This ashcan was only one of three known copies. Another copy sold for $50,000 twelve years ago. And the last is housed in the DC Comics vaults.
History of Rare Ashcan
Intriguingly, the Action Comics ashcan doesn’t have an image of Superman. Inside there are pages from Detective Comics. But it does have a unique cover of a ghoul holding a dripping knife. And the cover art was never used anywhere else.
In 1937, with no concept for the comic, Donenfeld feared that his beloved title would be taken. So he had four separate ashcans created to protect variations of the name he had chosen. In addition to Action Comics, he developed Action Funnies, Double Action Comics, and Triple Action Comics, as distinct trademarks.
There is only one Double Action and three copies of the Action Funnies ashcan titles left. No copies of the Triple Action ashcan have survived. Before this one, in 2017 a sale of Double Action Comics #1 and #2 ashcans sold for $80,000.
According to the Heritage Auctions description detailing the item for sale: “The cover art by Craig Flessel is unique to this ashcan and had been originally slated to be the cover to Detective Comics #2, but editors Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth rejected it for being too gruesome. The interior contents are eight previously printed pages from Detective Comics #1.”
