$412 check that bought Superman sold for $160,000

PHILADELPHIA - The Associated Press

A check from DC Comics for $130 issued on March 1, 1938 for the rights to a comic character named Superman is seen in this undated handout image. Decades after two young cartoonists from Cleveland sold the rights to Superman for $130, their 1938 paycheck fetched $160,000 on Monday in an online auction. REUTERS photo

The $412 check that DC Comics wrote to acquire Superman from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster has sold for $160,000.

Stephen Fishler, CEO of ComicConnect.com and Metropolis Collectibles, said Tuesday that the check was auctioned online to an unnamed buyer.

The check is made out to Siegel and Shuster. It includes a line item for $130 showing DC paid for full ownership and rights to Superman. But a legal dispute over creator's rights to the character is still far from settled.

Siegel and Shuster created Superman together while teenagers in Cleveland, Ohio, in the early 1930s. His first appearance was in "Action Comics" No. 1 in April 1938.

The canceled check was saved by a DC Comics staffer in the 1970s and sat undisturbed in a desk drawer for 38 years.