Timmy Heague On The Copy Of Action Comics #1 That Made Him A Man

Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Superman, Vintage Paper | Tagged: action comics 1, arsenal comics, Lost Fantasy, Timmy Heague

Timmy Heague On The Copy Of Action Comics #1 That Made Him A Man

Lost Fantasy's Timmy Heague on the copy of Action Comics #1 that made him a man... and a superman at that!

Published Fri, 15 May 2026 10:57:11 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Timmy Heague is the owner and operator of Arsenal Comics and Games, with locations in Ventura and Newbury Park. He is also a comic book writer, including Archie vs Minor Threats with Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, and the backup stories in Lost Fantasy, such as the Bombshell feature with collaborator Eamon Winkle. In 2026, he handled the high-profile sale/auction of a rare Action Comics #1 on behalf of an anonymous owner, one of the most valuable comics in existence. I got chatting about it, and he told me that this was the first time he had written about it….

"A little bit of a backstory on me if you don't know. Timmy Heague. 33 years old. A comic obsessed reader and collector since age 8. A comics and toy seller since age 11, been in comics retailer since I was age 15, opened up my first little store at age 22 with a small business loan and a small savings I compiled by selling funny books, working multiple jobs, and performing weddings in a band, AND I have been a published comics writer for four years, writing for such companies as IMAGE, Dark Horse, Archie, and so forth. Ok so a few stores opened up, and many comics written and published through the years here we are. Not bad for the last 12 years in one paragraph right?"

Yeah, yeah, Timmy, we already ran your resume. Get on with it.

"Ok so one thing you gotta know about my comics retailing career is that I have specialized in vintage comics since day one and like I wrote in the paragraph above, I have been selling comics and toys on eBay since I was 11 years old on an account my mum and dad set up for me. I get the hustle from my old man. Him and my mum came to the states from the UK on their honeymoon, never went back home, and my dad started his American dream by opening up an army surplus store, a shop I worked at as early as age 10 to learn retail, social skills, and how to hustle and grind. I truly owe my old man so much for doing that. ANYWAY back to the vintage comics stuff (so much for just keeping my origins to one paragraph)."

I suppose I could have just joined them together…

"I have always loved vintage comics, one of my first comics ever read/purchased was a WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #1, which wasn't considered so much "vintage" when I bought it at age 8, but still a "back issue" and from the get-go of my comicdom, I loved old comics. With my stores ARSENAL COMICS AND GAMES (ha probably should have mentioned that by now), I have always had back issues and key comics as a big part of my business. I opened up with my own collection + a massive collection I bought from my longtime pal CULLY, who worked with me on it. Forever grateful for his help there. Through the years, I had eventually come to one-up myself time and time again with buying comic collections and being able to sell famous comic books I never ever thought I'd ever hold, but alas, true believer, it happened. Ok, I'll keep the Marvel references to a minimum, this is all about Superman after all… So my reputation for being a straight shooter with buying and selling comic book collections gets more known through the years, and so does my store's branding. I market my stores and myself as a creator pretty dang well, I gotta say. Just give me or my shops a follow on social media, and you'll see what I mean."

This wasn't meant to be a plug, you know. Not entirely one at least.

"It's a rainy November in Southern California, where yours truly and his stores are located, Ventura County to be precise, and I get a call from a friend who lives out of state. I had seen him a couple of months prior, and while hanging out, we geeked hard over old comics, and we talked about the select KEY COMICS that I had yet to ever sell. Hey what's a key comic you might ask? A FIRST APPEARANCE of an iconic character, a famous cover, a monumental moment in a comic series that collectors consider a must-have for their collection, a rare printing or a – ok you get it."

Timmy, this is Bleeding Cool. We know what a key comic is. We run articles about them, come on man…

"So I mentioned, of course, I have never sold an Action Comics #1 before… I mean, who has the right? I don't know anyone who has ever sold one before. My friend smiles and tells me about a friend who has one, a copy he has held in his own hands. A real bona fide copy of ACTION COMICS #1, and I was intrigued to say the least. He mentioned that one day his friend might want to sell it. I said, "Hey, call me when that time comes." I'll help make it happen. Also- man, bonafide is such a silly word, but boy do I love it."

So do we, Timmy, so do we… Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman from 1938, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, published by National Allied Publications, later to be DC Comics. See, we can overexplain things, too.

"SO FLASH FORWARD a couple months, like I was saying, on what is an extremely peculiar rainy day for Southern California, I'm in my car sipping on my iced cold brew despite the cold weather (you can pry my cold brew from my cold dead hands), and then I get the call from my friend… His friend is indeed ready to sell. Now by now you probs want names, but here's the thing, the original owner of this incredible piece of comic book history… he wants to remain anonymous, and I'm going to respect that to the day I die, no psychic is ripping that info from my comics-obsessed noggin."

I mean, I could just hack your DMs, Timmy. I am expecting your password is ACT10NC0M1Cs, right?

"So with this call, I ask for as much info as I can get. Detailed pictures of the book, anything major to know about it, any history of the book's origins, and whether anyone else has offers on it or plans to check it out. The pics I got were emaculate. This thing made me drool. My eyeballs went out of my skull. It was a 9.0-grade copy. Wowza. But. Like all great things in life, everything comes with work. You get what you give, a life philosophy I've had since my early 20s. The comic was PGX graded, and it was… RESTORED. With that I knew two things immediately- 1) I was going to have to get this book re-graded at CGC, every key comic I've ever gotten in a collection that was graded PGX, I've always re-graded, the difference in value between PGX graded comics and CGC graded comics is substantial and I knew that would apply to one of the most sought after comics of all time AND 2) I knew I was going to have to see if I could get the restoration removed/reversed at CGC because same thing applies, the values of restored books vs graded original copies is also substantial."

Okay, so we are into the Restoration period, King Charles II?

"Now, what is comics restoration, and why do people do it to their collectable funny books even though it decreases their value?- Well, that's the thing, at first people did it because they thought it would be something that would increase its value. I mean, look at old cars that get fixed up, right? An old vintage car gets restoration and work put into it, and the value goes up. Well, for comic books, the market has absolutely shown that collectors prefer a book "all naturale". Common restoration I've seen through the years is "color touching", where collectors or even the original owners of the comic (often kids), used markers to brighten up the colors of the comic. Why this Action Comics #1 had restoration, what exactly had been done to it, and why was something I needed to find out."

Again, you are preaching to the converted. Or at least, the restored…

"In terms of another potential buyer? Yep. Someone else was already set to look at the book and I wasn't going to let them beat me. I needed to be the man who sold this comic. I knew it in my heart and soul. To accomplish this would be a career milestone I never dreamed of. Something any comic shop owner or vintage back issue dealer dreams of. I immediately got the ball rolling to set up the appointment, got the dates, and then booked my ass a flight to *REDACTED*. In two weeks, I would be looking at the Action Comics #1, finding out more about the restoration, and seeing if I could be the one to make the deal to sell this book. Now go figure, I don't have the capital to make a fair offer for this book to buy outright, let's just get that out the way- but… what I do have is the skills and connections to make sure this collectible receives the highest sale possible and make sure it's re-graded to achieve being as valuable as possible. And in those two weeks, amongst operating my stores and making sure scripts met their deadlines, I got the ball rolling to prepare myself on the potential sale of this collectable to show the original owner I was the right guy for the job."

Get reading for a training montage, right? Lots of lifting long boxes, signing contracts, and juggling slabs to Eye Of The Tiger on the soundtrack?

"It was the longest two weeks of my life, but the day finally came, I got on that plane to go out of state, had my friend pick me up, and later that night I was going to have my date with destiny. I never thought I'd be on my way to discuss the sale of an Action Comics #1. Never. The comic that started it all. Without Superman, there wouldn't be any of this. My life's obsession with comic books and the journey it has taken me on, just wouldn't exist. Siegel & Shuster's creation always made me believe in the impossible and on that day it really felt I was doing the impossible. But would I be leaving home with this Kryptonian relic was the question on my mind… TO BE CONTINUED…"

Hang on, what? What? A cliffhanger? What do you think this is, Netflix? Don't leave us hanging Timmy… okay, at least, this is the comic book in question… still PGX-graded… and a Timmy Heague tag for when he returns, so you don't have to keep asking.

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