Greetings to everyone reading this report from Pedigree Comics, Inc. 2007 is now two-thirds over (this report was made at the end of August) and we have already eclipsed our record sales totals from 2006 ($3,000,000 in internet sales!!). We only sell CGC certified comics and magazines online (www.PedigreeComics.com) and the CGC Marvel back issue market continues to exceed all of our wildest expectations. High grade Marvels sell like hot cakes off of our website and it would take a significant portion of this price guide to list all of our sales this past year. Instead, I will comment on a few significant trends/collections/segments of the market, focusing solely on CGC certified Marvel (and DC) Silver and Bronze Age comic books (our area of expertise).
Doug Schmell, President/CEO of Pedigree Comics, Inc. (www.PedigreeComics.com) reports that CGC certified Silver and Bronze Age Marvels are selling incredibly well right now, with a number of record prices realized in July. The frontrunner is the Fantastic Four and sales of CGC graded FF back issues, while always strong, went through the roof the past 2 months, buoyed by the release, in late June, of the second Fantastic four motion picture, "Rise of the Silver Surfer". According to Mr. Schmell, a few brand new passionate Fantastic Four collectors have entered the market recently and are looking for the highest or second highest CGC graded Fantastic Fours they can find. The demand is seriously outweighing the supply with ultra high grade FF's so a lot of the prices paid have been at record levels.
Pedigree Comics, Inc. has just completed one of its greatest months of sales ever, following in the footsteps of its record-breaking sales from the last quarter of 2006. Owner and president Doug Schmell reports the Marvels back issue market, specifically for CGC graded Silver and Bronze Age books, is stronger than ever. There is an influx of many new buyers, baby-boomers who are getting back into the hobby and using their disposable income for the books they bought and loved as kids - 1960's and 1970's Marvel comics. Here is a small sample of the record and noteworthy sales from the last two months, mostly all from Marvel's Silver Age, and mostly all from ultra high grades:
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).
Pedigree Comics deals exclusively in CGC graded comics and magazines and we specialize in ultra high grade (9.4 and higher) Silver, Bronze and Copper Age Marvels. Through our website (www.PedigreeComics.com) we sell more CGC certified Marvel comics than any other dealer and many of these books come from nationally recognized pedigree collections. Since this is the area of the market we predominantly deal with, we will not comment on other segments.
Formed in 2002, the Comics Guaranty, LLC Registry has been an important and expanding part of the CGC’s trifecta of services that have been introduced since the company first started third-party grading, certification and encapsulation in February, 2000 (the other two being the CGC census or population report and the CGC boards or forum). The Registry allows Certified Collectibles Group (CGC’s parent company) members to list or register their certified comic books (and magazines) onto the Registry, where each certified item receives a value (in points) based on its grade. The Registry is divided into sets (Fantastic Four issues 1-300; X-Men issues 1-201, etc.) and subsets (X-Men issues 94-143; Amazing Spider-Man issues 1-25) and the registrants set listings are ranked according to the total number of points his or her set accumulates by adding up the value of each specific issue within that set. At first glance this would seem like a competition or a means by which a collector can "show off" his or her comic books, but the Registry is far more significant and consequential than its apparent use.
Hello from sunny South Florida. The comic book back issue market is really starting to heat up as the convention season is in full bloom and we approach the Summer, the statistical peak of the buying season. First came WonderCon on the weekend of February 18-20, then MegaCon the final weekend in February and then it was Wizard World Long Beach in mid-March. I was able to make it to the final two shows and definitely continued to notice a trend that has redefined our hobby for a couple of years already. Most of the big time deals (trades, purchases and sales) are usually between dealers. Very infrequently will you find a large item or very valuable comic sold by a dealer to a collector or convention-goer. In fact, most of the big ticket books will be sold from one dealer to another way before the doors are open to the general public. And, most dealers do not even bring their expensive stock to shows as the internet (websites and ebay) has replaced the traditional forum of buying (and selling) comic books at stores, through catalogues and at conventions. Most dealers are keenly aware of this fact and will take advantage of the dearth of big dollar spenders at the shows by going to their dealer brethren as soon as possible to find stuff for their own customers and/or websites. That was definitely the case at Wizard World, where I was able to buy a great selection of Silver Age DC’s for my website from four different dealers plus a 140 book run of raw Bronze Age Marvels that I immediately submitted to the CGC at the show. In the old days, those books would have been sold to collectors at the dealer’s marked up convention prices (takes the set-up fees and traveling costs into the equation) and not at a discounted amount to a competitor!
February picked up right where January left off and was a very busy month. We sold a bunch of Silver Age Marvels from the usual suspects (Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, X-Men, Sgt. Fury, etc.) as well as the Bronze titles we have had a lot of success moving (Avengers, FF, ASM, Thor, Captain America, Doctor Strange, X-Men, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk) and some lesser known, esoteric ones (Chamber of Chills, Journey Into Mystery (vol. 2), Marvel Triple Action, Fear, War is Hell, Warlock, Uncanny Tales). The most surprising title we sold, however, which encompasses both ages, is Captain Marvel, the focus of this month’s report.
January, 2005 brought in the new year with an unprecedented level of activity here in South Florida, making it our most productive month so far since we started our internet comic book company last June. Sales were at an all-time high (over $100,000 in gross sales through our website) and the usually slower pre-holiday period of late November through the end of December seemed like a distant memory when the calendar changed into February. Highlights of our sales this past month included record prices for a beautiful Strange Tales 110 in 9.4 ($10,500) and a Strange Tales 114 in 9.6 ($6,500), very high multiples obtained for an FF 27 in 9.6 ($5,000) and an FF 29 in Near Mint ($2,700), a killer white paged Avengers #12 in 9.6 fetching $2,100, a Tales of Suspense #48 in 9.6 commanding $4,500 and a Marvel Tales #1 from the Curator Collection (a NM+ with white pages) bringing in $5,000. We also sold an incredible group of 13 Bronze Age Amazing Spidey’s, all in 9.6, to the same high grade collector for record prices and a nice group of 16 Silver and Bronze X-Men across the board (including a #1 9.0 for $11,750) to one X-Men completist. But perhaps the most amazing part of the month was the listing and immediate sale of the remaining ultra high grade (9.4 and over) copies of Sgt. Furys from the Mass. Collection, the first part of which was reported about in our November market sales and commentary.
