2006 was another very busy year for us selling (and buying) CGC graded comic books through our website (www.PedigreeComics.com). We are an internet-based,  buy and bid, non time-based auction site and we only deal in certified books and magazines (90% of which are ultra high grade Bronze and silver Age Marvels). It was our second full year of operation (we launched our site in June, 2004) and we somehow have already topped our sales total of 2005 as of this writing (over 1.2 million dollars in sales).

 

How is it possible to sell so many books for that amount of money exclusively on the internet? The answer is simple: CGC (Comics Guaranty, LLC). Gone are the days when collectors and investors alike would buy only books they were able to see and hold up close out of fear of restoration and/or overgrading, etc. With CGC, buyers bid and buy with confidence, knowing that at least one pre-grader and 2 senior graders have carefully reviewed each book and have assigned an honest, non-biased opinion as to the book’s grade. Most importantly, each comic undergoes a restoration check for all possible forms of restoration to a book (both professional and amateur). And, while not everyone will agree with each and every grade the CGC graders give, there is a certain level of consistency and impartiality that most collectors realize a rose-colored glasses-wearing dealer could never objectively achieve. CGC has leveled the playing field and has enabled even the most skeptical of collectors the chance to buy comic books over the internet without actually having to inspect the book. Back in 1998, that would have happened quite infrequently, especially on big ticket items. In the old auction formats, you would be able to go to a live viewing to hold and smell the pages of a prospective comic book. Now, with a click of a mouse, you can bid on and buy even the most expensive books knowing that they have been individually reviewed, restoration checked, page-counted, encapsulated, finalized, etc. (you just can’t smell the pages once you receive the book!). Just as in coins and sports and trading cards, certification has revolutionized the hobby and is the future of all grade-reliant collectibles hobbies.

 

Besides CGC, the fact that there are so many Marvel collectors out there doesn’t hurt either. Whereas many dealers sell Golden Age, DC’s, moderns, etc., we predominantly sell Silver and Bronze Age Marvels. We specialize in ultra high grade (9.4 and better) certified Marvels from these two time periods. Just as in 2005, Bronze Age Marvels was the absolute hottest segment of the entire comics collecting market in 2006 (and still going strong), with record sales across the board. We sold many Near-Mint and higher 1970’s Marvel books over the course of the year and it would be impossible to name even a small percentage of those sales. The keys remain incredibly hot (some things just never change) and sales of these books in 9.4 or better is, many times, fueled by the collector’s passion to upgrade on an existing copy. We sold an Incredible Hulk 181 in 9.8 for $18,000; an X-Men 94 9.8 for $25,000 (off of our Vault inventory); X-Men 94 in 9.4 went for $2,250; a Marvel Spotlight #5 9.6 for $4,250; a Marvel Spotlight #5 in 9.4 for $1,900; a Ghost Rider #1 in 9.6 fetched $1,900; another Ghost Rider #1 in certified NM+ brought in $1,750; Amazing Spider-Man 129 in 9.8 for $9,000; Amazing Spider-Man 129 in 9.6 got $2,450 (Western Penn); Amazing Spider-Man 101 in 9.6 for $2,000 (Pacific Coast copy); Amazing Spider-Man 102 9.6 sold for a healthy price of $1,875; Amazing Adventures 11 9.6 $1625; Fantastic Four 112 9.6 $1,700; Fantastic Four 116 9.6 $900; Giant-Size X-Men 1 9.6 $2,200; Giant-Size X-Men 1 9.4 $1,400 (2 separate copies);  Conan the Barbarian 1 9.8 $4,095; Tomb of Dracula 1 9.8 $2,200; Astonishing Tales 1 9.6 $600 (Oakland); Marvel Feature 1 9.6 $750; Man-Thing 1 9.8 $650; Marvel Spotlight 2 9.6 $1,650; Marvel Spotlight 2 9.4 $550; Iron Man 43 9.6 $475 and many, many more.

 

We also noticed one title to really emerge, Bronze Age-wise, in 2006. That title was Avengers. Avengers was easily our best selling Bronze Age superhero run and we had a number of killer Winnipeg copies to boost the collectors’ interests. Almost every single Avengers from the 1970’s we had listed on our site (we started with issue #101 and the run ended in the mid 200’s) sold at record prices, even when listed at aggressive multiples. Without having to bore you with the individual sales figures, just know this: Avengers are hot and they SELL! It could be the great covers and stories. It could be the relatively cheap list prices in the guide. It could be the fact that so many Winnipegs were offered. Whatever the case may be, Avengers are here to stay and I predict they will continue to be amongst the best selling titles for years. 

 

Another very strong 1970’s seller for us is Captain America. Just as was the case in 2005, we could not list enough Caps to satisfy our customers’ demands. We listed a great run of Boston copies from this late 1960’s-early 1970’s run and they flew off the site at high multiples. Bronze Age Boston Captain America sales: 121 9.4 $150; 127 9.4 $115; 129 9.2 $75; 131 9.4 $125; 134 9.4 $125; 135 9.4 $115; 137 9.4 $150; 138 9.6 $275; 143 9.8 $600; 146 9.4 $70. We sold a bunch of 9.0 copies from this run as well, all at multiples of grade guide. Other hot Bronze Age super-hero titles include Iron Man and Sub-Mariner (among our strongest sellers); Daredevil (which sell at enormous multiples in the 9.6 and 9.8 range); X-Men; Uncanny X-Men; Fantastic Four; Amazing spider-Man; Thor; Incredible Hulk; Defenders and Doctor Strange. Even some second-tier super-hero titles, such as Nova, Champions, Power Man, Iron Fist; Ghost Rider, Invaders and Spider-Woman, sold incredibly well in 2006, mostly due to the fact that we had listed a nice run of Winnipeg copies from some of these titles. Still so dirt cheap in the Overstreet Guide, they easily fetch over 10x Guide in 9.6 and 9.8 condition. Many non-super-hero BA titles did similarly well in 2006: Marvel Spotlight; Marvel Premiere; Amazing Adventures; Marvel Presents; Conan the Barbarian; Kull the Conqueror; Marvel Double Feature; Astonishing Tales; Fear; Marvel Team-Up; Master of Kung Fu (extreme new-found interest); Marvel Feature; Red Sonja; Marvel Two-In-One, etc.

 

The surprise Bronze sellers of 2006 were the Marvel romance titles, such as My Love and Our Love Story. Hot on the heels of more established titles such as Chili and Mad About Millie, these 2 titles sold unbelievably well for us. We had listed a very high grade run of Oakland copies from these titles and the results are as follows: My Love 7 9.4 $150; My Love 8 9.4 $150; My Love 10 9.4 $185; My Love 11 9.4 $125; My Love 12 9.6 $160; My Love 13 9.4 $125; My Love 15 9.4 $125; My Love 16 9.4 $125; My Love 17 9.6 $150: My Love 18 9.6 $170; Our Love Story 9 9.4 $140; Our Love Story 14 9.4 $150; Our Love Story 15 9.6 $170 and Our Love Story 16 9.4 $125. These underrated titles have cool covers and fun stories and are beginning to catch up with other esoteric titles in popularity. The high grades involved, coupled with the fact that every copy listed was from the awesome Oakland Collection, make it easy to understand the multiples of Guide involved. As we have stated over and over again in our past market reports (in the Overstreet Price guide you now hold as well as in the Comic Price Review which was unfortunately canceled) PEDIGREES SELL, especially in high grade!! They have always sold well at multiples of Guide (even prior to the advent of CGC) and will continue to do so, particularly on these certified Bronze Age titles that are relatively inexpensive when compared to Golden and Silver Age books. We were reminded of this simple fact toward the end of 2006, when we listed a fabulous group of books (over 30) from the incredible Golden State Collection. This pedigree is not even recognized (unfairly, perhaps) by the CGC but is still as famous and collected as any other known Bronze Age pedigrees (such as Winnipeg, Oakland, Mile High II, Dallas Stephens, Don Rosa, etc.). We listed 4 separate titles from the Golden State Collection (Amazing Adventures, Defenders, Marvel Feature and Marvel Team-Up), all in 9.6 grade (with a few 9.8’s and one 9.4 thrown in), and they sold quickly as follows: Amazing Adventures 13 9.6 $500; Amazing Adventures 14 9.6 $450; Defenders 2 9.6 $450; Defenders 3 9.6 $260; Defenders 6 9.6 $225; Defenders 8 9.6 $260; Defenders 9 9.6 $250; Defenders 10 9.6 $550; Marvel Feature 4 9.8 $500; Marvel Feature 5 9.5 $150; Marvel Feature 6 9.4 $75; Marvel Feature 7 9.6 $125; Marvel Feature 8 9.6 $160; Marvel Feature 9 9.8 $275; Marvel Feature 10 9.6 $125; Marvel Team-Up 6 9.8 $325; Marvel Team-Up 8 9.6 $175; Marvel Team-Up 9 9.8 $350 and Marvel Team-Up 10 9.6 $175.

 

Indeed, Bronze Age Marvels were blazing hot in 2006. I look for this area of the hobby to lead the way for years to come. These books are not as common as you might think in the ultra high grades and with almost every individual comic from the period available in certified 9.4-9.8 in $1,000 and less (usually much less), they will continue to be scooped up week after week by savvy collectors.

 

Not far behind the Bronze Age Marvels are their Silver Age forbearers, with many titles still continuing to sell unbelievably well in ultra high grade and in the 8.0 to 9.2 range as well. We started 2006 with a bang, acquiring on consignment a fantastic collection of all ultra high grade Marvel titles from the 60’s, a collection that clearly ranked as the third best Marvel Silver Age one. The collector was a passionate one who only bought Near-Mint or better copies of all the prominent super-hero titles. The grades he received from the CGC on his books proved his collecting eye right as almost every book he submitted came back 9.4 or 9.6 (with only a handful of 9.2’s). His Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery sold immediately, and pretty much all at record prices. Journey Into Mystery was the hottest title in 2004 and still remains scorching hot. Strange Tales was the hottest title in 2005 and has not lost any steam. The following sales all came from the “Third Best Marvel SA Collection”: Strange Tales (all from the Massachusetts Collection): 106 9.4 $2,000; 107 9.2 $1,800; 117 9.4 $1,200; 118 9.4 $1,200; 120 9.4 $1,200; 121 9.4 850; 122 9.6 $1,750; 123 9.4 $800; 124 9.4 750; 126 9.4 $800; 127 9.4 $750; 133 9.4 $750; 134 9.6 $1,200 and 135 9.4 $1,300. Other Strange Tales sales: 102 9.4 $3,150; 103 9.0 $950; 104 9.2 $1,250 (Winnipeg); 105 9.2 $1,150; 106 9.2 $850; 107 9.4 $3,200; 108 9.2 $1,000; 113 9.4 $1,650; 116 9.4 $1,500; 117 $850; 118 9.4 $1050; 119 9.4 $1,900; 122 9.6 $1,333.33;  123 9.6 $1,350; 124 9.6 $1,333.34; 125 9.4 $900; 126 9.6 $1,333.33; 128 9.4 $750; 129 9.4 $650; 130 9.4 650; 131 9.4 $650;  133 9.6 $1,250 and 134 9.4 $550.

 

Journey Into Mystery sales: 87 9.4 $4,000; 89 9.2 $4,500; 90 9.2 $2,800 (Mass. Copy); 91 9.4 $4,300; 92 9.2 $1,900 (White Mountain); 93 9.2 $1,900 (Northland); 94 9.2 $2,000; 95 9.2 $2,000; 96 9.6 $4,000; 97 9.4 $2,000; 98 9.4 $2,200 (Green River); 99 9.4 $1,500; 99 9.4 $1,650; 100 9.4 $1,700; 103 9.4 $2,750 (Mass. Copy); 105 9.4 $1,400; 106 9.4 $1,600 (Northland); 108 9.4 $2,800; 109 9.4 $6,300 (Circle 8); 110 9.4 $1,200; 112 9.6 $14,500 (Mass. Copy); 113 9.4 $950; 114 9.4 $1,800 (Mass. Copy); 114 9.4 $1,500; 115 9.4 $1,350; 118 9.6 $2,500 (Mass. Copy); 118 9.4 $1,350 (White Mountain); 119 9.4 $1025; 119 9.6 $2,500 (Mass. Copy); 119 9.4 $1050; 121 9.6 $710 (Boston); 122 9.6 $2,500 (Boston); 123 9.6 $1,500; 124 9.4 $340 (Boston) and Thor 126 9.4 $2,300.

 

A surprisingly cosmic seller for us in 2006 was Silver Surfer. I had listed a complete 9.6 and 9.8 run of the popular 18 issue title in early 2006 (9 issues in 9.8 and 9 in 9.6) and every issue has sold as of this writing! These books are notoriously cheap in the Price Guide and brought in incredible multiples as you will see: 1 9.8 $13,000 (Boston); 1 9.6 $3,850 (Boston); 2 9.8 $4,250; 3 9.6 $2,250 (Slobodian copy); 3 9.6 $1,350; 4 9.8 $8,000 (Pacific Coast); 4 9.8 $7,500 (Slobodian copy); 6 9.8 $3,000; 6 9.6 $1,150; 7 9.6 $1,700; 8 9.6 $1,550; 9 9.6 $1,600; 9 9.6 $1,600 (Cleveland); 10 9.8 $2,200; 10 9.6 $1,300; 11 9.8 $2,000; 11 9.6 $825; 12 9.6 $1,200 (Oakland); 12 9.6 $1,275; 13 9.6 $1,300; 13 9.6 $1,200; 14 9.8 $3,000; 15 9.6 $1,350 (Pacific Coast); 16 9.8 $2,500; 16 9.6 $870 (Pacific Coast);  17 9.6 $1,650 and 18 9.8 $2,000. Almost every one of these sales represented the single highest recorded one to date. Great covers and stories are what make Silver Surfers so collectible.

 

A comeback title in 2006 was the Incredible Hulk. We had obtained a great run of early Hulks 1-6 (all but #1 in 9.4 or better) and they all sold pretty much right away. Even at pretty high multiples of Guide, it did not take long at all (issues 2-6 within days, in fact) for these early Marvels to find new homes. Incredible Hulk sales: 1 9.0 $45,000; 2 9.4 $10,000; 2 9.4 $13,000 (White Mountain); 3 9.4 $10,000; 4 9.6 $16,500; 4 9.4 $6,500; 5 9.4 $8,250 (Pacific Coast) and 6 9.6 $14,000. After these initial sales, we were able to re-acquire the #2, #4 and #6 and sold them to a private collector (who had missed out on the initial listing) at slightly higher prices: 2 9.4 $12,000; 4 9.4 $8,000 and 6 9.6 $16,250.

 

Other great Silver Age sellers for us are the usual suspects: Daredevil, Avengers (almost as hot as its Bronze Age counterpart), Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense (though not as hot as 2005). Other popular titles include Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, Iron Man, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Sgt. Fury (also not as hot as 2004 and 2005) and Thor. Thors sell amazingly well for us, especially issues in the 120’s through 160’s.

 

Amazing Spider-Man is still a dominant player in the market. Here’s a few high grade sales from 2006: 4 9.2 $5,500; 5 9.0 $3,500; 6 9.6 $18,000; 6 9.2 $3,800 (White Mountain); 7 9.4 $4,500 (Slobodian copy); 8 9.6 $7,500; 9 9.4 $6,000; 10 9.4 $4,500 (Pacific Coast); 11 9.6 $13,000; 13 9.4 $5,400; 14 9.6 $17,300; 15 9.4 $4,100; 16 9.4 $3,500; 17 9.4 $4,500; 22 9.4 $2,200 (Pacific Coast); 23 9.4 $3,000 (Mass. Copy); 25 9.4 $2,750: 31 9.6 $3,000 (Golden State); 32 9.6 $3,000 (White Mountain); 33 9.6 $900; 36 9.4 $1,600 (Mass. Copy); 38 9.4 $825; 39 9.6 $4,100; 39 9.6 $4,500; 40 9.6 $4,200; 40 9.6 $5,500 (Mass. Copy); 44 9.6 $2,050; 46 9.6 $3,000; 49 9.6 $3,350 (Pacific Coast); 50 9.4 $3,800 (Northland) and 57 9.6 $1,100 (Cleveland).

 

X-Men sold like hot cakes for us in 2006. Here are some sales from the aforementioned collection we acquired on consignment: 4 9.4 $4,800 (Mass. Copy); 5 9.4 $3,400; 6 9.4 $1,800; 6 9.6 $4,600 (Mass. Copy); 9 9.4 $2,950 (Mass. Copy); 11 9.4 $2,500 (Mass. Copy); 12 9.4 $2,550 (White Mountain); 13 9.4 $1,700 (Mass. Copy); 16 9.6 $2,550 (Golden State); 17 9.4 $1,500 (Northland); 19 9.4 $925 (Northland); 22 9.4 $510; 23 9.3 $1,300 (Mass. Copy); 24 9.6 $975; 25 9.4 $500; 26 9.4 $465; 27 9.4 $475; 28 9.6 $3,350 (Golden State); 29 9.4 $550 (Mass. Copy); 30 9.4 $525 (Northland); 31 9.6 $1,325 (Golden State); 32 9.6 $750; 33 9.4 $585; 36 9.4 $375 (Northland); 38 9.6 $550; 39 9.4 $525 (Mass. Copy); 41 9.4 $420; 42 9.4 $300; 44 9.4 $325; 47 9.4 $350 (Boston); 48 9.4 $300; 49 9.4 $350; 51 9.6 $750; 52 9.4 $385; 53 9.6 $650; 54 9.4 $325; 56 9.4 $300; 57 9.4 $375; 61 9.4 $400; 63 9.4 $350; 64 9.4 $400 (Oakland) and 66 9.4 $325. These books, for the most part, sold at the ask price (“Buy It Now”) on the website and within a few days of being uploaded.   

 

Overall, the Silver Age Marvel market is still extremely healthy and we had a bunch of other memorable sales to prove it (mostly from the “Third Best Marvel Silver Age Collection”): X-Men 1 8.5 $14,000; X-Men 1 8.0 $8,000; X-Men 1 7.0 $5,300; Fantastic Four 1 6.0 $6,500; Fantastic Four 4 9.4 $18,000; Fantastic Four 5 9.2 $21,000; Fantastic Four 16 9.4 $3,700 (Pacific Coast); Fantastic Four 18 9.2 $3,400; Fantastic Four 21 9.4 $1,700; Fantastic Four 22 9.4 $1,400; Fantastic Four 31 9.4 $1,450; Fantastic four 38 9.6 $1,400; Fantastic Four 40 9.4 $1,350 (Pacific Coast); Fantastic Four 48 9.6 $2,500; Fantastic four 49 9.4 $1,900; Fantastic four 50 9.5 $2,900 (Slobodian copy); Fantastic four 52 9.6 $3,100 (Slobodian copy); Fantastic four 55 9.6 $2,050 (Green River); Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1 9.4 $5,000; Avengers 1 8.5 $3,950; Avengers 2 9.4 $4,500; Avengers 3 9.4 $3,000; Avengers 4 9.2 $2,600 (White Mountain); Avengers 5 9.4 $2,300; Avengers 6 9.4 $1,750; Avengers 8 9.6 $2825; Avengers 9 9.4 $2,375; Avengers 10 9.4 $875; 12 9.4 $1,400 (Pacific Coast); Journey Into Mystery Annual 1 9.4 $1,700; Daredevil 2 9.4 $3,600; Daredevil 3 9.4 $2,500; Daredevil 4 9.6 $3,300; Daredevil 4 9.4 $1,550; Daredevil 6 9.4 $1,000 (Northland); Daredevil 7 9.2 $3,650 (Pacific Coast); Daredevil 8 9.4 $850 (Northland); Daredevil 9 9.6 $1080 (Northland); Daredevil 12 9.6 $1,750; Daredevil 14 9.4 $385; Daredevil 16 9.4 $1,750; Daredevil 17 9.6 $2,650 (Golden State); Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom 1 9.4 $2,000 (Mohawk Valley); Incredible Hulk 1 5.5 $3,250; Captain America 100 9.8 $3,900;  Captain America 101 9.6 $600 (White Mountain); Iron Man 1 9.8 $4,300; Iron Man 1 9.8 $4,000; Tales of suspense 50 9.4 $2,300 (Mass. Copy); TOS 53 9.6 $1,750; TOS 53 9.4 $975; TOS 54 9.4 $1,025; TOS 55 9.4 $1,450; TOS 58 9.4 $1,600; TOS 59 9.4 $1,600; TOS 60 9.4 $1,100; Tales to Astonish 35 9.0 $2,800; TTA 37 9.2 $1,050; TTA 39 9.4 $2,175; TTA 59 9.4 $1,600 and TTA 60 9.4 $1,300.

 

2006 saw the addition of the Group/Sales Listing Feature to our website and we sold an incredible collection of Strange Tales 135-168 (all in 9.4 and 9.6 and mostly from the Massachusetts collection) for $10,500. And, although we did purchase a significant number of CGC graded books in 2006, one that sticks out is the Daredevil #1 in 9.4 we found at MegaCon for $14,000.

 

As we forge ahead into 2007 (2007 already?), I can honestly say that the Marvel back issue market is as healthy and vibrant as ever. While sales of some very big ticket books have come back to earth (books in the $50,000 and over price range), sales of almost every title across the board remains significantly strong, even stronger than 2005 (which I thought would be impossible). We keep on listing new Silver Age and Bronze Age Marvels on a daily basis because our customers continually bid on and buy them. With even more and more CGC graded books entering the marketplace (CGC is now close to 800,000  total books graded as of this writing) to keep up with the ever-growing influx of new collectors (think baby boomers here!), I do not see this trend stopping for many years to come.