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The cover reads 10-cents, but a copy of 1939's Detective Comics #27, containing the first-ever appearance of the caped crusader himself, Batman, just sold for a whopping $1 million dollars at an auction in Dallas, TX. It's an interesting record-breaking bookend to a week that began with the news of a private auction in which Action Comics #1, the 1938 debut of Superman (and the kick-off of the entire superhero genre), sold for $1 million as well.

It's the first time either comic (or any comic for that matter) has hit the million-dollar mark, obliterating current perceived market values. It has to be making hardcore collectors think twice about the estimated pricing of many key Golden Age issues. If this is a sign of things to come, it might be a sound investment to snag Marvel's earliest debut issues of their core heroes. Many of those books are more widely circulated (since they're about thirty years younger than the DC titles that went for auction), and can still be picked up with relative ease if you have a few thousand dollars to spend.

Not a bad way to plan for the future, as long as you can keep your mom from throwing out your "investments".

(source: Chron)

There's little in the way of story details just yet, but Latino Review does cite Brainiac and Lex Luthor as the villains. Hooray for Brainiac, but can we please skip Luthor for at least one installment of the series? No film has quite gotten the character right, and I'd rather see Supes face off with someone he can actually have physical action scenes with -- Parasite, Mongul, Bizarro, anyone but Lex Luthor.

A new Superman movie sounds like a really tough sell, and this is coming from a guy who actually liked Bryan Singer's homage to Richard Donner. I acknowledge that it wasn't the Superman movie than most fans wanted to see, but it still strikes me as odd that Superman would ever be in a position where he'd actually be hard to market. Once bitten, twice shy, I guess. I'm hopeful that Nolan and company can turn this image problem around. There's still a lot to love about the Man of Steel.

Looking for something good and geeky to watch? Check out this week's sci-fi DVD releases:

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (DVD and Blu-ray)
You can always count on DC's animated DVD flicks to deliver solid superhero action, but early word says Crisis packs brains and brawn. A superstar cast (James Woods, Mark Harmon, Gary Cole, Firefly's Gina Torres) voices the classic comic characters as they battle with their evil doppelgangers in a parallel dimension.

The Box (DVD and Blu-ray)
Director Richard Kelly's latest mindfrak isn't quite as ambitious or as messy as Southland Tales, nor is it as compelling or as charming as Donnie Darko. Instead, The Box offers a tense genre tale that spirals out of control as Kelly packs on his trademark mix of dark wit, absurd moments and outlandish surprises.

Flash Forward: Season One Pt.1 (DVD)
It looks like this ambitious ABC drama didn't turn out to be the next Lost after all. Still, the first half of Flash Forward's season one offers a compelling mystery, some genuinely thrilling moments, and even some dark humor in almost every episode. Catch up in time for its return to TV on March 18.

The Crazies (Blu-ray)
Catch George Romero's original '70s pandemic creepshow before the remake hits the big screen. The director does commentary on the Blu-ray.

Last week's leaked Green Lantern concept art literally blew my socks off, which was especially remarkable seeing as how I was wearing shoes at the time. Ouch. Now, io9 has two new images they're presenting as legit leaked art from the 2011 Martin Campbell science-fiction superhero film.

Represented in these images are designs for the Guardians and Green Lantern's mentor-turned-nemesis Sinestro (an unfortunate name if his parents ever wanted him to grow up to be anything but evil). The Guardians are the otherworldly beings responsible for the Green Lantern Corps - the intergalactic police force which recruits Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) in the film. They're represented as arrogant and judgmental in the comics, but they're also responsible for who gets a power ring (the outlet for Green Lantern's power) and who doesn't. Sinestro is their star Lantern, until he gets power hungry and turns on the Corps. Mark Strong is said to be taking on the role of Sinestro in the film.

Thanks to Devin at Chud for bringing this new art to my attention. You can see the Sinestro mock-up after the jump.

I'm not one to get really hyped up for films before their release, preferring to keep a level-head lest I build up my expectations to the point where I am let down more often than I am satisfied. With that said, when it comes to these leaked Green Lantern design pics, there's only one thing I can say: OOOMMMMGGGGOMG!!!1111!!!!!!!!!111OMGGGGGG!

Ahem.

Yes, I will be a total drooling idiot by the time Summer 2011 gets here, in anticipation of Martin Campbell's live-action adaptation of one of the coolest superheroes ever created, DC's Green Lantern. What we have in these leaked alien character designs are the potential movie versions of Abin Sur, the dying ring-bearer who bestows his power ring to Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds in the film), as well as Green Lantern Corps members Tomar Re and, below the jump, trainer Kilowog.

While Warner Bros. readies a few new DC comic adaptations, including The Green Lantern and maybe Wonder Woman, word is still out on whether we'll ever see The Flash get his own movie, too. I've never been a big fan of Mr. Flash and his skin-tight red and gold suit. Yeah, so you run fast -- what else you got for me? Perhaps that's why it's taking so long for Hollywood to dump a Flash movie into theaters, and maybe it's also why the proposed Flash video game was shelved. Whatever the reasons for delays and cancellations are, it looks like we may one day get our big-screen film featuring some hot up-and-coming actor running all over the damn place.

IGN ran a quote earlier this week from Charles Roven, who was involved as a producer with The Flash movie at one point. He claimed Warner Bros. didn't feel comfortable with the version they had -- that they wanted to take into "account the entire, rich DC character world" (which I read as: we want to do what Marvel is doing) -- and so that incarnation was thrown to the curb for the time being.

The next day, however, IGN received an email from the film's current screenwriter, Dan Mazeau, who assured the site that the Flash movie was still alive and well. He says, "The Flash has not been hobbled. Everything is moving forward as planned. I'm still writing the script. Geoff Johns is still consulting. Flash fans have no cause for concern, and -- IMO -- lots to be excited about." So there you go ... the wheels are turning (though maybe not as fast as The Flash would like them to turn).

While we wait for the film to piece itself together, check out some footage from the canceled video game after the jump. I think it looks boring, but then again I hate running.

What do you get when you combine a bunch of Marvel and DC characters into a 45-minute animated fan-made movie? Well, you get a little bit of everything, as well as a film that's ballsy enough to call itself The Greatest Fan Film of All Time. While it definitely starts out a little slow and gimmicky (though the superhero party did crack me up -- especially the Rogue and Ninja Turtle gags), this puppy does begin to get interesting around the 15-minute mark when evil villains like Joker and Scarecrow plot to turn all the good superheroes against each other -- which, eventually, turns to all out destruction as superheroes battle other superheroes in one big bloody mess of awesomeness. (Oh, and even Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons makes an appearance. Seriously everyone is in this thing!)

This needs to be watched in order to be believed. Check it out after the jump.