Price history & market evidence
Price observations belong to this edition. Guide estimates, catalog references and completed sales are separate kinds of evidence.
| Grade | Amount | Evidence | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.0 | $247,673.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_10_0_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| 4.0 | $2,249.50 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_4_0_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| 6.0 | $4,500.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_6_0_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| 8.0 | $18,651.80 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_8_0_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| 9.2 | $47,905.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_2_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| 9.6 | $209,570.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_6_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| 9.8 | $190,517.95 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_9_8_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
| RAW | $959.00 | PANEL_PROFITS · ungraded_valueguide | 1959-05-01 |
Reading this edition’s market
Compare the same cover, printing and grade before setting a bid. A raw guide or a higher-grade price does not establish a slab’s value. Include selling fees, shipping and the depth of completed-sale evidence when assessing an exit price.
The table includes 8 guide observations and 0 catalog references. These are reference values, not guaranteed sale proceeds.
Graded population
CGC records 1,521 graded copies for Action Comics #252 (1959). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.
The Menace of Metallo
John Corben) is an unscrupulous reporter that works in the Metropolis area. Aside from his mustache, Corben is practically the spitting image of Superman). While driving his car, Corben gets into a terrible accident and is nearly killed. His broken body is taken to the laboratory of Professor Vale) who replaces Corben's failing limbs with a super-strong metallic alloy. He replaces his heart with a surrogate pump made of Uranium and covers the endoskeleton with a foam-latex sheathe resembling human skin. The operation is a success, but soon after, Professor Vale suffers from a mild stroke.
Dubbed "Metallo", Corben begins his new life – a life of crime. Metallo's Uranium heart will only last for one day before it needs to be replaced, so Metallo begins breaking into various facilities to steal more Uranium. Whenever he feels his Uranium stores running low, Metallo becomes weak and dizzy.
Corben gets a job at the Daily Planet and begins courting Lois Lane). Lois is enamored with Corben due to his physical resemblance to Superman – a fact that invariably irritates Clark Kent.
Professor Vale meanwhile, discovers that Green Kryptonite can work just as effectively at powering Metallo as Uranium, but with the added benefit that it will no longer need to be recharged. Metallo steals a Kryptonite rock from a local exhibition hall and has Vale implant it into his chest. Metallo learns that Kryptonite can also destroy Superman. Certain that Superman will likely try to arrest him for his recent crimes, Metallo decides to use the power of his Kryptonite heart to strike the first blow against the Man of Steel.
He baits a trap for Superman, but Superman manages to avoid exposure to Kryptonite and pursues Metallo. He chases him back to Lois Lane's apartment when suddenly Metallo begins to feel weak. What neither Vale nor Metallo realize was that the Kryptonite that had been used to power his heart was actually fake. It was nothing more than an ordinary rock painted green to resemble Kryptonite. Unable to recharge himself, Metallo falls over dead from a heart attack.
| Synopsis2 = Congo Bill) is leading an expedition into the desert and they are quickly in need of water. They stop at an oasis by Fort Devaux that Congo Bill knows, but he is suspicious, as there was no one to great them. About then they all begin to feel dizzy and drop over unconscious because the water was drugged. Some renegade mutineers planning to rob tourists have taken over, with Sgt. Hallix the leader. Bill, seemingly the leader of the caravan , is placed in a separate cell from the others, but they are all going to be executed by morning.
Once incarcerated and alone Bill rubs his ring, swapping minds with the mighty golden gorilla, Congorilla) that fortunately is 30 minutes away at the jungle edge. The renegades notices the wild animal nature now possessing Congo Bill. Congorilla arrives and disarms may of the soilders, and some exclaimed “Nom d'un Nom” running from the gorilla. He bent a coconut palm back like a sapling launching the coconuts into the soldiers, dodging artillery fire, and still having enough time to lay himself out flat as a bridge to allow the one honest soldier, Gabin,to escape safely on a motorcycle for recruits.
He is able to scale the wall of the fort by tossing barrels of tar on their machine guns. With the intellect of Bill and the gorilla's strength he takes out the rest like bowling pins with canon balls and frees the commandant and Sir Rupert from the caravan. Once no one was around, Bill in the gorilla's body, rubs the ring thus sending Bill back to his own body before Sir Rupert finds him in his cell. The gorilla heads back to the jungle and no one is the wiser
| Synopsis3 = Kara Zor-El Earth-One 0001.jpg|Supergirl Arrives|right Clark Kent) is working alone in his office one afternoon when he catches something out of the corner of his eye. Using his x-ray vision, he witnesses a purple colored rocket ship crash landing several miles away. Switching into his Superman costume, he flies off to investigate. When he arrives, he is shocked to discover that the rocket's sole occupant is another Kryptonian – a young blonde-haired girl named Kara).
Kara tells Superman that her home town, Argo City was blasted free of Krypton's destruction in a bubble of compressed air. The island soared through space as free-floating planetoid. Her father was a scientist named Zor-El) who created a force field bubble around the city to contain the atmosphere and also coated the ground with sheets of lead to prevent traces of Kryptonite in the ground from poisoning the populace. Years later, when Kara was a teenager, a meteor shower in space penetrated the air bubble and tore through the lead shielding. In order to save his daughter from Kryptonite poisoning, Zor-El designed a space ship to rocket her away from the city. His wife learned of the existence of Earth, and its Kryptonian hero, Superman. They chose to send Kara to Earth so that she can be with one of her own.
Superman realizes that Kara's father, Zor-El, was the brother of his own father, making the two of them cousins. He is elated to find another Kryptonian but remorseful for the fact that like him, Kara is now an orphan.
Kara Zor-El Earth-One 0003.jpg|Supergirl's Alter-Ego Superman cannot take charge of Kara because he needs to protect his own secret identity. However, he flies her to the nearby town of Midvale and registers her at the Midvale Orphanage. He provides her with a brown pig-tailed wig, and Kara chooses the name Linda Lee as her new Earth name. Superman promises to train Kara in her new super-powers, stating that this Supergirl will become his new secret weapon against fighting crime.
After Superman leaves, Kara settles in at the orphanage. She begins testing her new powers by cleaning her room with super-breath and fixing a bent iron bed leg with super-strength. She cannot wait for her first official adventure as Supergirl.
| Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * Superman) **Supporting Characters:** * Jimmy Olsen) * Lois Lane) * Perry White) **Antagonists:** * Metallo) **Other Characters:** * Professor Vale) * Edith * Sherry Blair **Locations:** * Metropolis ** Daily Planet **Items:** * Green Kryptonite
| Appearing2 = **Featured Characters:** * Congo Bill) * Congorilla) **Antagonists:** * French Legion mutineers ** Sergeant Hallix **Other Characters:** * Sir Rupert * Corporal Gabin **Locations:** * Fort Devaux **Items:** * Kawolo's Magic Ring
| Appearing3 = **Featured Characters:** * Supergirl) Supergirl **Supporting Characters:** * Superman) * Zor-El) * Allura In-Ze) **Antagonists:** * **Other Characters:** * Miss Hart) (headmistress at orphanage) * Mister Dixon) (headmaster at the orphanage) **Locations:** * Earth-One ** Metropolis *** Daily Planet ** Midvale *** Midvale Orphanage * Krypton * Argo City **Items:** * Anti-Kryptonite * Space Telescope **Vehicles:** * Supergirl's rocket
| Notes = * Superman) appeared last in the third story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 9. Following the third story in this issue, he appears next in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 37. * Congo Bill) appeared last in the second story in Action Comics Vol 1 251. He appears next in the second story in Action Comics Vol 1 253. * Congorilla) appeared last in the second story in Action Comics Vol 1 251. He appears next in the second story in Action Comics Vol 1 253. * Janu) the Jungle Boy appeared last in the second story in Action Comics Vol 1 251. He appears next in the second story in Action Comics Vol 1 253. * Jimmy Olsen) appeared last in the third story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 9. He appears next in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 37. * Lois Lane) appeared last in the third story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 9. She appears next in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 37. * Perry White) appeared last in the third story in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 9. He appears next in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 37. * Professor Emmett Vale)'s first name is not provided in this story. In the Post-Crisis introduction of the character, Vale's first name is identified as Emmett. * This issue presents the first appearance of the Silver Age Supergirl), Kara Zor-El. Kara is not to be confused with the magical entity Super-Girl) who predates Kara's perennial appearance by nearly one year. * Supergirl makes a chronologically earlier appearance in flashback in Action Comics Vol 1 316. She appears next in Action Comics Vol 1 253. * This issue is the first appearance of Supergirl's parents Zor-El and Allura In-Ze (Allura is not referenced by name in this issue). Both characters appear in flashback only. Their first actual appearance takes place in Action Comics Vol 1 309. * This issue is the first and only appearance of John Corben as Metallo). The role of Metallo is later assumed by his brother, Roger) who attempts to avenge John's death by killing Superman. * Mister Dixon of the Midvale Orphanage is not named until the third story in Action Comics Vol 1 253.
Creative credits
Writers: Robert Bernstein, Robert Bernstein, Otto Binder
Interior art: Al Plastino, Howard Sherman, Al Plastino
Source records & attribution
Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.
COMICBASE: comicbase:11963
GCD: 14999
PANEL PROFITS: 10909808
PANEL PROFITS: 2313629