$uperheroes: Not all fans put currency in the million-dollar sale

"This sale is groundbreaking," says a comics dealer who helped conduct the transaction. (ComicConnect.com / AP)

With the twin million-dollar comic-book sales this week, some collectibles officials touted the deals as game-changers. Yet not all comic-book fans were so thrilled.

Some chroniclers of comics rendered the seven-figure pricetags for the Superman and Batman debuts to be silly, absurd, nutty -- or were just plain skeptical.

Acclaimed comics scholar and cartoonist Scott McCloud, for one, doesn't think much of the artifact-issue sales.

First off, McCloud says: "Neither the buyers nor sellers were disclosed in these sales. There can be something going on behind the scenes."

Beyond that, these sales don't point to larger trend, McCloud says. "These are high-profile sales that focus on blue-chip investments. It's like the Giacometti sale or the Van Gogh sale of the 'Sunflowers.' "

McCloud goes on to acknowledge: "You have to realize that I'm a confirmed atheist. I've never taken too much to the appraisals in the collectors' market. It's a sideshow for those who care."

The "Zot!" cartoonist and author ("Understanding Comics," "Reinventing Comics" and "Making Comics") says the true measure of comics as a cultural force rests with their literary value. "Until we have more sustained works that are considered classics more than just pop-culture artifact issues," he says, "these sales are only [temporary] bubbles."

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