Congratulations, 2015 CGC Registry Award Winners!

The CGC Registry has grown to over 55,000 registered sets in more than 3,500 set types. Requests for new set types continue to come in and we look forward to watching the progress made by collectors as new books are added each day.

Our Mission was to choose three sets each in six competitive categories — Best Golden Age, Best Silver Age, Best Bronze Age, Best Modern Age, Best Copper Age and Best Presented. Additionally we had the task of choosing one winner for Best Magazine set, three outstanding message board contributors and just one registry participant for Overall Achievement in Comics Collecting.

Our team of judges reviewed all of the top sets across every category in the Comics Registry and after much deliberation, selected the following winners. Congratulations to all!

CGC 2015 Award for Achievement in Comics Collecting

Moriarty
The 2015 award for Overall Achievement goes to Moriarty! Currently ranked 8th in overall points with 1,360,420, Moriarty has runs that span Golden Age through to Bronze, with both Marvel and DC represented well. His current focus is Silver Age. He has many gems in his collection, but two standouts are his Amazing Fantasy #15 in 8.5 or his Fantastic Four #1 in 9.0. The lowest certified copy in his Amazing Spider-Man (Complete) run is his #2 & #4 at 9.2, all of the others are 9.4 or above. Congratulations Moriarty! Please check out Moriarty’s homepage..

Best Golden Age Sets

cheetah   Wings!
100% complete! #1 is a 9.8 “Mile High”! Only 1 issue under 6.0! 70% are 9.0+ (including the 1st half dozen issues). Pedigrees abound! And we are treated to scans of almost every issue!! Cheetah strikes again! Congratulations to what must be the finest set of Wings Comics!

RareHighGrade   RareHighGrade Pre-Bat Tecs
This awesome run is missing only 4 issues from being complete. Over half the run is high grade 8.0+! Lots of pedigree issues. Only one issue grades as low as 6.0. Congratulations for assembling a really impressive group of rare books!

BarristerBaker    Golden Flash Comics
What a beautiful run of Golden Age Flash Comics! 95% complete, all but 6 issues are present. And, a whopping 85% of them are a respectable FNish 5.5 or better! WOW, great job putting together this run!!

Best Silver Age Sets

Colorado Comics   Scotty’s Spideys #1 thru 100
This set speaks for itself. All high grades, near complete run of Amazing Spider-Man is nothing short of amazing.

Minty-Mint   Assemble!!
The majority of this set in 9.6 and higher! A truly impressive collection of a silver age super team.

Sam I am   Thanks Boba!
A tough run to find in high grade. This set is laid out beautifully, with pictures and descriptions, a set to be proud of.

Best Bronze Age Sets

mttemp   Whitman Lady
In 1979, towards the end of the Bronze Age, the company known as Western Publishing was bought out by Mattel. Western had been publishing comics for years under its “Gold Key” imprint, which included Disney titles, and other comics aimed at younger readers such as Woody Woodpecker and Popeye.

The merger brought with it a change in the way Western distributed their titles. No longer for sale individually through the newsstand market, their comics were now sold only available through pre-packs from their Whitman division.

These rare Whitman books have been incredibly hard to find, especially in high grade, which is what makes this set by mtttemp so impressive. With 36 9.8s and 52 9.6s (out of a 183 book set) this book was obviously a labor of love that took a great deal of time and patience, and rightfully deserves the #1 winning slot for Bronze for this year!

dover   The Cover Artist
The Bronze Age was the heyday of covers by Neal Adams. While the early to mid Silver Age had produced some iconic covers, there were many that were seen as static, dull, and of course "campy". But Neal Adams brought with him a sense of experimentation that changed the game. With angles, proportions, and situations that really caught readers' eyes, books featuring his covers have become some of the most sought after keys of the Bronze Age. “No one was experimenting,” said Neal Adams. “I was like this crazy radical rampaging through DC comics, telling them what they could do. Now it's done all the time. But in those days… they thought it was from Mars.”

This set, which consists of 585 comics from Marvel and DC that Neal did the covers for, may very well never feature a complete high-grade set, but this set by dover is a fantastic start with 249 of them in the bag. Some of the more noteworthy ones include Batman #244 in 9.6, Green Lantern #86 in 9.6, and Avengers #92 in 9.6.

Only 7 books in dover's set are lower than a 9.2, which makes this set a stunner not only from its cover art, but from its condition as well!

84scrambled   Complete Run 1-125
Luke Cage started the Bronze Age with a series called Hero For Hire. After 16 issues, it got a title change to Power Man. And after 49 issues Luke got a partner which resulted in Power Man & Iron Fist #50 until the series ended with #125. With a Giant-Size issue and an Annual, that’s a total of 127 issues. And all of them are represented in this set from 84scrambled. 113 of which are an astonishing 9.6 or higher! That makes this set of a fan-favorite series worthy of a Bronze Age award!

Best Copper Age Sets

Tornadohunter   OH-AH-UH-EE
We have watched this collection transform over the last couple years. A very impressive set of Transfomers from Marvel. Tornadohunter’s collection contains almost every first print of the regular series in 9.8 the only exception being the first two issues which were both given 9.9. Tornadohunter’s copy of #1 at 9.9 is in a three way tie for highest in census, but his copy of #2 at 9.9 is the only copy of that book to ever receive that high a grade. He also has many of the highest graded Second & third prints of the earliest issues and many high grade copies of other later Transformer series and appearances. Congrats on winning the best Copper Age set!

boozer0088   BooZeR’s Secret Wars Series
The original Secret Wars! One thing the Copper Age of comics was best known for was the limited series and one of the most beloved ones of that era was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. An alien known as the Beyonder kidnaps the greatest superheroes and villains of earth to fight a massive battle on another planet in outer space. It is also famous for being the introduction of Spider-Man’s black costume that we later learned was an alien symbiote. boozer0088’s collection of the limited series Secret Wars is beyond impressive. One of the highlights of this set is the highest graded Signature Series copy of issue 8 signed by Stan Lee in 9.9. boozer0088 also has a copy of issue 12 unsigned in 9.9. The other 10 issues of the limited series are in 9.8 the majority of them also signed by the creators. What an awesome set!!!

RMI High Tech   Miller Daredevils Again!!
In the “Born Again” story line of Daredevil #227-233 one of Matt Murdock’s closest friends betrays him leading to Kingpin discovering Daredevil’s true identity. Kingpin then gains vengeance by systematical causing the destruction of every part of Matt’s life. It marks the end of Frank Miller’s classic run and is considered by some to be one of the best Daredevil stories ever told. The character of Daredevil has received a resurgence in popularity because of the highly acclaimed first season of the new netflix series. It is very possible some of the elements of “Born Again” may be used in a future season. RMI High Tech has many impressive sets containing Daredevil, his collection of Daredevil #227-233 “Born Again”, is one of the greatest moments of the Copper Age, all have white pages and every book is graded 9.8.

Best Modern Age Sets

evod   Finest Known Complete Villians
This year 1st place spot goes to Evod for this collection of 3-D covers from the DC Villains Month. It is known that these books are well made and therefore often get high grades. However, this collection has an astounding eleven books graded at 9.9 and one perfect 10. This is not an easy accomplishment for any series. Congratulations to this year’s winner Evod.

MadGenius   Pride and Joy
The 2nd place award goes to Mad Genius for this complete Runaways set. I was very impressed with the amount of effort and detail that were put into the making of the images and descriptions for this run. The collection itself has every issue of Runaways graded at 9.8 included a signature series copy of issue #1 and is an all round great addition to the CGC registry.

kaholo1256   Where X-Force Begins
This year Kaholo 1256 takes the third place spot for this collection of New Mutants #85-100. Each issue is a signature series copy signed by at least Rob Liefield and in some cases more. This of course includes New Mutants #98 the 1st appearance of Deadpool. To top it off every book has images and descriptions for each issue to help make this an outstanding set.

Best Presented Sets

Gary Morris   Gaz's Revivers
This collection has all you would expect in a set awarded Best Presented. You’ll find images and notes for every issue in the set. Plus you will find lots of extras scattered throughout. This set is sure to draw you in. In the words of this collector, “HAPPY REVIVING PEOPLE!”

frank_bearss   Frank’s Cry for Dawn
This collector gets us acquainted with all things Dawn. Cry for Dawn is the title that brought about his affinity for comics. Spend some time reviewing this set and there will be no wonder why.

Noljoner   Ogami and Son’s Samurai Services
This one of a kind set is presented in great detail. Aside from the pictures and in depth commentary for each issue, inside you will find many interesting items. From original art and postcards to stickers and a kewpie doll — this set has it all!

Best Magazine Set

Jim Curran   1970’s Kung Fu
A fantastic collection of the Marvel/Curtis run capitalizing on the enormous kung fu craze that swept the U.S. back in the mid 1970’s. Starting this set off are issues #1-3 all in 9.8, along with four other 9.8’s including the Bruce Lee Special, issue #28. And with this set only two books away from being 100% complete, both Lee’s (Stan & Bruce) would be very proud!

Best Custom Set

mschmidt   Sometimes You Fly
There are many great custom sets, but one resonates with the simplicity of its quest and the thoroughness of descriptions and images. Congratulations to mschmidt and his “Sometimes You Fly” set collecting the work of Neil Gaiman! This set just flew off the screen! The books in this set are all 9.8 and above, with a few 10.0’s present. Many are signed for the Signature Series by the author himself, Neil Gaiman. Congratulations to mschmidt for creating such a wonderful set to share!

Best Forumites

Dr. X
Stormsurge
quadman78

Best in Set Type

We would also like to acknowledge the top set in each set type. See our 2015 Awards Archive page for the Best in Set Type winners.

2015 Awards Archive

Special note: In response to participant feedback, an opt-out feature has been added on the edit set page for users with a No. 1 set who wish to NOT receive a certificate in the mail. If your set is No. 1 at the award deadline and you choose to opt out of receiving the certificate, your set is still named No. 1 and gets the award icon online. Opting out only means you wouldn't receive the paper certificate in the mail.