Once they were child’s play. Now they can change hands for far more than your pocket money.

In the last 20 years the popularity of superhero comics has grown very strongly and many of the earliest have become highly prized – and highly priced – collectors’ items.

And next week hundreds of thousands of examples, from across nine different decades, will be on sale.

The sale is being held by Armstrong & Garland, the major auction house covering northern England and the Scottish borders and manager John Anderson says : “It’s the largest number of lots that I’ve seen. A lot of them are very rare.

One reason for the growth, he believes, is the success of superhero movies. Their sophistication and production values mean they appeal to adults as much as to children.

“Movies like Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and Avengers have ramped up the demand for comics.”

They feature the “golden age” of the 1930s and 40s when DC were the dominant publishers and the “silver age” from 1961, when Marvel emerged as competitors.

John says: “We’ve got a first copy of Fantastic Four from 1961. It’s probably the most collectable and could sell for £2,000 to £3,000 – but only because it’s in poor condition.

“If it was in really good condition, it could be worth as much as £30,000. With some of the earliest editions you could be talking about a million.”

The sale also features British comics such as Eagle and Bunty.

Anderson & Garland are based in Newcastle but carry out daily collections throughout Cumbria and their auctions draw customers from across the north of England and much further afield.

The sale is taking place at Anderson House, Crispin Court in Westerhope, Newcastle, and will run over two days, on Thursday and Friday, beginning at 10am.

Items for sale can be viewed at the auction house in advance or seen online. For more details go to the website at www.andersonandgarland.com or phone 0191 430 3000.