Well maybe “invasion” isn’t the right word for it, but Comics Guaranty, LLC (CGC) has defiantly made an impact on the comic book industry in a way that we did not expect. Our business model, based upon our sister companies NGC and SGC, helped to ensure buyer confidence, which would result in record sales, but CGC never expected to make the transition into new comics fresh off the stands.

It began with a Skrull in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9 (Marvel Comics, 12/01) by Brian Michael Bendis and Jim Mahfood. On the top panel of page 21, one Skrull comments to his Skrull friend who is reading a Fantastic Four comic, “Dude, I just had that graded.” Smiles abounded at the CGC office.

Then we got blown away when we saw the “classic” cover to issue #8 of Futurama, which sports the very 1st CGC parody cover. Not only did it parody the CGC label and holder, but it was also a parody of one of the most important Bronze Age comic books: Giant-Size X-Men #1. A few dealers sent us extra copies and we went to some local stores and bought most of them. One of our member dealers managed to find a 10.0, which we sent to Bongo Comics as a “Thank You.”

Suddenly, within 2 months of each other, Superman/Batman #7 (D.C. Comics, 4/04) & Powers #37 (Image Comics, 2/04) hit the stands. In the letters page of Powers #37 a fan wrote in and mentioned CGC. We were floored! We could not believe that a fan wrote to a creator, mentioned us, and the creator published it. What a great compliment!

Then, on page 28 of Superman/Batman #7 by Jeph Loeb & Pat Lee, the 1st panel reads, “Corben, it’s time for you to go back in the box. Resealed. Graded 9.9.” We knew then that CGC had “arrived” as a full blown, accepted part of our hobby.

Maybe “invasion” isn’t the right word, but we have made it into the mainstream new books. No one is more surprised then us here at CGC. Living the fanboy dream just got even better.

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	Comic Cavalcade and Big All-American Michelle Nolan

Of all the wonderful Golden Age comics published by DC, one of the most collectible titles is Comic Cavalcade. It’s also one of the most expensive, with only low-grade copies of the superhero issues going for less $100-200.

I readily admit I’m biased about Comic Cavalcade, since two of my three favorite Golden Age characters, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, appeared in full-length stories in all 29 superhero issues, with The Flash. (My other favorite character is Flash Gordon).

Like World’s Finest, Comic Cavalcade was a 15-cent giant, running 100 pages in #1-2, 92 pages in #3-5, 84 pages in #6-10 and 76 pages in #11-29. The title became a marvelous funny anthology with #30-63, when it was discontinued in 1954. Unlike World’s Finest, Comic Cavalcade was never continued in a 36-page format, apparently because sales of DC’s funny animal anthologies were steadily falling.

Only characters who originated in the All-American half of DC’s publishing umbrella were used in Comic Cavalcade, giving the issue a purely Golden Age patina in comparison to World’s Finest. Issues of Comic Cavalcade also seem scarcer than World’s Finest, which probably outsold Comic Cavalcade thanks to the attraction of Superman and Batman.

For my money, Comic Cavalcade #20-29 are among the scarcest of all 1947-48 issues from DC. Of course, only Wonder Woman survived the superhero purge among the All-American Publishing Company characters, so apparently sales began to slip. Otherwise, why would the title have been converted into a funny animal anthology?

I especially like those last 10 issues, since the art on both Green Lantern and The Flash veered away from the cartoony styles of the 1944-47 period and into more genuinely artistic renderings by the likes of Alex Toth.

Other superheroes made only a handful of appearances in Comic Cavalcade. Wildcat appeared in #1-2, The Atom in #22-23 and Black Canary in #25. Interestingly for a superhero anthology, a six-page Leave It to Binky story appeared in #29, although other humorous features appeared throughout the series, especially Mutt & Jeff.

Also like World’s Finest, Comic Cavalcade featured humorous or symbolic covers rather than serious covers. A lot of collectors seem to disagree with me on this, but I love this type of cover. They actually required a great deal more imagination than action-oriented covers.

Of course, it would have been tough to figure out an action-oriented cover for Comic Cavalcade, since the three big guns appeared in unrelated stories. DC wanted to feature all three on the cover, so gentle humor was the way to go.

My favorite covers are #6 (paper drive), #8 (football, with Green Lantern and Wonder Woman covering a punt, The Flash), #18 (our heroes chase a Thanksgiving turkey) and #25 (our heroes make Christmas toys in place of an ailing Santa Claus). In fact, Comic Cavalcade carried Christmas covers every year – earlier in #5, 9, 13 and 19. The most astonishing cover, by the way, was the appearance of Cotton-Top Katie with our heroes on #28.

As for the funny animal issues, they’re all good, since they all have The Fox & The Crow, two of the funniest characters ever created, not to mention a whole lot of other amusing creatures. I love those house ads in which Superman is portrayed with some of his favorite creatures, so to speak.

The later Comic Cavalcades, especially #60-63, are among the scarcest DC issues of the 1953-54 period. If you find any at a reasonable price, snap them up if you have any interest in collecting the title, because they’re definitely not easy to find.

As for the 1944 Big All-American, I was fortunate enough to find a coverless copy years ago. This 132-page square-bound one-shot – one of the first quarter comics in comic history – goes for $925 in “good.” It is an extremely cool book, however – basically an expanded Comic Cavalcade.

Not only does the Big All-American have Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and The Flash, but also Hawkman (some of 18-year-old Joe Kubert’s first comic book work), The Atom, Wildcat and Mr. Terrific, along with Hop Harrigan, Scribbly, Johnny Thunder and Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys (a truly dumb strip from Sensation Comics that I cannot fathom how or why it ran so long). As far as I know, all of these strips were original.

My guess, though, is that readers intuitively knew that 132 pages for a quarter was not a great deal. After all, most comic books were still 68 pages for a dime through part or all of 1943! Lots of people today can’t understand that an extra nickel was meaningful money for a kid 50 or 60 years ago. If you don’t believe me, ask someone like me who started buying comics for a dime and saw them go up to 12 cents in 1961 – it was an earth-shaking case of inflation!

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ARCHANGELS, a CGC Charter Member and Senior Overstreet Price Guide Advisor is pleased to announce a completely new and fully updated Web site at www.archangels.com.

Archangels specializes in various fields such as vintage CGC comic books, original comic book artwork, Hollywood movie posters and other related items. Some of the highlights include the finest CGC certified copy of the very rare More Fun Comics #57 CGC NM 9.4-Nova Scotia pedigree; the highest CGC certified copy of the highly prized Sub-Mariner Comics #32 CGC VF+ 8.5-Okajima pedigree; and a near perfect copy of the super popular Bronze-Age key Amazing Spider-Man #129 CGC NM 9.4. With more than 25 combined years of collecting and professional dealing in comic books, ARCHANGELS strives to offer some of the finest material in the marketplace today.

Stop by www.archangels.com today and surf to your hearts delight.

Collectibles for the Connoisseur Collector

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Wanted Shawn Caffrey

There are times when the human mind craves something more “risqué” than most comics today tend to offer. Maybe dirty jokes, politically incorrect content, or a heightened level of sex and violence compared to what comics have portrayed since the inception of the comics code. When comic book content reaches the acme of “offensiveness”, it takes on almost a humorous demeanor, at least to most people, and becomes less of a controversy and more of a source of entertainment.

Wanted, a title published by Image/Top Cow, is written by famed scribe Mark Millar and beautifully rendered by artist J.G. Jones, whom I’ve previously mentioned in my article on Y: The Last Man. Starring Wesley Gibson, an average everyday guy who has been given the short end of the stick from the tree called life, this is a story of Wesley’s journey from a numbing, non-rewarding life of innocence, to a satisfying, fruitful life of evil. Breaking the monotonous routine of his life, Wesley joins a secret league of super villains, and trains to become the ultimate in killers.

Wesley soon learns that his father, whom he never met, was one of the most infamous super villains in history, the Killer. After his murder, the “Meta-Human Criminal Network” sought out Wesley to take his father’s place in their organization due to his inherited enhanced abilities that had yet to surface. Teamed with a female member named the Fox and tutored by the Professor, they teach him to harness his abilities, and explain that in their world, great power comes with no responsibilities and no consequences. Superheroes are no longer. The last few remaining heroes have long since retired and super villains are tied to not only crime, but also to law and order. They run everything, have all the power, and literally get away with murder.

Wanted is currently on its third issue of six and has gone into second printings for the first two issues. For those collectors out there, issue one has three different covers and the second printings offer variant covers also. On top of that, Wizard has an exclusive Wizard World Texas variant cover for issue #1. Finding them, on the other hand, may not be as easy, for Wanted is an extremely popular title as of now, holding its position in the Wizard top 10 list for three months straight. For readers, Wanted is meant to entertain anyone who wants a break from the mainstream superhero genre and take in a mature, yet humorous, look into the world of super villains. Outrageous characters with even more outrageous abilities – this title will please all. Mark Millar’s writing will shock any reader with his off-the-wall dialogue, and J.G. Jones’ art is a treat for any eyes. So, if it’s an HBO version of a comic book one is looking for, Wanted is the book.

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