NEW YORK CITY, New York: A rare copy of the first Superman comic book, which was also once stolen from the home of actor Nicolas Cage, fetched a record US$15 million at an auction late last week.

The previous record price for a comic book at an auction was $9.12 million, last November, for a copy of "Superman No. 1″.

Manhattan-based Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect negotiated the Action Comics sale. It said the comic book's owner and the buyer wished to remain anonymous.

When it first came out in 1938, the comic sold for 10 cents. Over a few panels, it told the origin story of Superman's birth on a dying planet, his journey to Earth, and his decision as an adult to "turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind."

Its release marked the start of the superhero genre. Only about 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are known to exist, according to Vincent Zurzolo, president of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect.

"This is one of the Holy Grails of comic books. Without Superman and his popularity, there would be no Batman or other superhero legends," Zurzolo said. He added that the comic's importance is shown by its sale, which broke the previous price record.

The comic was stolen from Nicolas Cage's home in Los Angeles in 2000 but was recovered in 2011 after a man found it in items he bought from an old storage locker in southern California. It was later returned to Cage, who had bought it in 1996 for $150,000. Six months after getting it back, he sold it at auction for $2.2 million.

Stephen Fishler, CEO of Metropolis Collectibles/Comic Connect, said the theft actually helped raise the comic's value.

"During the 11 years it was missing, its value shot up," Fishler said. "The thief ended up making Nicolas Cage a lot of money by stealing it."

Fishler compared it to the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911.

"It was kept under the thief's bed for two years," Fishler noted. "The recovery of the painting made the Mona Lisa go from being just a great Da Vinci painting to a world icon — and that's what Action No. 1 is — an icon of American pop culture."