The raw books from August’s $1.4M Minnesota find have been slabbed—and a historic CGC 9.9 Edgar Church Mile High survivor has officially hit the auction block!

In this preview of ComicConnect Event Auction #68, we examine the rapid turnaround of the newly designated Minnesota North Star Collection, along with major Golden Age blue chips, post-bubble price tests, and premier original art lots.

Standout Auction Lots & Forensic Highlights:

The Lost Mile High 9.9: Spy Smasher #7 (CGC 9.9). After vanishing from Chuck Rozanski's original 1977 catalog and resurfacing raw at Luther Auctions in August, this book is now certified as one of only three Mint 9.9 Golden Age copies from the Edgar Church pedigree.

The Minnesota North Star Cohort: Several certified books from the estate have entered the catalog, led by an L.B. Cole classic—Mask Comics #2 in CGC 8.5 (tied for highest-graded on the census).

The Long-Term Slab Check: All-Star Comics #3 (CGC 9.4), sitting in an original 2001 third-party holder for a quarter-century, testing its $358,800 pandemic high.

Revisiting 2023 Benchmarks: Two major keys that hammered on the same day in March 2023 return to market: the Edgar Church More Fun Comics #55 (CGC 9.6, 1st Dr. Fate, previously $264,000) and Detective Comics #33 (CGC 6.5, origin of Batman, previously $288,000).

Pedigree & Modern Volatility: Auditing Marvel Family #1 (CGC 9.4) from the 2021 Promise Collection auction ($186,000) alongside the modern white whale: the elusive 1:100 Amazing Spider-Man #667 Gabriele Dell'Otto variant.

Doctor Doom Original Art Highlights: Two incredible production pieces: Page 18 from Mike Mignola's legendary 1989 graphic novel Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, and Sanford Greene's standout cover art for Doom #1 (2024).

🎙️ Edgar Church’s Basement Podcast

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edgar-churchs-basement/id1872746765
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IdlxY2AB8ExWRPwzWCIde?si=dd5837d35faa4dee
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/620e2e28-9264-4485-bfad-bcba7471fabf/edgar-church's-basement

📊 The Edgar Church Data Project
The ultimate resource for tracking the most important pedigree collection in history.

Official Site: http://edgarchurchdata.com

📝 Deep Dives & Analysis
The Main Blog: https://itsalljustcomics.com/
The $100,000 Club: https://itsalljustcomics.com/100000-club/
Timeline of Record Sales: https://itsalljustcomics.com/a-timeline-of-world-record-comic-book-sales/
Silver Age Key & Pedigree Data:https://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/
Most Valuable Comics: https://itsalljustcomics.com/the-most-valuable-comic-books-in-the-world/

🛒 Support & Shop
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eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?&_ssn=rob_react Continue reading →

Following up on our recent discussion of the foundational figures who built the organized comic market, we are taking a forensic look inside the very beginning of standardized pricing: The 1970 Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #1 (via the 1993 *Comic Book Marketplace* 30-page reproduction edition).

Decades before third-party grading, population censuses, and million-dollar realized prices, Bob Overstreet published the first serious attempt to establish market consensus for vintage comic books. Looking back at the raw listings from 1970 reveals a fascinating snapshot of what the hobby actually valued—and what it completely ignored:

The Insane Compression of Condition: Long before the market separated 9.0s from 9.8s, the spread between Good and Mint on blue-chip grails was microscopic. Action Comics #1 sat at $200 (Good), $250 (Fine), and $300 (Mint). Amazing Fantasy #15 was $12, $14, and $16. X-Men #1 was just $4, $5, and $6.

Silver Age Keys Didn’t Exist Yet: Because early Silver Age books were only 6 to 8 years old at publication, fandom treated them as disposable recent reading. Amazing Spider-Man #1–62 had essentially zero keynote callouts—no 1st Green Goblin, no Lizard, no Kingpin. Fantastic Four didn't even mention Doctor Doom or the Galactus Trilogy (#48–50).

Artist Stardom in 1970: Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, and Joe Simon were among the very few creators deemed important enough to be credited by name on book listings.

Puzzling Curiosities: Why Animal Man and Deadman received explicit key notations while Silver Surfer and Archie (Pep Comics #22) were completely omitted; why Mad #5 was singled out as uniquely rare; and why early DC listings routinely noted "Origin" while ignoring "First Appearance."

🎙️ Edgar Church’s Basement Podcast

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edgar-churchs-basement/id1872746765
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IdlxY2AB8ExWRPwzWCIde?si=dd5837d35faa4dee
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/620e2e28-9264-4485-bfad-bcba7471fabf/edgar-church's-basement

📊 The Edgar Church Data Project
The ultimate resource for tracking the most important pedigree collection in history.

Official Site: http://edgarchurchdata.com

📝 Deep Dives & Analysis
The Main Blog: https://itsalljustcomics.com/
The $100,000 Club: https://itsalljustcomics.com/100000-club/
Timeline of Record Sales: https://itsalljustcomics.com/a-timeline-of-world-record-comic-book-sales/
Silver Age Key & Pedigree Data:https://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/
Most Valuable Comics: https://itsalljustcomics.com/the-most-valuable-comic-books-in-the-world/

🛒 Support & Shop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsalljustcomics/
Channel Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL38oEyvwqlxrQDskQ9xGIA/join
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Is Fantastic Four #39–60 the single greatest run in comic book history?

In this long-awaited deep dive, we break down Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at the absolute height of their creative powers—covering all 23 issues (including Annual #3) issue-by-issue, auditing the groundbreaking story arcs, and breaking down the exact real-world cost to collect this legendary run across four distinct budget tiers.

From Daredevil defending a powerless Baxter Building in #39 to the cosmic clash of Doctor Doom wielding the Power Cosmic in #60, this single stretch redefined world-building in American sequential art:

The Story Arcs: The heartbreaking conditioning of Ben Grimm (#40–43), the star-studded wedding of Reed and Sue in Annual #3, the secret debut of the Inhumans (#44–47), the immortal Galactus Trilogy (#48–50), the emotional high-water mark of the Silver Age in "This Man, This Monster!" (#51), the landmark geopolitical introduction of the Black Panther and Wakanda (#52–53), and the epic 4-part cosmic Doom saga (#57–60).

The Market & Collecting Math (What Does It Cost?):
The Apex Tier (Top Registry): Chasing the unique 9.9 unicorns (#48 & #55), peak 9.6s where no 9.8s exist (#40 & #51), and 9.8s across the board runs $850,000 to $1,000,000 at historic highs, or ~$450,000 based on recent sales.
The Investment Grade (Uniform CGC 9.4): Assembling a clean 9.4 run totals $60,000 to $70,000—with over two-thirds of that budget tied up in just five mega-keys (#45, #48, #49, #50, #52).
The Collector Sweet Spot (CGC 8.0): Scoring incredible cover eye-appeal without the punishing 9.4+ registry multipliers lands the complete run between $10,000 and $18,000.
The $100 Entry Level (Accessible Silver Age): The most shocking realization of this run: 19 of the 23 issues can be acquired for $100 or less! You can land 14 issues in respectable 6.0 to 8.0 condition and another six in solid VG 4.0 holders—leaving only the Galactus Trilogy and the first appearance of Black Panther out of reach at the century mark.

Which issue in this run is your absolute favorite? If you had the budget, which mega-key would you buy first? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

🎙️ Edgar Church’s Basement Podcast

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edgar-churchs-basement/id1872746765
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IdlxY2AB8ExWRPwzWCIde?si=dd5837d35faa4dee
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/620e2e28-9264-4485-bfad-bcba7471fabf/edgar-church's-basement

📊 The Edgar Church Data Project
The ultimate resource for tracking the most important pedigree collection in history.

Official Site: http://edgarchurchdata.com

📝 Deep Dives & Analysis
The Main Blog: https://itsalljustcomics.com/
The $100,000 Club: https://itsalljustcomics.com/100000-club/
Timeline of Record Sales: https://itsalljustcomics.com/a-timeline-of-world-record-comic-book-sales/
Silver Age Key & Pedigree Data:https://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/
Most Valuable Comics: https://itsalljustcomics.com/the-most-valuable-comic-books-in-the-world/

🛒 Support & Shop
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Join us as we go through both the comic and comic art catalogs of the upcoming November 2026 Heritage Signature Auctions Continue reading →

Why is finding a high-grade early Silver Age DC key virtually impossible, while Marvel keys from just three years later exist in the thousands?

Following up on our recent pedigree census for The Brave and the Bold #28—and our previous interactive deep dive into Golden Age survival rates—we are auditing the universal CGC census for the Overstreet Top 25 Silver Age Comic Books!

To eliminate the distortion of low-grade reading copies dragging down overall medians, we built a custom visualization mapping every key by release date against the average grade of its top 50 unrestored universal copies (as of October 2026), with bubble sizes scaled to total graded population.

The forensic data reveals a massive historical shift in how comics were treated between 1956 and 1964:
– The Toughest Key in the Entire Silver Age: Our Army at War #83 (1st Sgt. Rock). With a total census of just 254 copies, a top 50 average of 6.5, and only one single copy in 9.0 or better, this book survives at rates comparable to brutal Golden Age rarities.
– The DC High-Grade Bottleneck: Why foundational DC keys like Action Comics #242 (1st Brainiac, only one copy over 9.0), Showcase #4 (only six 9.0+ copies), and Adventure Comics #247 (only five 9.0+ copies) represent statistical nightmares for high-grade collectors.
– The 1964 Fandom Explosion: Why Daredevil #1 boasts a staggering census of 5,974 copies, an elite 9.55 average across its top 50 survivors, and an eye-watering 234 copies grading 9.0 or higher—proving organized comic curation and hoarding were fully active by 1964.
– The Marvel Anomaly: Why Fantastic Four #1 has the lowest overall average grade (3.39) because nearly every scrap of paper gets certified, while mid-run introductions like Tales of Suspense #39 and Strange Tales #110 show remarkably high preservation averages.

Explore the Interactive Visualizations:

Interactive Top 25 Silver Age Census Chart: https://itsalljustcomics.com/a-visualization-of-the-cgc-census-of-the-overstreet-top-twenty-five-silver-age-comic-books/
Top 20 Golden Age Census Video:https://youtu.be/betZ98TWGF0
Track Graded Population Data: cgcdata.com

Which Silver Age census stat surprised you the most? Did you expect Our Army at War #83 to be that brutally scarce? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

🎙️ Edgar Church’s Basement Podcast

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edgar-churchs-basement/id1872746765
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IdlxY2AB8ExWRPwzWCIde?si=dd5837d35faa4dee
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/620e2e28-9264-4485-bfad-bcba7471fabf/edgar-church's-basement

📊 The Edgar Church Data Project
The ultimate resource for tracking the most important pedigree collection in history.

Official Site: http://edgarchurchdata.com

📝 Deep Dives & Analysis
The Main Blog: https://itsalljustcomics.com/
The $100,000 Club: https://itsalljustcomics.com/100000-club/
Timeline of Record Sales: https://itsalljustcomics.com/a-timeline-of-world-record-comic-book-sales/
Silver Age Key & Pedigree Data:https://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/
Most Valuable Comics: https://itsalljustcomics.com/the-most-valuable-comic-books-in-the-world/

🛒 Support & Shop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsalljustcomics/
Channel Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL38oEyvwqlxrQDskQ9xGIA/join
eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?&_ssn=rob_react Continue reading →

🎙️ Edgar Church’s Basement Podcast

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edgar-churchs-basement/id1872746765
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IdlxY2AB8ExWRPwzWCIde?si=dd5837d35faa4dee
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/620e2e28-9264-4485-bfad-bcba7471fabf/edgar-church's-basement

📊 The Edgar Church Data Project
The ultimate resource for tracking the most important pedigree collection in history.

Official Site: http://edgarchurchdata.com

📝 Deep Dives & Analysis
The Main Blog: https://itsalljustcomics.com/
The $100,000 Club: https://itsalljustcomics.com/100000-club/
Timeline of Record Sales: https://itsalljustcomics.com/a-timeline-of-world-record-comic-book-sales/
Silver Age Key & Pedigree Data:https://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/
Most Valuable Comics: https://itsalljustcomics.com/the-most-valuable-comic-books-in-the-world/

🛒 Support & Shop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsalljustcomics/
eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?&_ssn=rob_react Continue reading →