It is a new record for a comic book, the AP news agency reports.
The issue features the first appearance of the superhero Superman and the copy, which has now been sold privately, was once owned by actor Nicolas Cage.
He bought it in 1996 for $150,000, but in 2000 it was stolen from his home. It wasn't until eleven years later that it reappeared. When he sold it at auction six months later, it went for $2.2 million.
"This is a holy grail among comic books," says Vincent Zurzolo of Metropolis Collectibles, who sold the copy to an anonymous owner.
Around 100 copies of the first issue of Action Comics are believed to have survived to this day.
The sale breaks the previous record, which was set as recently as November 2025, when a copy of the first issue of Superman's own comic book "Superman" from 1939 was sold for $9.1 million.
