Cage to cash in comics

Dallas Nicolas Cage plans to sell his comic book collection including one with the first appearance of Superman at the Dallas ComiCon, a collectors’ convention Oct. 11-13.

The actor’s collection of about 400 comic books includes Action Comics No. 1, Superman’s first appearance. The collection also includes comics with the first appearances of well-known characters such as Batman, Captain America and the Green Lantern, said John Petty, director of auctions for Heritage Comics Auctions.

Heritage, of Dallas, will conduct the auction with a Kansas City, Mo., dealer specializing in rare comics.

Petty said Tuesday that the collection could “realize a value well into seven figures.”

Evel Knievel honored

Butte, Mont. Organizers, fans and businesses say last week’s inaugural Evel Knievel Week was a success that drew great crowds.

Butte is the hometown of the 63-year-old retired daredevil, known for his motorcycle leaps over buses and canyons.

“It’s great that a Montanan has reached such greatness,” said Shawn Belice of Dillon. “Only a guy from Butte could take a bike and break every bone in his body and get up and do it again. Only a guy from Butte would be that nuts.”

The festivities included the opening of an Evel Knievel exhibit at the Picadilly Museum of Transportation Memorabilia, a procession of 300 cars and motorcycles, and a fiery leap by a stuntman from the nine-story Finlen Hotel.

From spider to rider

Los Angeles “Spider-Man” star Tobey Maguire plans to saddle up for the true-life horse racing drama “Seabiscuit.”

Maguire, who previously starred in “The Cider House Rules,” “Wonder Boys” and “Ride With the Devil,” will play Red Pollard, the jockey atop the horse that became a fabled figure during the Depression.

The film is an adaptation of author Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction best seller “Seabiscuit: An American Legend.”

It’s payback time

Norfolk, Neb. Celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno and Steve Martin will be tapped to help fund a museum that is dedicating an exhibit to Johnny Carson, the retired king of late night television.

“There were so many folks who Johnny helped make their career,” said Ken Gates, coordinator of the fund-raising campaign. “We will ask them to help.”

Carson, the king of TV talk show hosts from 1962 until his retirement from NBC’s “Tonight Show” in 1992, grew up in Norfolk and graduated from Norfolk High School.

The Elkhorn Valley Museum & Research Center in Norfolk is opening the exhibit Sept. 28. It will include Carson’s six Emmy Awards and his Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In a $2.5 million fund-raising campaign, about $1.5 million will be sought from entertainers whom Carson helped, Gates said.