Parents, civic, and religious leaders would organize comic book burning events often. Important, seminal comics like Action Comics #1 would burn in public pyres. Parents would spend decades throwing away comic book collections, believing they were aiding their children.

The point is that the moral panic burnings would aid in many Golden Age comics becoming scarcer and more valuable. Fewer than 100 Action Comics #1 copies exist on Earth right now, and fewer than 7 of those are in CGC 9.8 condition. If fewer parents threw away their kids’ comics in the 1940s and 1950s, there might be a few more people making fortunes off old comics.

2. Mother Throws Away Adult Son’s Manga, Son Sues Her

In 2024, a Chiayi, Taiwan woman, living with her adult son, threw away his collection of 32 Attack on Titan manga paperbacks. She was angry that her 20-year-old son spent time collecting manga and cluttering her home with them. The situation was straining their relationship.

The son became angry and would lodge a lawsuit against his own mother. He would claim in court that throwing away the comics caused him mental hardship because they were out of print and valuable. The court would side with the son and fine his mother NT$5,000, or about $158, in a later judgment.

3. Action Comics #1 Stolen From Nicholas Cage Sells for $15M

In 1996, actor Nicholas Cage bought a CGC 9.0 grade copy of Action Comics #1 for $150,000, or about $315,000 in today’s money. The priceless comic was later stolen at a house party in 2000. The priceless comic then went missing for 11 years. It was found in a storage unit in 2011.

That means the thieves either did not understand the value of the comics, which was unlikely, or were afraid of public attention. The fact that the near-perfect copy of Action Comics #1 was found in a storage locker meant that the thieves essentially threw away a priceless comic.

Cage sold the comic for $2.2 million after getting it back. An anonymous collector bought the same comic for $15 million in January 2026.

4. 87-Year-Old Comic Found in File Cabinet Sells for $2.4 Million

Mr. Lloyd Jacquet was a 1930s businessman who sold comic books via advertising. Funnies Inc. #1 was going to become a free comic that would be given out in theaters. The idea did not work out, and the comic was later sold to Timely Comics, the 1939 precursor to Marvel Comics. Funnies Inc. #1 would become Marvel Comics #1 a few months later, featuring the first appearance of Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Golden Age Human Torch.

Mr. Jacquet passed away in 1970. An annotation copy of Marvel Comics #1 would be found in the back of a file cabinet decades later; someone would use the priceless comic to record payments to iconic comic freelancers of the 1940s. The comic sold at auction for $2.4 million.

5. Businessman Buys Hoarder House for $20K, Finds $500K in Comics

In 2017, businessman Rene Nezhoda bought a house that had belonged to a hoarder for $20,000. Nezhoda said it was an overwhelming experience as the home was rife with rodents and rodent droppings. However, he found over 10,000 comic books from the 1930s to the 1970s in the house.

Nezhoda said that the value of the comics, even in the condition he found them in, was over $500,000.

Throwing Away Comics is Like Throwing Away Money

In this economy, throwing away comics is like throwing away money. If you understand that an antique, old painting, or knick-knack can have value to a collector, then you should appreciate that logic includes old comics, too.

If you find a trove of old comic books, get them authenticated by an expert. What would be worse than living to learn you threw away a fortune that someone else benefited from?

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