MacFarlane's wealth Declines! Rare Superman Comic Auctioned!

As reported here at Suite 101 some time back, Comic Book icon Todd MacFarlane owns the baseball hit by Mark McGwire, and paid $3 million for the privilege.

This year, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit 73 home runs. This feat seriously depreciates Todd's investment. But will Barry's 73rd home run be worth more than $2 million? According to associated press writer Jim Shuhr, who checks with Sports Agents, the ball will sell for between $1 million to $2 million.

The baseball may come up for auction as soon as next year. Questions surrounding the ball remain. Will the record be broken again soon? Will the baseball have enduring value? Will Todd MacFarlane bid on this baseball too? And who owns the baseball?

Patrick Hayashi of Santa Clara, Calif., ended up with it, though fellow fan Alex Popov claims the ball belongs to him. He wants it back and said he believes criminal charges should be filed if it's not returned. Television footage shows Popov, a health-food restaurateur from Berkeley, gloved the ball but was mobbed by fans. Someone ripped the ball from his mitt, and it ended up in Hayashi's hands.

The San Francisco Giants have declined to get involved

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Speaking of rare items up for auction, how about a rare comic book from 1940?

PRNewswire reports that its owner, Gary Colabuono, is offering a handmade prototype of the first Superman comics --one of only two in known existence -- for sale.

``The amazing thing about this comic,' says Colabuono, ``is that it even exists. It's an 'ashcan' copy: a handmade prototype created specifically for trademarking purposes. There may be a copy in the U.S. Patent Office files, but DC doesn't even have a copy in their archives.'

In the 1930s, comic book publishers used ashcans to trademark their character and logos. Superman was originally one of several characters featured in Action Comics, a series published by DC (Detective Comics). But when DC publisher Harry Donenfeld realized kids were clamoring for Superman, he decided to give the superhero his own series.

Before publishing Superman #1 in 1939, he had DC's production staff assemble several ashcan copies, stapling preprinted pages from Action Comics #8 -- which featured Superman -- into a new, velox printed cover. There is a second copy in existence, which Colabuono (the owner of the world's largest ashcan collection) also holds. There may be a third somewhere in the U.S. Patent Office.

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