diff --git a/core/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/api/DataColumnType.kt b/core/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/api/DataColumnType.kt
index 4bd0ad626c..8547f2a060 100644
--- a/core/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/api/DataColumnType.kt
+++ b/core/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/api/DataColumnType.kt
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.columns.ColumnGroup
 import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.columns.ColumnKind
 import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.columns.FrameColumn
 import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.columns.ValueColumn
-import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.impl.isNothing
-import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.impl.projectTo
 import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.type
 import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.typeClass
 import org.jetbrains.kotlinx.dataframe.util.IS_COMPARABLE
@@ -21,8 +19,11 @@ import kotlin.contracts.contract
 import kotlin.reflect.KClass
 import kotlin.reflect.KType
 import kotlin.reflect.KTypeProjection
+import kotlin.reflect.KVariance
+import kotlin.reflect.full.createType
 import kotlin.reflect.full.isSubclassOf
 import kotlin.reflect.full.isSubtypeOf
+import kotlin.reflect.full.withNullability
 import kotlin.reflect.typeOf
 
 public fun AnyCol.isColumnGroup(): Boolean {
@@ -62,21 +63,24 @@ public fun AnyCol.isList(): Boolean = typeClass == List::class
 public fun AnyCol.isComparable(): Boolean = valuesAreComparable()
 
 /**
- * Returns `true` if [this] column is inter-comparable, i.e.
+ * Returns `true` if [this] column is intra-comparable, i.e.
  * its values can be compared with each other and thus ordered.
  *
  * If true, operations like [`min()`][AnyCol.min], [`max()`][AnyCol.max], [`median()`][AnyCol.median], etc.
  * will work.
  *
- * Technically, this means the values' common type is a subtype of [Comparable] with
- * the type argument not being [Nothing].
+ * Technically, this means the values' common type `T(?)` is a subtype of [Comparable]`<in T>(?)`
  */
 public fun AnyCol.valuesAreComparable(): Boolean =
-    isSubtypeOf<Comparable<*>?>() &&
-        type().projectTo(Comparable::class).arguments[0].let {
-            it != KTypeProjection.STAR &&
-                it.type?.isNothing != true
-        }
+    isValueColumn() &&
+        isSubtypeOf(
+            Comparable::class.createType(
+                arguments = listOf(
+                    KTypeProjection(KVariance.IN, type().withNullability(false)),
+                ),
+                nullable = hasNulls(),
+            ),
+        )
 
 @PublishedApi
 internal fun AnyCol.isPrimitive(): Boolean = typeClass.isPrimitive()
diff --git a/core/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/testSets/person/DataFrameTests.kt b/core/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/testSets/person/DataFrameTests.kt
index 5bc715e078..7f5886bbe5 100644
--- a/core/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/testSets/person/DataFrameTests.kt
+++ b/core/src/test/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlinx/dataframe/testSets/person/DataFrameTests.kt
@@ -2462,13 +2462,32 @@ class DataFrameTests : BaseTest() {
         ).toDataFrame()
 
         df.int.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe true
-        df.comparableInt.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe true
+        // Comparable<Int> is not comparable to Comparable<Int>
+        df.comparableInt.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe false
         df.string.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe true
-        df.comparableString.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe true
+        // Comparable<String> is not comparable to Comparable<String>
+        df.comparableString.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe false
         df.comparableStar.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe false
         df.comparableNothing.valuesAreComparable() shouldBe false
     }
 
+    // https://github.com/Kotlin/dataframe/pull/1077#discussion_r1981352374
+    @Test
+    fun `values are comparable difficult`() {
+        val i = 1
+        val i1 = object : Comparable<Int> {
+            override fun compareTo(other: Int): Int = other
+
+            override fun toString(): String = "i1"
+        }
+        val col by columnOf(i, i1)
+
+        // We cannot calculate min/max for this column because Int does not implement Comparable<Comparable<Int>>
+        // aka i1.compareTo(i) would work but i.compareTo(i1) would not
+        dataFrameOf(col).max().isEmpty() shouldBe true
+        dataFrameOf(col).min().isEmpty() shouldBe true
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun `describe twice minimal`() {
         val df = dataFrameOf("a", "b")(1, "foo", 3, "bar")