CGC-certified Comics and Concert Posters Featured in Hake's Sale

If you've been searching for key issues and first appearances, Hake’s Auctions’ November Premier Auction on November 18-19, 2025, includes many famous debuts and other historic issues graded by Certified Guaranty Company® (CGC®).

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Among the comics featured in this sale is an X-Men #1 graded CGC 9.2. This book includes the origin and first appearance of the mutant superhero team known as the X-Men, as well as the first appearances of Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Marvel Girl, their mentor Professor X and nemesis Magneto. Since their introduction in 1963, the X-Men have starred in multiple animated series, video games and movies. The team will be rebooted once again to join the current Marvel Cinematic Universe in the near future, according to Marvel Studios. Bidding for this book had already exceeded $68,000 more than two weeks before the sale.

Also at center stage is an FD-26-OP-1: Skeletons & Roses, Avalon Ballroom, September 16 & 17, 1966 poster graded CGC 9.8. This famous Family Dog psychedelic concert poster from the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco advertised shows in September 1966 by a band that is one of the most enduring of all time. The Grateful Dead launched their debut self-titled album the next year in 1967. Well-known in the psychedelic poster world, Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley would often search the shelves of the San Francisco Public Library for images and ideas that they could then build their posters around. From a series of skeleton drawings by British book illustrator E.J. Sullivan, they found an illustration of a skeleton picking roses and assembling a wreath from the flowers, which became the impetus for the iconic poster.

The auction also includes a new selection of pre-Code horror comics and a wide variety of books from the Golden Age up through the Modern era, including variants and many signed books.

Other CGC-certified comics in this auction include:

• an Amazing Fantasy #15 graded CGC 1.8
• an Amazing Spider-Man #1 graded CGC 6.5
• an Amazing Spider-Man #6 graded CGC 9.2
• a Dynamic Comics #18 graded CGC 7.0
• a Fantastic Four #5 graded CGC 4.0
• an Incredible Hulk #181 graded CGC 9.4
• a Planet Comics #15 graded CGC 7.5
• a Tales of Suspense #39 graded CGC 1.5
• an X-Men #1 graded CGC 5.5

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.