Thanks to a lot of people for input on this list. It's been a long time in the making and many, many people have helped me out over the years. You are all awesome.
As I look at the prices on this list one observation comes to mind. 99 % of the population on planet earth cannot afford to buy these comic books on the list, so who are the people buying them? I doubt they are even real fans. What do you call a hobby that has out priced itself and excludes so many of it's followers?
There are plenty of ways to enjoy collecting comics without buying books at this level so the hobby is still doing okay.
Also, I know, or know a lot about the owners of these books. I can assure you they're some of the most passionate comics people I've ever met. There are plenty of ways to spend your money. People spending $100,000 or more on a comic book are (mostly) doing it because they love comics. There might be an investor or two out there, but the biggest collections are in the hands of people who truly love comics.
Metropolis Comics had a Detective Comics #27 CGC 6.0 unrestored listed on their website for $158,000 back in 2007 and I believe it has been sold at that price.
You know what's not on here – because its totally anecdotal – is the Church Wonder Woman 1. The story I've ALWAYS heard is that as Chuck was bringing the collection into the store, somebody came in and said "Wow, I've been looking for a nice copy of this," bought it, and left, and the book has never been seen again. Wonder where it is?
[…] and the previous Action #1 1.8 result I added every copy of each above 2.0 in the Census to the $100,000 club. I also added all the qualifying (or near qualifying) Heritage […]
Just found your site and think it is great. Can I please ask what "OS" means and would you know who owns the Church copies of Pep #22 and Archie #1?
Also, what is your reaction to the Archie #1 (7.0) sold on Heritage recently for almost 40K. Was it overpriced or is the Church copy listed above (53K) perhaps undervalued?
I think the Archie #1 was a fair price for the 7.0. I would think the church Copy would go for significantly more than the $53k if it were to come up for auction today. The Pep 22 certainly would.
Thanks Rob. It is just speculation on my part but I wonder if Steve Geppi owns the Church copies of Archie #1 and Pep #22. I noticed once in the foreword to one of the Archie Americana series that he said he owns "perhaps the finest known copies" of these books.
I would love to see what the Church copies would go for today (or, for that matter, even just a mid-grade Pep #22.)
It's been a few years since there were Pep 22s changing hands publicly, but the last coverless copy sold for over $1500 (Dec 07), the last 2.0 copy for over $8500 (Aug 06), and metropolis listed a VF "Click to inquire!" copy which (hearsay) they were asking $75 000 for. Since it's no longer listed, presumably it sold, but I do not know to whom. The short answer, then, is four to five times Guide. As for what the Church copies would sell for, the only thing holding them back would be collectors' ability to pay. There's a significant number of people who will throw $10 000+ at slabbed SA books, but the vast majority of them have no love for Archie.
I have no doubt the Church copies are $100,000+ books. Even at six figures I think they're undervalued, personally. A long-running, iconic series that crosses over into all parts of American popular culture? These should both be top 20 books as far as I'm concerned.
nice article – but its called the 100K club; man, i cant believe that the new comic level is at 1 million. If only i had kept them all…good link also at listsoplenty [http://listsoplenty.com/blog/archives/6262]
Cool listing. I agree about the Church copies of Archie 1 & Pep 22 with them being worth quite a bit more then 100K, especially the #22. I'm not sure if this list is still being updated, but it doesn't include the Action #1 that recently sold for over 2 Million, nor does it include the Journey Into Mystery 9.2 that sold for 100K in Oct. of 2011, and there is also a J.I.M. 9.4 out there, so that should be included as well. Also, a Tales of Suspense 39 sold in March of 2011 for $147,500. These sales are all available on GPAnalysis. Please keep updating this if you can, as this is useful information.
Yeah, It's still being updated. I've been quite busy for the past few months, unfortunately, so I'm behind the curve here. What I really need to do is a full update, including another scan of the CGC census.
I owned the Detective Comics #29 Allentown. I sold it in 2000. It was graded CGC 9.6 OW and it sold for $90,000. I thought you might want to update it on your site!
[…] working on a new, interactive, interface to the $100,000 Club dataset I keep on itsalljustcomics.com. The data deals with the world's most valuable comic […]
[…] I went ahead and relaunched the $100,000 Club page with a ton of new data and some sorting and filtering/search features. It's still early days […]
I am pretty sure you have a typo in your list. You have Detective #1 Allentown and say it is NM/MT Best Existing. I think you mean #27. There is no way there is a NM/MT copy of Det #1.
Great list – very informative, and a place to keep track of my investment. I'll contribute that I own a copy of Detective 27, 7.0 (moderate restoration). No plans to sell it, but if I ever do, your list will be the first to know.
Also, while the CBCS 9.0 Suspense 3 is really really beautiful, has anyone ever paid more than $25K or so for that issue? $100K seems way too strong for a comic that's (1) not a superhero, (2) not a first issue of a long running and popular series featuring pop icons (e.g. WDCS or Archie), (3) does not debut any important characters, and (4) is just a pure "nice cover" comic. Has any pure (non-superhero) "nice cover" comic gone for over $100K? I get the impression the pure "nice cover" collectors don't throw that kind of money around. I personally don't view it as that great a cover, certainly not Schomburg's best (which are on the superhero books), but I'm not big on KKK/Nazi collecting.
The first time Suspense #3 really stood out to me was seeing it in The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books 20 years ago or so. If it was in color in an Overstreet before that I can't remember. As soon as I saw it I was impressed by it and like you I don't care about KKK/Nazi type of stuff. I liked it more for the damsel in distress aspect. Way back then it was valued greater than the other Suspense Comics before and after it, basically based just on the cover I would assume. Then I got away from the hobby for years. When I bought another price guide in about 2012 or and saw the price had jumped tremendously I was amazed at first, but then thought about slabbed books and could kind of see why it jumped so much. If you are going to take a comic and turn it from something you can flip through and read and turn it into basically a painting you might as well get ones that have the best art and/or most iconic covers. The fact that it is so tough to find in high grade just adds to it. Thus books that were worth more than their surrounding issues before because of a nice cover jumped astronomically once all you could ever see was the cover, i.e. Suspense #3, Detective #31, Action #7, etc. Always considered classic covers sure, or in the case of Action #7 the 2nd Superman cover, but now that the only thing you can ever see is the cover let's bump up the value at a greater rate than everything else around it.
Thanks, I missed adding the restoration information. That will go in next update.
As for Suspense 3, I'm not 100% sold on it, but… People get weird around Suspense 3. Also an 8.0 sold for around $50,000 9 years ago. I could easily see a 9.0 doubling that, whether or not I think it's the best buy for 6 figures.
[…] As an aside, does anyone know if this copy is one of the books that previously sold at Comic Connect? They've sold two 5.0s. One in 2010 and one in 2013. I've got those recorded as separate books. Is this one of those two or am I correct that it's the third 5.0? […]
The Reilly All-American 16, like the Larson, has a coupon clipped. The top three All-American 16 are apparently the 9.4 MH, the 8.0 Wright, and a 6.0 that once was the highest certified.
[…] in Scoop, Hakes is going to auction a Detective Comics #27 CGC 5.0 in March. They just got on the $100,000 club by selling an Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 7.5 for 140,760.31. Now they're going to take a run at […]
[…] said, when a Copper Age book tickles up against joining the $100,000 club, that's something to write about. So, aside from the eye-popping baseline number it's important to […]
[…] added dozens of books and many dozens of data points to the $100,000 Club and, as part of that, the Reilly Captain America #1 was added to the all time record comic sales at […]
By The $100,000 Comic Book Club | Comic Book Secrets October 10, 2008 - 2:14 pm
[…] The $100,000 Club […]
By john October 12, 2016 - 8:49 pm
As I look at the prices on this list one observation comes to mind. 99 % of the population on planet earth cannot afford to buy these comic books on the list, so who are the people buying them? I doubt they are even real fans. What do you call a hobby that has out priced itself and excludes so many of it's followers?
By Rob October 12, 2016 - 10:41 pm
There are plenty of ways to enjoy collecting comics without buying books at this level so the hobby is still doing okay.
Also, I know, or know a lot about the owners of these books. I can assure you they're some of the most passionate comics people I've ever met. There are plenty of ways to spend your money. People spending $100,000 or more on a comic book are (mostly) doing it because they love comics. There might be an investor or two out there, but the biggest collections are in the hands of people who truly love comics.
By Brian January 28, 2009 - 2:17 pm
Metropolis Comics had a Detective Comics #27 CGC 6.0 unrestored listed on their website for $158,000 back in 2007 and I believe it has been sold at that price.
By Rob January 28, 2009 - 2:23 pm
Thanks! I'll add that in later today.
By Dan Cusimano February 18, 2009 - 10:48 am
You know what's not on here – because its totally anecdotal – is the Church Wonder Woman 1. The story I've ALWAYS heard is that as Chuck was bringing the collection into the store, somebody came in and said "Wow, I've been looking for a nice copy of this," bought it, and left, and the book has never been seen again. Wonder where it is?
By Rob February 18, 2009 - 11:12 am
I would love to find that book. I wonder if it would be recognized if it came back into the hobby.
By Peter March 20, 2009 - 10:49 am
Hey dude.
Your 100,000 list club is getting very crowded. How about upping the ante to the 250,000 club ?
By Harry April 11, 2011 - 4:20 pm
But how many of them are fake?
By Five Random Heritage Thoughts + a Big 100,000 Club Update » It’s All Just Comics » Blog Archive May 22, 2009 - 8:45 am
[…] and the previous Action #1 1.8 result I added every copy of each above 2.0 in the Census to the $100,000 club. I also added all the qualifying (or near qualifying) Heritage […]
By theresa brown June 3, 2009 - 8:31 am
i am trying to sale my 1940s comic book,s how do i get a buyer?
By Rob September 2, 2009 - 11:07 pm
Just found your site and think it is great. Can I please ask what "OS" means and would you know who owns the Church copies of Pep #22 and Archie #1?
Also, what is your reaction to the Archie #1 (7.0) sold on Heritage recently for almost 40K. Was it overpriced or is the Church copy listed above (53K) perhaps undervalued?
By Rob September 3, 2009 - 7:05 am
Hi Rob,
OS refers to the Overstreet Price Guide.
I think the Archie #1 was a fair price for the 7.0. I would think the church Copy would go for significantly more than the $53k if it were to come up for auction today. The Pep 22 certainly would.
By rob p September 3, 2009 - 10:32 pm
Thanks Rob. It is just speculation on my part but I wonder if Steve Geppi owns the Church copies of Archie #1 and Pep #22. I noticed once in the foreword to one of the Archie Americana series that he said he owns "perhaps the finest known copies" of these books.
I would love to see what the Church copies would go for today (or, for that matter, even just a mid-grade Pep #22.)
By Andy February 27, 2010 - 11:14 am
It's been a few years since there were Pep 22s changing hands publicly, but the last coverless copy sold for over $1500 (Dec 07), the last 2.0 copy for over $8500 (Aug 06), and metropolis listed a VF "Click to inquire!" copy which (hearsay) they were asking $75 000 for. Since it's no longer listed, presumably it sold, but I do not know to whom. The short answer, then, is four to five times Guide. As for what the Church copies would sell for, the only thing holding them back would be collectors' ability to pay. There's a significant number of people who will throw $10 000+ at slabbed SA books, but the vast majority of them have no love for Archie.
By Rob February 27, 2010 - 5:54 pm
I have no doubt the Church copies are $100,000+ books. Even at six figures I think they're undervalued, personally. A long-running, iconic series that crosses over into all parts of American popular culture? These should both be top 20 books as far as I'm concerned.
By $100,000 Club Updated With One New Book and Some New Data on Four Others » It’s All Just Comics » Blog Archive November 25, 2009 - 9:10 am
[…] $100,000 Club […]
By List o’ 13 Most Valuable Comic Books :listsoplenty.com March 3, 2010 - 11:40 am
[…] Source: link […]
By PParker2 March 28, 2010 - 10:19 pm
nice article – but its called the 100K club; man, i cant believe that the new comic level is at 1 million. If only i had kept them all…good link also at listsoplenty [http://listsoplenty.com/blog/archives/6262]
By billy January 4, 2011 - 3:23 pm
Thanx a lot broke my hopes lol explains y i cant find em no where any idea where i could look?
By BRIAN August 27, 2011 - 8:47 am
WHAT IS A CHURCH COPY ? THANKS
By Rob August 27, 2011 - 1:50 pm
A comic book from the collection of a man named Edgar Church.
By Rob September 24, 2011 - 10:09 am
If someone had the original printing plates to the above comics what would that be worth???
Rob
By Ken Dyber January 11, 2012 - 12:47 pm
Cool listing. I agree about the Church copies of Archie 1 & Pep 22 with them being worth quite a bit more then 100K, especially the #22. I'm not sure if this list is still being updated, but it doesn't include the Action #1 that recently sold for over 2 Million, nor does it include the Journey Into Mystery 9.2 that sold for 100K in Oct. of 2011, and there is also a J.I.M. 9.4 out there, so that should be included as well. Also, a Tales of Suspense 39 sold in March of 2011 for $147,500. These sales are all available on GPAnalysis. Please keep updating this if you can, as this is useful information.
By Rob January 11, 2012 - 1:11 pm
Yeah, It's still being updated. I've been quite busy for the past few months, unfortunately, so I'm behind the curve here. What I really need to do is a full update, including another scan of the CGC census.
By West February 22, 2012 - 3:01 pm
I owned the Detective Comics #29 Allentown. I sold it in 2000. It was graded CGC 9.6 OW and it sold for $90,000. I thought you might want to update it on your site!
Best regards,
West
By Rob February 23, 2012 - 4:21 pm
Thanks! I'm going to go crazy and update all my data over the next few weeks so anything I can get is good.
By Sorting by Multiple Fields with Different Sort Orders Using the AngularJS orderby Filter | HTML + CSS + JavaScript July 25, 2013 - 10:32 am
[…] working on a new, interactive, interface to the $100,000 Club dataset I keep on itsalljustcomics.com. The data deals with the world's most valuable comic […]
By $100,000 Club Relaunched | It's All Just Comics December 29, 2013 - 2:05 pm
[…] I went ahead and relaunched the $100,000 Club page with a ton of new data and some sorting and filtering/search features. It's still early days […]
By sfcityduck January 7, 2014 - 5:47 pm
The Action 1 PGX 9.0(r) was purchased in 1980 for $6,000 from a mail auction (sealed bids) run by Collector's Showcase.
By vfighter January 20, 2014 - 10:42 pm
I am pretty sure you have a typo in your list. You have Detective #1 Allentown and say it is NM/MT Best Existing. I think you mean #27. There is no way there is a NM/MT copy of Det #1.
By Rob January 20, 2014 - 10:56 pm
Good eye! Fixed.
By $100,000 Club Data Updated with Comic Connect Event Auction and the $320k Hulk #1 CGC 9.2 | It's All Just Comics June 16, 2014 - 4:37 pm
[…] like the title says, the $100,000 Club data is updated with results from the recent Comic Connect Event Auction and the standalone sale of […]
By sfcityduck August 4, 2014 - 3:24 pm
The exact date of sale for Action 1 PGX 9.0(r) was May 6, 1980 (auction closing date).
By Rob August 4, 2014 - 3:27 pm
Great info. Thanks!
By Non Sequitur August 20, 2014 - 12:23 pm
Great list – very informative, and a place to keep track of my investment. I'll contribute that I own a copy of Detective 27, 7.0 (moderate restoration). No plans to sell it, but if I ever do, your list will be the first to know.
By November 2014 Comic Market Report: Heritage. I Guess I'll Talk About Heritage. | It's All Just Comics December 3, 2014 - 4:03 pm
[…] I originally launched the $100,000 club list it felt a bit bold to place the Pep Comics #22 and Archie #1 from the Church collection on the […]
By $100,000 Club Updated with 2014 Sales Data (and the first CBCS graded comic books worth more than $100k) | It's All Just Comics January 29, 2015 - 12:38 pm
[…] updated the $100,000 club with a few books and sales. I added several sales that had escaped my notice in 2014 and then added […]
By sfcityduck February 6, 2015 - 6:01 pm
Rob,
The Action 1 CBCS 6.5 is M/E restored.
Also, while the CBCS 9.0 Suspense 3 is really really beautiful, has anyone ever paid more than $25K or so for that issue? $100K seems way too strong for a comic that's (1) not a superhero, (2) not a first issue of a long running and popular series featuring pop icons (e.g. WDCS or Archie), (3) does not debut any important characters, and (4) is just a pure "nice cover" comic. Has any pure (non-superhero) "nice cover" comic gone for over $100K? I get the impression the pure "nice cover" collectors don't throw that kind of money around. I personally don't view it as that great a cover, certainly not Schomburg's best (which are on the superhero books), but I'm not big on KKK/Nazi collecting.
By vfighter February 6, 2015 - 10:54 pm
The first time Suspense #3 really stood out to me was seeing it in The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books 20 years ago or so. If it was in color in an Overstreet before that I can't remember. As soon as I saw it I was impressed by it and like you I don't care about KKK/Nazi type of stuff. I liked it more for the damsel in distress aspect. Way back then it was valued greater than the other Suspense Comics before and after it, basically based just on the cover I would assume. Then I got away from the hobby for years. When I bought another price guide in about 2012 or and saw the price had jumped tremendously I was amazed at first, but then thought about slabbed books and could kind of see why it jumped so much. If you are going to take a comic and turn it from something you can flip through and read and turn it into basically a painting you might as well get ones that have the best art and/or most iconic covers. The fact that it is so tough to find in high grade just adds to it. Thus books that were worth more than their surrounding issues before because of a nice cover jumped astronomically once all you could ever see was the cover, i.e. Suspense #3, Detective #31, Action #7, etc. Always considered classic covers sure, or in the case of Action #7 the 2nd Superman cover, but now that the only thing you can ever see is the cover let's bump up the value at a greater rate than everything else around it.
By Rob February 7, 2015 - 11:00 am
Thanks, I missed adding the restoration information. That will go in next update.
As for Suspense 3, I'm not 100% sold on it, but… People get weird around Suspense 3. Also an 8.0 sold for around $50,000 9 years ago. I could easily see a 9.0 doubling that, whether or not I think it's the best buy for 6 figures.
By February 2015 Comic Market Report: Spidey Says Ouch! Plus… Three Fascinating Books at Comic Connect | It's All Just Comics March 9, 2015 - 2:15 pm
[…] As an aside, does anyone know if this copy is one of the books that previously sold at Comic Connect? They've sold two 5.0s. One in 2010 and one in 2013. I've got those recorded as separate books. Is this one of those two or am I correct that it's the third 5.0? […]
By Sfcityduck May 21, 2015 - 4:33 pm
Rob,
Is the price on the Action 2 9.4(C) correct? I click on the price and it links to an auction that ends with a $92K final price.
By Rob May 22, 2015 - 9:35 am
Good catch! I'll update when I'm home.
By Rob May 25, 2015 - 10:00 pm
updated
By Matt May 21, 2015 - 11:25 pm
There's currently a CGC 9.4 (EP) Pep 22 up for auction on ComicConnect. I think it's at $25k with 2 weeks to go.
By Sfcityduck June 10, 2015 - 12:49 pm
Rob,
The Reilly All-American 16, like the Larson, has a coupon clipped. The top three All-American 16 are apparently the 9.4 MH, the 8.0 Wright, and a 6.0 that once was the highest certified.
By Updated: $100,000 Club, All-Time Record Sales and Most Valuable Comics | It's All Just Comics January 2, 2017 - 10:09 am
[…] I updated the $100,000 club with a couple dozen books including many sales from 2016. […]
By $100,000 Club and All Time Record Comic Book Sales Updated (Wonder Woman in the top 10!) | It's All Just Comics November 17, 2017 - 7:55 pm
[…] Check it out! $100,000 club updated with so much new data. […]
By Hakes to Auction Detective Comics #27 CGC 5.0 | It's All Just Comics January 27, 2018 - 12:11 pm
[…] in Scoop, Hakes is going to auction a Detective Comics #27 CGC 5.0 in March. They just got on the $100,000 club by selling an Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 7.5 for 140,760.31. Now they're going to take a run at […]
By Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 CGC 9.8 Sells for $90,000 at Heritage | It's All Just Comics August 12, 2019 - 3:42 pm
[…] said, when a Copper Age book tickles up against joining the $100,000 club, that's something to write about. So, aside from the eye-popping baseline number it's important to […]
By $100,000 Club and All-Time Record Comic Sales Updated | It's All Just Comics August 20, 2019 - 9:52 pm
[…] added dozens of books and many dozens of data points to the $100,000 Club and, as part of that, the Reilly Captain America #1 was added to the all time record comic sales at […]