Original subtitles

[clicking]

[melancholic music]

[reading]

I mean, that's the first sentence...

[chuckles] and it goes from there.

And she references the comic that she gave me

that's in my basement that I've often referred to

as the most important comic that I own.

Uh, it's depicting an imaginary novel

where Superman and his wife are watching both their children.

Then, there's a disparity in their abilities, clearly.

Just-- the comment is, "I love them equally,

but I know that they'll never be fully equal."

And, uh, she shows me a picture of that comic.

She knows my kryptonite, and she will hit that hard.

[Adam Watts speaking]

I didn't go to college.

So it's, like, if you could do something like that,

the kind of money I'm making...

...with the benefits, with, you know, you know, check--

you know, check, it's great.

[Darren] As a child, we, we saw that Adam struggled with certain things.

In--[stutters] in speaking, in-- in learning, a-- academically.

But what all of us are just blown away proud is

is his common sense, his ethics,

his heart, his hard work.

He, he, he's the hardest working person at his job.

[Adam Watts] People don't come to work, they just get me to do it.

I get overworked on stuff, but it-- you know, that's--

I can-- once in a while, I don't do that often.

So, it's not like I'm-- I, I sleep.

-[soft chuckles] -Depend. You know, sometimes I have slee--

you know, have trouble sleeping, but it's not like him.

I don't-- I get sleep.

You know, so, it's not like it's not keeping me up.

-[Adam speaking] -Yep.

Now I am.

[Darren] You know, I, I respect my mother's concern,

and I, I admit that I don't do the one-on-one time

maybe as much with Adam as maybe she'd prefer.

And so, there's nothing I could do to convince my mother otherwise,

other than show her examples and, and work through this.

-[airplane rumbling] -♪ Here comes Superman ♪

♪ Superman ♪

[Darren] We got a nice day today, Adam...

-[Adam Watts] Yep. -...but tomorrow

we're gonna head to CGC,

-that's where they grade the books, you know that, right? -[Adam Watts] Yep.

[Darren] So we're gonna bring those two boxes we brought with us.

And they, you know, they'll grade those and then they ship them back.

-But that's tomorrow. So we use a nice day today, right? -[laughs] Yep.

[Darren] So here we are.

-[Adam Watts] So now, where do we go now? -[Darren] We're on a beach.

We've arrived.

♪ He's watching day and night ♪

♪ And with the speed of light ♪

♪ He flies like a shooting star ♪

♪ Here comes Superman ♪

Okay, I'll call you right back, I promise, I'll do it right now.

Okay.

Josh has a lot of issues getting around at times

because he can't drive, so he relies on his,

um, you know, family, which are incredible at doing it.

But he has dialysis in Livonia.

-[birds squawking] -And, um,

I have to see if there's a possibility

that Brian could pick him up from dialysis

and then take him to the shop

so that he could, um, you know,

go through and sort and price

and grade some of the books for Motor City

'cause we're running out of time.

And his dad, Dale, is out of town in Maine,

uh, and literally until next Wednesday,

and we set out for the show next Thursday.

So it's like, "Whoa, man, we've got to move!"

And here I am in Florida, so I'm no good to anybody.

[laughter]

[light whimsical music]

[birds chirping]

[Linda] If you have the right attitude...

...if you have a spark to live and to be young...

...Disney is a perfect place to be.

I try to keep most of my Disney stuff in one room,

so the whole house isn't totally Disney.

And this is the window that you can see

95% of Disney fireworks.

That's why I bought the house, yes.

I bought the house to be close to Disney.

I'm Dale Watts's sister.

I'm very proud of my brother.

And I have two nephews,

Darren Watts and Adam Watts.

Here's my father and my brother.

And that was taken in 1945.

-[Darren] Wow. Look at them. -And this is Celeste and my brother,

Darren's parents and Adam's parents.

He was seven years older than me, and I looked up to him,

and he was good to me when I was real little.

And then, when I got older, he didn't want anything to do with me,

except he taught me to be good in sports.

Because what he loved to do is say to his friends,

"My little sister can beat you." And I did.

So that's how I was able to spend more time with my brother,

as long as I got good at sports, so he could show me off to his,

uh, friends and make them look stupid.

It was more about making his friends look stupid,

-you know, 'cause this little girl could beat them. -[laughter]

-Well, some things were consistent with his whole life. -But-- Yeah. Yeah! Yeah, always.

But I always loved my brother. I always admired him, always respected him.

My brother was trustworthy. He was honest.

My brother was never into drugs.

He wasn't a smoker, and he... wasn't a drinker.

I mean, he was a true-blue,

great guy.

There's just a lot of animals.

You know, one of the few homes with lions, tigers, bears.

-Oh, my. -I-- Oh, my. I decorate for myself.

-Um... -[Adam speaking]

Nobody influences me, I do what I want.

-[laughter] -I mean, that's why I have

an orangutan with the tiara downstairs

and my bears and...

...things that mean something to me. Just fun.

I just like to have fun.

Um... okay.

This is the, the actual doll room.

[whimsical music]

Mom and Dad weren't into any collections at all.

They just allowed us kids to collect.

Each one has a memory to it with me.

Um, a lot of them I bought with my mother.

And those are the only dolls I'd take if there was a disaster.

They're worthless, but they're mine.

Some of these dolls were worth a lot of money

until Chucky made his first movie.

-Hi, I'm Chucky, you wanna play? -[screams]

[dramatic music playing]

[Linda] And because of that,

the dolls went down in value.

Then you get Annabelle.

[woman whispering] I like your doll.

And several of my best dolls were given to me by teenagers

'cause they thought they were gonna come alive and eat them at night...

-[chuckles] Nice. -...and they didn't want to be anywhere near them.

So that's what horror movies do.

And it lost me my retirement.

I thought my dolls would be my, my key.

You know, some of the bisque dolls that I have,

back then, I paid $700, $800 for.

And so, I figured, "Oh, you know, as time went on,

years to come, they become more and more rare."

But again, pretty much worthless, thanks to Chucky.

[light whimsical music]

I actually, believe it or not, have four totes in the garage.

I did clean some of them out.

I left 90% in Michigan and brought 10% here.

This is 10%?

Well, actually, I had to get rid of some here.

-It didn't all fit. -[laughter]

-So we're seeing-- -It's about 6% or 7%.

Oh, my gosh.

I like buying, not getting rid of.

It's more fun getting treasures than getting rid of stuff.

-I don't like it. -The thrill of the hunt, right?

Exactly! That's exactly what it is.

My brother kept to himself a lot.

He read comics, and he liked things like that.

And it was more when he got into college

that I noticed he really started collecting.

[gentle music]

At the very beginning, when his kids were young

and my kids were young, we spent a lot of time together.

And then, it kind of weaned off a little bit.

And I think that's when Dale got

a little bit more protective of his treasures.

So, that was a part of his life that he kept secret from me for a long time.

Despite everything, he was very much in love with his wife.

Right to the end. I mean, right when he died.

And maybe he didn't always show it, but I know he was.

[Celeste] You know, back then when, uh, when I met Dale,

it wasn't, like, falling in love.

It was like, um,

I came from an unloving family, okay?

Uh... my mom was cold,

and my dad was just never accepting of any of us kids, really.

I mean, he was just, uh--

So-- but you marry your father, that's what they say.

You know, the devil that you know.

And, um, and I was attracted to Dale

because he was, um, strong like my dad.

My, my dad, you know-- so that's what I was used to.

He was just a strong character.

I was looking for somebody that could buffer my father,

that could go head to head with my father.

So-- but he was different from my father

in the fact that he, um,

he appreciated me and he thought I was special.

You know, and he kind of put me on a pedestal.

So I liked that, of course, you know.

So that's how, you know,

we got together.

And, uh--

And like I say, it was, it was, it was fine at the beginning,

and then, when I was raising my kids,

I was too busy to notice the change in him.

You know, I mean, I just kind of sloughed it off type of thing.

I always called it, "his style."

[Linda] The only problem having a conversation with him,

with me, is he always cut me off.

[laughing] You know, it was like, "Okay, it's my turn to talk."

And maybe that's why I talked too fast sometimes

'cause I had to compete with my brother.

And then, when he got old, he said, "I don't wanna hear your feelings.

I just wanna hear the facts!"

And it's like, "But my feelings are the facts.

You gotta listen to me!"

[light melancholic music]

But Dale and I kept in touch.

I mean, we talked maybe once a week... and, uh,

you know, just kind of to see where each other were, but I wasn't getting...

[sighs] I wasn't getting the actual story from him.

It wasn't until later that, um,

I really realized what a major role

Adam was playing in taking care of him.

Adam almost single-handedly dealt with my brother

towards the end on a daily basis and...

[sighs]

...helped him and had to deal

with some of my brother's idiosyncrasies.

And he did it for years, and I'm so proud of him that he did that.

And these were things that I didn't really realize he was doing.

My dad's control-- controlled me 'cause he c--

oh, you know, I c-- couldn't do anything,

couldn't do anything, couldn't leave,

got-- "I have to help him."

That's-- that was in my mind the whole time now.

And it's kind of hard to get out of there now.

-Kind of, i--, I'm working on it. -[Adam] Yeah,

-tell me about it. -I'm, I'm giving him a hard time because...

...I was by myself. Darren kind of stayed away...

...'cause...

...Darren probably think, "Oh, D--

Dad don't want me over there to help out and stuff."

He wanted me to do it.

What I'm saying, I didn't have a life.

Like, fun life. I just jumped into...

...what we-- supposed to do,

taking care of our parents. It was just me.

[melancholic music]

[Celeste] I wish them both happiness.

A mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child.

And I want them to be close.

I wanna have-- I wanna be assured that when I'm gone,

that they'll be there for each other

and enjoy each other's company and, um...

...and, uh...

...right, and, and be happy.

Yeah. That's, that's, that's what I wish for them.

I think it's so important that they have to connect.

Yes, I was-- I was very angry with Darren...

...because it felt like Adam was being just totally left out.

So, yeah, I got angry with him, but he's, he's, uh...

...he's, he's, he's-- he's really trying hard now.

And Adam, he's a good kid...

...but he's still living with anger, you know.

And I think part of the anger was that he was stuck there with Dale,

and Darren was doing everything he could,

bringing food and stuff like that through the pandemic and everything,

uh, but Adam's gotta be helped

past the burden of living with Dale.

He can't do it alone.

[Adam] So while Adam was living under Dale's thumb...

-[indistinct chatter] -...it is important to note

Darren was helping out a lot behind the scenes...

-[Darren] When did it start? -...and was with his dad in hospice

until the day he died.

And even though a successful lawyer, his dad didn't leave a will,

nor did he leave any wishes for the comics.

So as Darren tries to do right by the collection,

it rarely pleases everyone,

especially as the whole family is dealing

with this ever-present callus of the trauma.

A very, a very important impact my father had on the three of us,

and I mean my brother, my mother, and me,

is that we were, um, always high with our defense mechanisms.

You know, if you didn't wanna feel bullied,

uh, you had to be strong yourself.

Why that can be damaging in, in the three of our relationship

is we will turn on ourselves at times, you know,

and we need to remind ourselves that we, we're not fighting Dad,

you know, we shouldn't be fighting each other.

She's not talking to me.

She's talking to my father.

[deeply sighs]

[plane rumbling]

[upbeat hip-hop music]

♪ People out there who's really struggling ♪

♪ Have some compassion you don't know what they're juggling ♪

♪ Like, what would you do if no one came through ♪

♪ And everyone you knew is dependent upon you? ♪

[Adam] It's now been six months

after Darren first met Harley

and the Hatchback Kid.

The season's changing and fall is upon the Motor City,

with Comic-Con back in effect.

Things are growing fast as Harley is full on selling comics from Darren.

It's a collection Darren's calling the Fantast Collection,

named after a secret handle his dad would go by on the Internet.

Likewise, Josh, the Hatchback Kid,

has returned to sell at Motor City

and has stepped up his booth and presence

with the help of Darren and Brian and of course, his dad, Dale.

I'm interested in that, 227.

I do 900 for both, cash.

-Meet in the middle at 950? -[indistinct chatter]

-Right on, brother. Thank you. -Thanks.

[Adam] Some long-time veteran comic collectors

have started to catch wind about the collection and the story behind it.

For these guys, it's a feeling of being early to the game,

knowing about a character before he pops in a movie,

and in this case, the first to know about

an amazing story, pristine books,

and a possible opportunity

to be in on a collection before the mainstream.

I was talking to Harley and he said, "Hey, I got some of those books

and that-- I told you about,

and, uh, they're really nice."

And so, I drove to Michigan.

I live in Wisconsin, so I get to Detroit in five hours.

When there's an opportunity to see a collection like that

or buy books from a collection like that,

uh, that's definitely worth a, a six-hour drive

and a, and a night in a hotel, for sure.

People are coming to Christ, all around our country.

-In Jesus name I pray. -[crowd] Amen.

Oh, I pastor a church in Wisconsin.

It's a larger church, we have 25 staff.

You know, a couple thousand people.

At Motor City, that's when I learned

Darren's story and his dad and--

and of course, that just increases the a--

appeal of the books now 'cause now they h--

they have a story attached to them,

there's an origin that's compelling.

[heavenly music]

I think for me now-- as I'm-- I'm 62 years old.

You know, you think you'd get over it, right? You think,

you know, by the time you're a grown person,

you're not gonna be interested in comic books.

But it's gotten worse.

[Adam speaking]

Probably not. [laughs]

'Cause my wife-- my wife might see it.

No cure, man.

Don't want one.

My wife wishes there was one, though.

I try, but I was really never able to,

to pass on the addiction to my kids.

Normally, you don't wanna pass on an addiction to your kids,

but I've tried in this case, and it, it, it just didn't take.

[upbeat music]

[Adam] So, beyond the Comic Cons

and his relationship with Harley

and the Hatchback Kid,

Darren's also selling some higher value books

through Heritage Auction House.

Heritage then got wind that Darren's father

had way more than just comic books.

In fact, he had over one million collectibles.

This includes an extensive baseball card collection

and toy figure collectibles.

We've really done well with toys when we've had them

'cause I think there's a big desire for them.

I have not, um, really given

a lot of thought to the overall values and things,

so it's gonna be extremely interesting what you have to say.

[Adam] What I'm starting to realize that it's a strange time in collectibles,

as so many things are starting to be graded and valued,

like old iPods, video games,

and even unopened VHS tapes.

I started collecting VHS's that were sealed in the box.

Like 3000 to 5000 tapes.

-[crowd laughs] -You guys sound like my mom!

-[laughing] No, no-- -No one believes in me!

But hear me out, hear me out. So, as of a, a month ago,

uh, sealed VHS's are now going for, like, 20 to 30 grand a pop.

-[crowd] Oh! [laughter] -Oh!

[Adam] So the auction houses have been good places for Darren to sell the books

in that $10,000 to $60,000 range.

A lot of this has helped cover costs,

like the whole build out of the fortress

and the surprising amount of money that goes

into fees for grading books,

which can be 4% of the value of a book.

So, $100,000 book, you'll pay 4000,

$1 million book, $40,000.

So there's a lot of costs, and there's need for selling and making some revenue.

But the big books in the collection have not gone to auction.

He's being very careful about what to do with them.

And rightfully so,

because as we were filming these very sacred

holy grail-like books, our biggest nightmare happened.

[echoing whooshing]

[Adam speaking]

[echoing whooshing]

I just had to tell Darren, so...

...uh, right when he walked up, I said, "We dropped Superman."

He said, "That can't happen." I said, "I know,

but it did. We dropped.

We were filming, the book fell.

It hit the shipping container, the metal--

the case is cracked." And he said,

"That cannot happen."

[somber music]

And I said, "I know, Darren, but it did."

And, um, then he just walked out.

He didn't even look at the book.

Uh, he didn't go in the office and looked to the book.

He just walked out of the warehouse.

And I've said to Darren many times at his, you know, journey,

him, him getting better is the most important thing.

And... I don't know.

I think this could set him back

in many ways, it could freak him out.

And it's not something you re-- can replace.

Darren said that so many times, "It's not a--

not a replaceable thing." So...

[deeply inhales and exhales]

...I don't know. [deeply exhales]

[music continues]

[Chris] The fragility of these things

is an important element of them.

This increases the rarity.

It actually gives it a almost religious dimension

because it has to be, uh, preserved

in, in-- under these special conditions,

and we assign all this value.

And in our culture, a dollar sign is a religious, uh, symbol.

Especially when you add m-- millions to the dollar sign.

[man 1] Truth, justice, and the American way.

[whooshing]

[man 2] The infant son of Jor-El and Lara

hurtle through the infinite reaches of space toward distant Earth.

The creation of Superman opened the, the door to superheroes,

modern mythology. I mean, uh, none of us would be here,

none of these characters would be here if it weren't for Superman.

[Jeffrey] 1938 was Superman's first appearance,

June 1938, Action ComicsNo. 1.

That is the book that launches comics.

-[clicking] -1.2 million issues are sold a month.

I mean, that is a lot

to show how embedded it was in, in community and in culture.

Nowadays, if you sell 40,000 copies of a comic book,

you're in the top ten or 20.

[Matt] When Siegel and Shuster created it, they'd actually created it

years before as a comic strip,

but no one would touch it because they just thought it was ridiculous.

It was a superhero in a costume, which now we're very used to,

and everybody's talking about one superhero versus the other.

But before June of 1938, there was no such thing as a superhero.

So, they came out with something that was kind of, like, new and interesting at the time,

but it really paved the way.

♪ Superman! ♪

-[laughter] -[indistinct chatter]

They did not even realize

Superman was the main draw of the comic.

They did not know that because they don't have analytics like we have now, right?

So, they had to put a survey,

and I believe it was Action ComicsNo. 4,

that was sent out in the comic where you could fill it out

and tell them why you were buying this comic.

And then people wrote back and said it was Superman.

So, eventually, Superman made his way back

onto the cover in Action ComicsNo. 7

and eventually got the title to himself.

[Mark] He gets his own title, Superman,in 1939,

and then never turned back.

Superman became the smash hit.

♪ You can be like Superman ♪

[Mark] Shows up at the New York World's Fair.

He becomes a film.

[dramatic music]

♪ You can be like Superman ♪

[Mark] He becomes newspaper prints for, you know,

every weekly story, daily story for years and years and years.

You know, if we remember back to the George Reeves Superman television show in the '50s...

-[loud crashing] -Superman!

...kids loved him.

You're gonna see your favorite television star.

-Look. Superman. -[cheering]

[Mark] You know, faster than a train, can leap in a single bound.

All these things. He doesn't fly!

He doesn't fly for years. He jumps.

♪ ...can be like Superman ♪

-♪ Superman... ♪ -[Mark] His powers are somewhat limited,

and they grow with time.

-What the hell is that? -[Mark] Superman movie

with Christopher Reeve came out in 1978.

-I've got you. -You, you've got me. Who's got you?

[Mark] He's going everywhere.

With my X-ray vision,

I can see the harm cigarettes do inside people's bodies.

That's why I never say "yes" to a cigarette.

[Mark] You see him in magazines all the time,

celebrating at parades with people dressed up as Superman.

[man] Just which is the biggest balloon of them all? Superman.

Robert Garcia tweeted, "Will be proudly sworn

into Congress on the US Constitution.

Underneath the Constitution will be three items

that mean a lot to me personally.

A photo of my parents, who I lost to Covid,

my citizenship certificate,

and the original SupermanNo. 1

from the Library of Congress."

[dramatic music]

[thud]

I've never felt this level of numbness

or, or, or, or just helplessness.

Um, I--- [stutters] I just, I'm-- I'm having trouble-- hard time speaking,

um, because I'm just not used to,

um, being this vulnerable,

uh, to something outside of my control like this and,

and not being able to cover it.

You know, people don't realize how... unbelievably fragile,

um, these books are.

[laughing] I mean, it's been on earth longer

than anyone, uh, making this film.

And, um, you know, one little tick,

one little corner bend,

one little scuff on a, on, on a page

can take their grade down a full grade.

You could go from a 7 to a 6.

T-- this can't be fixed. I can't throw resources at it,

I can't throw time at it. [sniffles]

Um, I can't call for help. I...

...I'm gonna be really upset if something is wrong with that book.

[somber music]

[Stephen] There's something about super strength

and super abilities,

and I think it mesmerized people.

Because in a world where a lot of people are powerless,

to an extent to affect the world around them,

even today, it, it is fascinating

that there could be a person of unlimited ability.

[Chris] You are inviting people to think about what they value.

So people get a chance to examine themselves

and see what is their relationship, uh, to their things,

and, and a special category of things.

Uh, these things that are charged with associations

that have to do with our childhood

and with these mythological, almost, figures.

So there's, there's a lot hanging on the, the topics

in the fields that you're dealing with here.

[birds chirping]

[Brian] It was my senior year in high school.

I got into a car accident.

And so, I basically sold my first collection

at an absolute crazy low price,

so I could have the money to pay this lady

to not call the insurance and not call my parents.

But I was desperate.

I had a lot of key issues,

and for a high school kid, I had a crazy collection.

I mean, it was, it was impressive.

So, my heroes at that time were able to protect my pride.

So that's then.

So then, we skip about maybe five, six years,

you know, and I started another collection

and I needed, uh, an engagement ring,

So bought an engagement ring.

As it turns out, that didn't work out either.

So, second comic book collection gone.

By the end of that, I can't watch Marvel movies,

I can't look at toys, I can't think about comic--

it hurt, and I know it sounds silly,

but this is actually sort of common.

Like, with people that sell out of dire straits,

it's like-- it hurts to look back.

It's just, like, it was the biggest mista--

two biggest mistakes I ever made.

Like, nope.

-[loud creaking] -All right.

-I got varying condition, but I think you'll enjoy that. -All right. Okay.

I mean, I'll be honest,

I was scared to get involved with it at first

because I'm like, "I can't look at books, man." Like, I just--

I can't look at them. You know, and I never said that to him,

but that's what I was thinking, internally, I'm like,

"I don't even wanna see these, man," like--

and then, we moved that collection

a-- and, and, um, you know, it was boom.

It was boom, and it just hit me like a ton of bricks, I was back in.

[sighs] There's been some times where I felt like this,

this filming has gotten a little out of control,

little, um, kind of loose

and just, uh, maybe a little bit invasive,

either on me and my wife, um, family's life.

[sniffles] So I'm gonna look at this book,

and, uh, all I can say is that I've had a mix of feelings.

Um, and, uh, we're gonna see what it looks like.

[deeply inhales and sharply exhales]

I immediately see two spots...

...right here on the top.

And then, where I guess it took the first impact, maybe right here,

so it must have impacted and then fallen forward or something.

[deeply inhales]

I'll get the real story.

Mm, but, I mean, just handling this thing...

...is pretty nerve-racking.

So, um--

God, what a gorgeous book.

I mean, the colors on this thing.

What a really, really gorgeous book.

[light melancholic music]

[Adam] So, the case is cracked in multiple places,

but we can't really tell if the crack has sent plastic into an edge

or the drop tweaked a corner of the book.

And we won't know for sure until that book is opened up

from the plastic case.

But you don't open a plastic case, especially on this book.

The moment you do, the grade is nullified.

But you also can't sell a $4 millionSuperman in a cracked case.

So this book, for now, goes back into hiding.

We don't tell anyone about the drop,

the crack does not exist.

But we all know that at some point,

we'll have to take it to CGC and reveal the truth.

[door closes]

And all of this has Darren questioning

how he's handling the whole collection.

[Darren] There's a certain respect to, you know, again,

my, my father's relentless pursuit

of, of acquiring these collectibles.

And, um, I just feel that they've been moving pretty fast.

-[Adam] Yeah. Um-- -[Darren] So I just don't know, I mean--

you know, I have been seeing some things that, uh,

have been leaving the collection that I'm like,

"Oh, man, you know, we may not have another one of those,"

or, "Wow, that might be in a really special condition."

[music continues]

So we have a couple collectors and, and a couple of dealers

that ar-- are taking things a little bit faster than maybe I'd like at times.

Um, I, I have control over pulling some of that back.

I hope that I'm going in the right direction.

You know, I certainly don't wanna turn into, um, a, a hoarder myself,

and someone that, uh, you know, is infected with the fever of collecting.

[gentle music]

I imagine he's getting pressured from people who wanna buy, right?

Maybe dealers, collectors, buy, buy, buy.

And, uh, there's a pressure there.

That's how I lost my X-Men1. A friend of mine

found out I had it, right? And he just kept

on it and on it and on it until finally,

on a bad day, I sold it to him.

Would I have sold that book today? Absolutely not.

[Mark] You know, when you have a huge, huge collection,

the vultures will come out. Now, I kind of learned this

as being the son of a used car dealer.

I did not like the business of comics,

I really didn't. Did not like.

I do not like the cutthroat aspect.

-[man] $100,000 he says. -[Mark] I hated that.

And I have pulled away, uh, from that.

-[indistinct chatter] -[Chuck] When you think about the ethics

of buying and selling,

any time that you're in a transactional business,

you're gonna have people that are gonna try and take advantage of you.

And there's an expression that I use actually.

I say that comic book retailing,

and I, I guess I mean collectibles retailing of all kind,

is full-contact capitalism.

You'd better have your eyes wide open.

You always hear people, even today, who are like,

"Oh, I have 50 copies of, you know, Potato Man.

And they, they were never read." It's, like,

that's not the point of comic books.

[laughing] Like, you bought stuff to,

to try to cash in and it di-- it didn't work. It's, uh, it--

not even speculation, it was a gamble, and a bad one.

There's two kinds of investors. There's one that they're just in it for the money, right?

Like a commodity, like a stock.

They're gonna hold it for a while and sell it.

But there's others who are investors

who really are passionate about it.

I think most of the guys that are successful collectors

or dealers are guys that have the passion.

In other words, if the market took a drop

and tomorrow the comics weren't worth anything,

I'd still collect them.

I'd still read them.

[Dale Chrisman] So it's gotten better as the,

as the, as the times progressed

'cause we've had more, more books to throw in.

-Yeah. -[Josh] It's the joke that when we go to comic shows,

if he walks away from the table, I'll sell more than when he's sitting

-at the table. -[Dale Chrisman] That is true. That is true.

Yeah. He's, uh, just a-- he's a natural personality

when it comes to just talking to people in general and just outgoing.

[light melancholic music]

I've got a bilateral dislocated hips.

Bilateral being on, uh, both sides of my body.

When I was growing up, I was also, uh, failure to thrive,

which means I didn't take in all the nutrients I was supposed to.

Most of that had to do with my, uh, uh, kidney disease,

I've a chronic k-- kidney disease from, well, from birth.

Um, I've had three kidney transplants,

I'm-- n-- no, two kidney transplants.

I'm going on my th-- third.

I just, you know, go to dialysis three days a week

and whatever days I don't have dialysis,

I put work into the business.

I drive Josh every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, three times a week.

It takes us about an hour and 15 there, hour and 15 back.

Family is, was, and always has been the most important thing.

You know, when you see your child struggling for every breath,

like Josh and like my son did before he passed,

you look at things a little differently.

You know, money is--

yeah, it's important because you gotta pay the bills

and everything else, but...

...it's not really as important as it was

before those things happened.

I said, "You have to have these life experiences, I think,

and then you kind of get things in perspective."

[birds chirping]

[Darren] If you wanna know the absolute truth,

the only thing that's kind of, um,

pulling me out of this Superman sadness

is the bang and the hype around the label.

[clicking]

[upbeat electronic music]

You know, we were so fortunate to get this opportunity,

which we had no idea that we were gonna get.

CGC is announcing that a Provenance Collection

is going to be given its own custom label.

This is a great idea because this is-- it's, it's--

you know, we've given Provenances before

-but never with a custom label. -[man] Yeah.

And so this is a first for us in that regard.

So I think it's an exciting concept, not just for us,

but for really the, the hobby as a whole.

[Adam] CGC adds paper labels

inside a comic books' plastic case.

It has on it the grade, the name of the book,

and sometimes will add a collection name on the label

for collections of significance,

be this a Provenance Collection

or a Pedigree Collection, like Mile High collection.

But never has CGC allowed a collection

to design their own paper label.

Darren's will be the first, telling its own visual story

of the history of the collection and his family.

And of course, will reference the holy grail of the collection,

theSuperman No. 1...

[light suspenseful music]

...the verySuperman No.1

that nobody knows is cracked.

Not CGC, not any dealer.

It's secret. Dead secret.

But with the label already announced and in process, there is no turning back.

And Darren has to take theSuperman to CGC to get the new label,

which means we'll see for certain ifSuperman is damaged.

Thankfully, en route to CDC, Superman will have company,

he'll be protected by some other incredible heroes.

EvenBatman.

[clicking]

-CGC is announcing that a... -You have announcements by CGC.

-You have write-ups by Heritage. -[indistinct chatter]

[Darren] The whole YouTube influencer community.

-This was a massive collection. -[Darren] There's a point of no return

-where it's, like, people are gonna start expecting more. -...any more Ghost Riders...

[Darren] It's a little concerning that way, where people are gonna start saying,

"What else you got? Hey, are you ready to sell this? Are you ready to sell this?"

If you had that Supermangraded comic, would you sell it?

[Adam] And I know the dramatic black briefcase

might seem like overkill,

like a drug dealer or staged for the film,

but it is holding over $6 million of value.

And on previous flights, books have fallen.

[thudding]

But that doesn't make any of us feel any better about having crackedSuperman.

[high-pitched ringing]

-[sighs] Hey, Matt. How you doing? -Hey. How's it--

-Good. How you doing? -[laughing] Fine. It's--

-Big day, man. This is, uh-- -Oh.

-This case is getting a little heavy. -Oh, yeah, I bet.

-I gotta be careful. [laughs] -[Darren] Yes.

[Matt] The holder, as, as well as it protects the book,

it is a reminder that things can still happen to the holder that can affect the books.

-[Darren] Right. -[Matt] It's-- yeah, just, just because it's in plastic

doesn't mean it can't get hurt.

[suspenseful music]

-Let me get this book out first. [indistinct mumbling] -Of-- yeah, yeah, please.

[clacking]

[Matt] There you go. Outer holder's open now.

That was the easy part.

[softly] Okay.

Didn't see all these little shards

that come out with the plastic here.

This is the part that makes people nervous, so.

All right. [sighs]

Better look away on this one.

Scissors just millimeters away from the edge of the book.

[soft clicks]

Yeah.

-Oh, my God. -[Matt] Yeah, just right.

Let me go ahead and just open the seal up a little bit more on this side here.

It usually takes me seconds to do this,

but I wanna be really, really careful

that I don't mess this up.

Okay.

[music continues]

[softly] Voilà. There it is.

[in normal voice] I mean, yeah, I-- you know, I, I do think the grade is accurate.

-I do. Yeah. -[Darren] Okay.

[Matt] Same grade, same everything, yeah.

We're just gonna print up a new label.

[laughs] Everybody can breathe again.

-[man] People can breathe. -[laughs]

It's great to see this again. What a book.

It's, uh-- Yeah, it's, it's always a pleasure to hold them

-and s-- yeah, smell them. [sniffs] -[Darren] Mm-hmm.

-You know. Uh... [chuckles] -[Darren] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

...but, yeah, we don't-- and, and the opportunities are getting fewer and fewer,

uh, because obviously they're all ending up in holders.

-There's the coupon. [laughs] -There's the coupon.

[inspirational music]

You know, I have been stewing on the fact

that there was a crack in that case

and that he would say anything,

and just thinking about it and preparing

and thinking about it and worrying and causing myself

physical pain at times--

it's just kind of hit me, you know, when we were doing this

and he was like, "Wow, this is really okay."

Like, everything is okay. And, and...

...how much time did I waste,

you know, just absolutely in, in turmoil?

And how many times do I do that in other places?

So I don't know, I-- I don't know.

[Adam speaking]

God, where do I not worry about stuff that shouldn't be worried?

I mean, that'd be a better question.

So I really have to learn from this and, and other things.

[Erik] One of my favorite quotes is, "Life is 10% what happens to you

and 90% of what you do with it."

Learned that one from Diamond Dallas Page.

[laughs] Professional wrestler.

My hands are permanently disfigured.

You know, they've got maybe 10% of their functionality.

I can pretty much just do this.

I can still hold a pencil and a stylus,

and I can still move my shoulders, so I can still draw.

Thanks be to God for not taking that away.

I never take any of this for granted.

You know, it's like Tony Stark's chest piece keeping him alive.

The technology is here helping me to overcome, you know, my affliction.

[upbeat music]

So, it's Motor City Comic Con, and I meet Darren.

We start talking about doing a custom label for CGC.

It's, it's, it's incredible that, like,

when those books get graded, they're gonna have my artwork.

Uh, I mean, that's just super humbling.

Having him and his family in the scale of justice, uh, in the comics.

So I really pushed it as far as I could,

where you've got, like, long boxes of comics

weighing down the scales of justice.

And then you've got him dangling his candy cane down

to rescue his brother out of this giant pit.

His mom always thought of it like a giant pit full of comics

and people getting sucked into it.

She's reaching down to try to grab him too,

and that, that part of it is really special to me

because I think that's what captures the most emotion

of the whole story, right then and there.

And that's why it's in the center here.

It's really kind of, like, the balance,

the h-- the hinge for this whole story.

[Darren] And, uh, when I asked him what, you know, he wanted to do

with all this stuff, like, later in his later years, he would always joke,

he'd say, "Ah, I'm just gonna shoot into space and, you know,

-fly around with it." You know, ha, ha, ha... -[laughter]

...never wanted to deal with the real question.

-[Matt] Yeah. -[Darren] So the UFO is represented.

-[Matt] Oh, interesting. -[Darren] And it-- yeah.

Oh, i-- the glasses are another e-- example of him,

but also the secrecy and the hidden identity...

-Oh. -...of, you know, again, Clark Kent

-and the other heroes that hide it. -Mm.

[Darren] But what the artist did is he used the image

in the reflection of the glasses to, um, say what his perception is.

So you have a, like, a happy family here.

So, you know, in his eyes, it was like, "This is normal.

There's nothing wrong here," you know. But behind it,

you have this madness going on.

[Matt] You know, it's, it's, it's a tragedy,

but it's also-- it's just a--

a-- an amazing story in general about collecting,

but also how it affects family and, and, uh,

the ups and downs that go along with, uh, a, a collector's mentality

and how they sometimes lose sight of what's important to them.

-[deeply inhales and exhales] -[Matt laughs]

Yeah, I know it's emotional.

-Yeah, it's, uh-- Are you, uh-- -Yeah.

Uh, you-- well, gosh, I guess eventually when these sell

at some point, it's, it's gonna be--

I mean, even though a piece of you and a piece of the family is gonna be gone,

at least it will carry your mark with it.

-[sighing] Yeah. -[Matt] You know, people always know where it came from

and what it means as they make their way out into the wild.

-[indistinct mumbling] -That's very true. You know, i-- we'll have a tie to it.

[upbeat music]

[clicking]

[Darren] You know, the most ideal situation would be

someone identifies not only with the book,

but with the story. But I can't pick the buyer.

[Brian] I've never been a good one for saying goodbye.

[Darren] I see my mother, my brother,

feeling the weight of my father, you know,

having my best friend here.

[Brian] I love you, Batman. I'll miss you always. [kisses]

-All right, I got 750. -[woman] 750.

-Now I need 775. -[woman] 775.

775. How about $800,000?

I'm at 775,000. I need $800,000.

-Let's go to 800. I'm at 775,000-- -[woman] 800.

-800,000-- 825. Let's go 850,000-- -[woman] 825.

-850. 875. -850-- 875, I have that.

How about $900,000?

-[text alert chiming] -[man] I have $875,000.

-Do I hear $900,000? Let's go to 900... -[text alert chiming]

[tense music]