1% of books are 40% of the CGC Census 1 1

[valiantman]

The CGC Census contains nearly four million submissions, but there are only about 180,000 different comic books for those four million submissions.  That's about 21 submissions per book... but there are many books which have only been submitted once or twice, and there are many books which have been submitted 1,000+ times.  The CGC census is under four million, but CGC has graded more than four million because de-slabbed books which are reported back to CGC are removed from the census.

Looking at the Top 1% of books submitted to CGC, that is, the 1,800 different books submitted most often out of the 180,000... it turns out that 40% of all submissions are from those 1,800 books.  #1 overall is Amazing Spider-man #300 with over 16,000 submissions, #2 is New Mutants #98 with nearly 15,000 submissions.  There are separate CGC entries for the various covers of Spider-man #1 (1990), but together, there are more than 16,000 submissions for this comic's 7 variants and all 7 are in the list of 1,800 comics in the Top 1%.

The Top 1% of books submitted to CGC have each been submitted at least 313 times, and the total submissions for just those 1,800 books is 1.6million.

 

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by valiantman

[valiantman]

Breaking down the 1,800 books in the Top 1% of CGC submissions:

Top 1% By Decade

Decade	Books	Submissions
1960s	456	361,156
1970s	340	311,825
1980s	320	357,619
2010s	261	162,937
2000s	258	192,141
1990s	174	200,574
1950s	9	4,401

[valiantman]

Top 1% By Year

Year	Books	Submissions
1968	96	73,334
1964	65	60,418
1966	58	48,011
1965	55	42,438
1977	52	45,176
2006	50	34,646
2013	50	31,100
1967	49	32,826
1963	48	44,656
1969	48	29,545
1979	42	36,279
1992	41	51,807
2015	40	19,392
2014	38	29,270
2004	38	27,276
1982	37	49,299
2012	37	26,100
1984	36	41,656
1986	36	37,144
1971	36	29,026
1991	35	48,146
1989	35	27,106
2016	34	17,099
1993	33	32,453
1987	33	25,165
1972	33	23,609
2005	33	21,621
1978	33	21,609
1988	32	59,654
1985	32	24,170
1970	31	19,960
1980	30	42,019
1973	30	32,202
1975	29	32,671
1976	29	30,149
1983	29	26,395
2007	29	19,304
1990	26	45,334
2003	26	19,345
1974	25	41,144
2011	25	19,962
1962	24	20,611
2017	23	11,212
2001	22	21,672
1981	20	25,011
2008	20	12,160
2002	19	16,226
2009	16	11,443
1994	11	5,351
1995	8	6,485
2010	8	6,240
1961	7	5,205
1998	7	3,369
1960	6	4,112
2018	6	2,562
2000	5	8,448
1997	5	3,444
1999	5	3,116
1959	4	2,616
1996	3	1,069
1958	3	1,019
1956	1	398
1952	1	368

[valiantman]

 

1,800 Books of the Top 1% - Top Book Per Year

(minimum of 313 submissions, some years do not have any)

Year	Book	Submissions
1952	Mad 1	368
1956	Showcase 4	398
1958	Superboy 68	350
1959	Showcase 22	874
1960	Justice League of America 1	1,061
1961	Fantastic Four 1	1,925
1962	Amazing Fantasy 15	2,750
1963	X-Men 1	3,931
1964	Daredevil 1	3,747
1965	Fantastic Four 45	1,972
1966	Fantastic Four 48	4,304
1967	Amazing Spider-Man 50	3,267
1968	Iron Man 1	4,747
1969	Silver Surfer 4	2,453
1970	Conan the Barbarian 1	3,079
1971	Amazing Spider-Man 100	2,697
1972	Marvel Spotlight 5	2,264
1973	Amazing Spider-Man 121	4,345
1974	Incredible Hulk 181	10,278
1975	Giant-Size X-Men 1	7,031
1976	Spectacular Spider-Man 1	4,444
1977	Star Wars 1	7,299
1978	Spider-Woman 1	2,721
1979	Amazing Spider-Man 194	3,977
1980	Savage She-Hulk 1	3,829
1981	X-Men 141	4,051
1982	Wolverine Limited Series 1	12,647
1983	Amazing Spider-Man 238	4,630
1984	Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 8	10,794
1985	Web of Spider-Man 1	4,348
1986	X-Factor 6	4,314
1987	Uncanny X-Men 221	2,178
1988	Amazing Spider-Man 300	16,099
1989	Wolverine 10	2,584
1990	Uncanny X-Men 266	10,354
1991	New Mutants 98	14,675
1992	Amazing Spider-Man 361	9,027
1993	Batman Adventures 12	4,146
1994	Batman Adventures: Mad Love nn	1,195
1995	Preacher 1	2,379
1996	Wolverine 100 Hologram Cover	363
1997	Deadpool 1	1,510
1998	Marvel Collectible Classics: Spider-Man 1	637
1999	Batman: Harley Quinn nn	1,540
2000	Ultimate Spider-Man 1	3,028
2001	Amazing Spider-Man v2 #36	5,371
2002	Batman 608	2,220
2003	Walking Dead 1	2,888
2004	NYX 3	3,732
2005	Walking Dead 19	2,009
2006	Civil War 1	2,333
2007	Captain America 25 Variant Edition	2,050
2008	Hulk 1	949
2009	The Marvels Project 1 Sketch Cover	1,967
2010	X-Men 1 Sketch Cover	2,253
2011	Batman 1	4,398
2012	Saga 1	3,221
2013	Amazing Spider-Man 700	3,451
2014	Outcast 1	4,225
2015	Star Wars 1	1,404
2016	Harley Quinn 1	940
2017	Totally Awesome Hulk 22	1,361
2018	Doomsday Clock 1	642

Edited June 12, 2018 by valiantman

[ComicConnoisseur]

I didn't realize Outcast #1 from 2014 was so popular.

[bababooey]

[ComicConnoisseur]

Good to see NM #98, ASM #300 and Incredible Hulk #181 contunue to have great demand to get certified.

[Martin Sinescu]

Jeez, 1996 was that bad, huh?

[paperheart]

37 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I didn't realize Outcast #1 from 2014 was so popular.

and given that the last 9.8 sold for $3, that's a savvy use of $85K

Edited June 12, 2018 by paperheart

[LordRahl]

4 minutes ago, paperheart said:

and given that the last 9.8 sold for $3, that's a lovely waste of $85K

I wouldn't say that Mike, it did average right around $70-80 for 3 years. Would have been worth slabbing then, not so much now. 

[LordRahl]

Interesting that NM 98 and ASM 300 have similar total submission numbers but the 300 is far, far tougher in 9.8 (almost a 4-1 ratio) with only a difference of 3 years in terms of publication date 

[Jeffro.]

That damn 1% again! 

[Gatsby77]

2,888 slabbed copies of The Walking Dead # 1, vs. its supposed 7,266 print run:

39.7% of the total print run now in plastic.

[Gatsby77]

10 minutes ago, LordRahl said:

Interesting that NM 98 and ASM 300 have similar total submission numbers but the 300 is far, far tougher in 9.8 (almost a 4-1 ratio) with only a difference of 3 years in terms of publication date 

I've said this before but everyone I know who was collecting comics at the time bought multiples of New Mutants 93-100.

And for that first year or two, 98 was an $8 key because it was the first Domino -- not because of Deadpool. 98 wasn't nearly as hoarded as New Mutants 100 or X-Force 1, but...it was hoarded.

[revat]

4 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

2,888 slabbed copies of The Walking Dead # 1, vs. its supposed 7,266 print run:

39.7% of the total print run now in plastic.

probably lower with resubs, and and/or conversion of blues to yellow.

[RockMyAmadeus]

9 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

2,888 slabbed copies of The Walking Dead # 1, vs. its supposed 7,266 print run:

39.7% of the total print run now in plastic.

Who said it had a print run of 7,266...?

Whoever said that...and whoever repeated it...is wrong.

Kirkman and Moore both had several hundred...if not a couple thousand...copies that they sold at conventions in 2003-2004. I suspect that the sales figure reported on Comichron represents a mere 50%...or less....of the entire print run of WD #1.

The print run is FAR in excess of 7,266, and the number 2,888 represents a number of resubmissions that didn't get labels turned in. How many? Nobody will ever know.

[RockMyAmadeus]

8 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

I've said this before but everyone I know who was collecting comics at the time bought multiples of New Mutants 93-100.

And for that first year or two, 98 was an $8 key because it was the first Domino -- not because of Deadpool. 98 wasn't nearly as hoarded as New Mutants 100 or X-Force 1, but...it was hoarded.

There was a gigantic shift in buying habits between February, 1988, when ASM #300 was published, and December, 1990, when New Mutants #98 was published.

Despite claims by some, nobody was buying "cases" of ASM #300 to "put away." That's one of the reasons why 1. it's so valuable, and 2. it's comparatively rare in ultra high grade.

When I say "nobody", I don't mean the 5 or 10 speculators nationwide who were doing so at the time.

By the time NM #98 was published, people...normal, every day people, not hard core speculators...were buying multiple copies of the book, hoping to cash in on "the next McFarlane."

ASM #300 came out at a time when nobody had really heard of McFarlane, and only a handful of books...Hulk #340-342 (which relatively few were reading at the time, compared to, say, X-Men, which was in the middle of Fall of the Mutants, and still selling very well), and Detective #578, which no self-respecting Marvel Zombie had even seen.

ASM #300 took a lot of people by surprise, but it wasn't even an instant sellout (again, despite claims of others.) If you look at ads by national dealers of the time....American Comics/Entertainment, East Coast Comics, J&S, Mile High, etc...you'll notice that they had copies of ASM #300 for a small premium available throughout calendar year 1988. It's only as we move into the middle of 1989 that copies finally began to dry up, and prices started to inch up past the $5 mark.

Prior to ASM #300, you had #298 and #299, in which McFarlane's pencils were absolutely buried by McLeod. Like dropping the pages in quicksand. You can't see much of McFarlane in those books at all. As a result, the vast, vast majority of copies of ASM #300 ordered were sold, one by one by one, to individuals. There weren't a lot of people buying multiple copies of that book brand new, which has had a tremendous affect on its survival rate in very high grade.

NM #98, on the other hand, came out after Liefeld had been on the book for over a year, just after the massive superhit (and, I believe, the best selling X-crossover up to that point in time), of X-Tinction Agenda, and Cable mania is growing, and so you get a lot of people buying multiple copies the day or week of release, bagging and boarding them, and then never taking another look at them for the next 20 years.

And, of course, everyone and their mother's sister's husband's first cousin once removed had bought multiple copies of Spiderman #1 just 6 months before, hoping to cash in, and would do so again with X-Force #1 and X-Men #1 the next summer.

[valiantman]

2 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

ASM #300 took a lot of people by surprise, but it wasn't even an instant sellout (again, despite claims of others.) If you look at ads by national dealers of the time....American Comics/Entertainment, East Coast Comics, J&S, Mile High, etc...you'll notice that they had copies of ASM #300 for a small premium available throughout calendar year 1988. It's only as we move into the middle of 1989 that copies finally began to dry up, and prices started to inch up past the $5 mark.

Would it be fair to say that the "not that special" status for ASM #200 would have contributed to the initial "who cares" attitude for #300?

[RockMyAmadeus]

5 minutes ago, valiantman said:

Would it be fair to say that the "not that special" status for ASM #200 would have contributed to the initial "who cares" attitude for #300?

Probably not. A full 8 years separated them. In comic book readership terms, that used to be a lifetime.

I suspect that the juvenile and adolescent boys who made up the bulk of readership of ASM #200 had long since left comics behind by issue #300.

I further suspect that it was the ho hum response to X-Men #200 in late 1985 that might have had something to do with the ho hum response to #300.

And, historically, anniversary issues, by virtue of their being anniversary issues, have never done well, because retailers typically "over order" them (which was true of #300, by the way), and very little happens...ASM #300 just turned out to be the massive exception.

And....it being Venom's first appearance didn't much matter until 1992-ish, with the Carnage 3-part storyline in #361-363, and then, of course, Lethal Protector the next year.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I don't have my Krause handy; what were Cap city's orders for #298-305? They were shockingly low, all things considered.