Issue number 1 of the Batman comic book, called Batman, was sold at a Heritage auction for $2.2 million, reported The Hollywood Reporter magazine on January 15.

The magazine noted that this is not the first comic book in which the dark knight appeared (the first was Issue 27 of Detective Comics), however, in it graphic novels fans first saw the Joker and the “evil” version of Catwoman.

The author of the article reported that the “driving force” behind the pricing in this case is a 9.4 CGC score from Comics Guaranty LLC. This particular copy of the Batman comic book was printed in 1940, but has been stored in such a way that the pages have not yellowed over time. He also pointed out that this issue became the most expensive in the history of comics after the last auction.

Recall that the very first Batman comic book, Detective Comics #27, was published on March 30, 1939. The character was created by artist Robert Kane and writer Bill Finger.