BATMAN (1ST SERIES)

AS WITH ALL ISSUES/TITLES IN THIS GUIDE, VALUES SUGGESTED ARE FOR 'RAW' COPIES. THIRD-PARTY GRADED/SLABBED COPIES CAN FETCH SIGNIFICANTLY MORE ESPECIALLY IN HIGH GRADES.

Batman is arguably the most famous super-hero of them all - even though Superman has that iconic status, there is something more attractive about Batman's cool, dark side.

The first officially distributed issue of Batman in the UK was #127 cover dated Oct 1959. It differs from the American version only with the addition of a 9d (ninepence) cover stamp. Otherwise all US and UK versions are printed on the same paper at the same time. All issues prior to #127 are always American cents copies. To my knowledge, Superman #132 and Batman #127 were the first officially distributed DC comics in the UK, using the two most well known characters as major market testers. The flood gates truly opened the following month.

The British-priced variants of DC comics are considerably rarer than their US cents counterparts as it is thought that at most only 2-3% of the print run was put aside for export to the UK and whatever was left over was sent to South Africa and Australasia.

Batman was huge in the UK around the time of the Adam West television series in 1966. The Corgi Batmobile diecast car was the must-have Christmas present. Batman merchandise was everywhere - your bedroom could have Batman wallpaper, you cleaned your teeth with Batman toothpaste and shuffled around in Batman slippers (I still have all of these!). Batman has maintained a steady popularity with UK collectors and this listing will show which issues have key appearances and in particular will show which issues enjoyed widespread distribution in the UK and which did not.

UK Variants: #127-165 have a 9d cover stamp. #166-171 have the same size 10d cover stamp. #172-196 have the smaller 10d cover stamp. #197-225 have a 1/- (one shilling) cover stamp. From #226 cover date Nov 1970, UK copies have decimal cover stamps starting with 5p (five new pence) up to #232.

Jan 2021: Heritage Auctions sold the best known copy of Batman #1 graded 9.4 for $2,220.000.