Wizard: The 100 Most Collectible Comics



When I was an adolescent, still discovering the world of comic collecting, I had a keen understanding of what was hot now, but, when it came to understanding the great comics of ages past (and, considering this was 1993, pretty much ALL the great comics were from ages past), I had only three guides: DC's Cosmic (trading) Cards, (to a lesser extent) The Marvel Universe Trading Cards, and Wizard: The 100 Most Collectible Comics. Whereas the regular Wizard publication focused exclusively on comics printed within the past two years (and only went back to the Silver Age in its price guide), this was my first real introduction to comics of the past -- the history, the diversity of non-superhero content, and even a lot of the important firsts.

Truly, while I often have more critical than kind things to say about The Guide to Comics, this particular special edition was a class act, as well as a clear labor of love. Shamus himself interviews Stan Lee, Julie Schwartz, and Jack Kirby, and, in addition to interviewing Eisner, also gets him to do the gatefold cover and trading card included within (several of which were actually signed by Will himself!).

Truly, this book is even more impressive than it seemed to me as a kid, and though the Top 100 that takes up most of the book was assembled by sending questionnaires out to Shamus' cronies in the comic book market, he's pretty transparent about that this time around, and the list they assemble is a damn impressive one (heck, there are STILL books on this list I've never heard of elsewhere!), accompanied by thoughtful write-ups of each book. That they give equal attention to non-superhero books is similarly impressive and was tremendously eye opening to an adolescent shaxper. And, as an adult looking back, reading the CEO of Diamond discuss his love for Carl Barks' Donald Duck stories brings a smile to my face. In the '90s, when heroes were their darkest and hype was out of control, these major players in that world could still look back to discuss their fondness for more honest eras of comicdom.


Other features in this issue:

- Wizard's first detailed guide to grading your comics

- A synopsis of some of the key creators and editors in comic history (it's a good list!)

- A detailed article on comic restoration

- A list of the dealers who contributed to the list and their top tens



The Top 100 Most Collectible Comics (in chronological order):

Yellow Kid Magazine (1897)
Little Nemo #1 (1909)
Funnies on Parade #1 (1933)
Famous Funnies #1 (1934)
New Fun Comics #1 (1935)
New Comics #1 (1935)
Detective Comics #1 (1937)
Action Comics #1 (1938)
Detective Comics #20 (1938)
New York World's Fair (1939)
Detective Comics #27 (1939)
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 (1939)
Superman #1 (1939)
Adventure Comics #40 (1939)
Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939)
Marvel Comics #1 (1939)
Detective Comics #33 (1939)
Flash Comics #1 (1940)
Whiz Comics #2 (1940)
More Fun Comics #52 (1940)
Action Comics #23 (1940)
Detective Comics #38 (1940)
Batman #1 (1940)
The Spirit (first weekly, 1940)
All American #16 (1940)
Marvel Mystery #9 (1940)
Mickey Mouse Magazine Vol. 5 #12 (1940)
Human Torch #2 (1940)
All American #19 (1940)
All Star Comics #3 (1940-41)
Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
Sub-Mariner #1 (1941)
Young Allies Comics #1 (1941)
Pep Comics #17 (1941)
Military Comics #1 (1941)
Police Comics #1 (1941)
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #1 (1941)
Classic Comics #1 (1941)
More Fun Comics #73 (1941)
All Star Comics #3 (1941)
Detective Comics #58 (1941)
Pep Comics #22 (1941)
Animal Comics #1 (1942)
Crime Does Not Pay #22 (1942)
Wonder Woman #1 (1942)
Four Color Comics #9 (1942)
Archie #1 (1942-43)
Walt Disney Comics & Stories #31 (1943)
More Fun Comics #101 (1944)
Millie the Model #1 (1945)
Adventure Comics #103 (1946)
Eerie #1 (1947)
Dell Four Color Comics #178 (1947)
Crypt of Terror #17 (1950)
Detective Comics #168 (1951)
Superman #76 (1952)
Mad #1 (1952)
Little Dot #1 (1953)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #1 (1954)
Mad Magazine #23 (1955)
Detective Comics #225 (1955)
Showcase #4 (1956)
Adventure Comics #247 (1958)
Flash #105 (1959)
Action Comics #252 (1959)
Showcase #22 (1959)
Brave and the Bold #28 (1960)
Flash #123 (1961)
Brave and the Bold #34 (1961)
Showcase #34 (1961)
Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Tales to Astonish #27 (1962)
Fantastic Four #4 (1962)
Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
Fantastic Four #5 (1962)
Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
Journey into Mystery #83 (1962)
Fantastic Four #12 (1963)
Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963)
Tales of Suspense #39 (1963)
Strange Tales #110 (1963)
House of Secrets #61 (1963)
Avengers #1 (1963)
X-Men #1 (1963)
Creepy #1 (1964)
Avengers #4 (1964)
Daredevil #1 (1964)
Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1964)
Strange Tales #135 (1965)
Fantastic Four #48 (1966)
Amazing Spider-Man #50 (1967)
Superman #199 (1967)
Doom Patrol #121 (1968)
Green Lantern #76 (1970)
Conan the Barbarian #1 (1970)
Amazing Spider-Man #96 (1971)
House of Secrets #92 (1971)
Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1974)
Giant Size X-Men #1 (1975)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1984)


While a list assembled today would look slightly different, you can sense a genuine desire here to create an authentic list for the ages. Heck, I give the contributors credit for not throwing Magnus Robot Fighter and Dr. Solar #1 on the list because Valiant was hot and, thus, driving up the prices for those issues at the time.




Truly the best issue Wizard ever put out, and pretty much the only one I actually respect more in hindsight. If I had the funds, I'd mail a copy of this book to every member of the CCF.

I only have a couple of these at the moment, though I have owned two or three others over the years. The ones I have now:

Action Comics #252 (1959)
Avengers #1 (1963)
Avengers #4 (1964)
Strange Tales #135 (1965)
Green Lantern #76 (1970)


The list is interesting. I think the list today would be quite different; I'd guess at least 30 of the issues would be different. I see some stuff on here that, while cool, doesn't really seem to have much collecting interest these days, like Doom Patrol #121 and ASM #96. Other stuff I'm scratching my head over even for that time period, like Detective Comics #20 and All-American #19. Was the Golden Age Atom really ever that popular? And some other similar stuff jumps out to me - Action #23, for instance, is still a big deal, but Action #7 and #13 aren't on this list at all, and today those are among the most expensive comics in the world, behind only Action #1 (and maybe Superman #1) in terms of desirability for Superman fans. Plus: Sensation Comics #1 isn't on the list?!

Notice what else is missing? There's no Hulk #181! Just about the most "collectable" comic in existence these days!

It would be really interesting to poll dealers today to see what a modern list would look like, especially since the Wizard list only has one book after 1975 on it. I think we'd see several newer comics now, with New Mutants #98 at the top of the list of new entries. Besides Hulk #181, of course.

I wonder if this issue was specifically put out to address criticism that Wizard barely acknowledged comics history.

Also--even with a well-drawn cover, the coloring remains horrible.

I doubt I'll ever have any of those... maybe ToS #39.. that's one I'd really like some day... but I'm just not a big spender.

Going to take a whack at a modern edit on this. I'm going to start just by crossing out comics that aren't as relevant to collectors now, if they ever were. I'll explain my choices at the end:

Yellow Kid Magazine (1897)
Little Nemo #1 (1909)
Funnies on Parade #1 (1933)
Famous Funnies #1 (1934)
New Fun Comics #1 (1935)
New Comics #1 (1935)
Detective Comics #1 (1937)
Action Comics #1 (1938)
Detective Comics #20 (1938)
New York World's Fair (1939)
Detective Comics #27 (1939)
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 (1939)
Superman #1 (1939)
Adventure Comics #40 (1939)
Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939)
Marvel Comics #1 (1939)
Detective Comics #33 (1939)
Flash Comics #1 (1940)
Whiz Comics #2 (1940)
More Fun Comics #52 (1940)
Action Comics #23 (1940)
Detective Comics #38 (1940)
Batman #1 (1940)
The Spirit (first weekly, 1940)
All American #16 (1940)
Marvel Mystery #9 (1940)
Mickey Mouse Magazine Vol. 5 #12 (1940)
Human Torch #2 (1940)
All American #19 (1940)
All Star Comics #3 (1940-41)
Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
Sub-Mariner #1 (1941)
Young Allies Comics #1 (1941)
Pep Comics #17 (1941)
Military Comics #1 (1941)
Police Comics #1 (1941)
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #1 (1941)
Classic Comics #1 (1941)
More Fun Comics #73 (1941)
All Star Comics #3 (1941)
Detective Comics #58 (1941)
Pep Comics #22 (1941)
Animal Comics #1 (1942)
Crime Does Not Pay #22 (1942)
Wonder Woman #1 (1942)
Four Color Comics #9 (1942)
Archie #1 (1942-43)
Walt Disney Comics & Stories #31 (1943)
More Fun Comics #101 (1944)
Millie the Model #1 (1945)
Adventure Comics #103 (1946)
Eerie #1 (1947)
Dell Four Color Comics #178 (1947)
Crypt of Terror #17 (1950)
Detective Comics #168 (1951)
Superman #76 (1952)
Mad #1 (1952)
Little Dot #1 (1953)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #1 (1954)
Mad Magazine #23 (1955)
Detective Comics #225 (1955)
Showcase #4 (1956)
Adventure Comics #247 (1958)
Flash #105 (1959)
Action Comics #252 (1959)
Showcase #22 (1959)
Brave and the Bold #28 (1960)
Flash #123 (1961)
Brave and the Bold #34 (1961)
Showcase #34 (1961)
Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Tales to Astonish #27 (1962)
Fantastic Four #4 (1962)
Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
Fantastic Four #5 (1962)
Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
Journey into Mystery #83 (1962)
Fantastic Four #12 (1963)
Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963)
Tales of Suspense #39 (1963)
Strange Tales #110 (1963)
House of Secrets #61 (1963)
Avengers #1 (1963)
X-Men #1 (1963)
Creepy #1 (1964)
Avengers #4 (1964)
Daredevil #1 (1964)
Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1964)
Strange Tales #135 (1965)
Fantastic Four #48 (1966)
Amazing Spider-Man #50 (1967)
Superman #199 (1967)
Doom Patrol #121 (1968)
Green Lantern #76 (1970)
Conan the Barbarian #1 (1970)
Amazing Spider-Man #96 (1971)
House of Secrets #92 (1971)
Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1974)
Giant Size X-Men #1 (1975)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1984)

• I removed Yellow Kid and Little Nemo because Platinum Age books are not comics, and have a different and very specific collector base. There's some crossover, but most comic collectors do not collect this sort of thing.
  
• Motion Picture Funnies Weekly was basically an ashcan, and again is a niche collector base. This book is too limited in supply to belong on the same list with mass produced comics
• even though Detective #33 has Batman's origin, I think it has been pretty well overtaken by #31 at this point thanks to the classic cover on #31
  
• Spirit Weekly isn't a comic book, it's a newspaper insert and again has a different collecting community.
  
• I removed several Disney books because, alas, these have faded from relevance, which is a shame. I left a couple mega keys, though, as there are still a lot of fanatical European collectors who are interested
  
• Young Allies is a tricky call, but I removed it because in my limited experience, All-Winners #1 seems to be much more coveted
  
• Similar thought process for Detective #58 - Penguin's first appearance has been ecliped by both Two-Face in #66 and even Riddler in #140
  
• Things like FF #4 and FF #12 just don't have the zing that they did, both because FF isn't quite as popular and also because first appearances and first issues have become a bigger deal
• Hated to do it, but I crossed off Creepy #1 because there's just not the interest in magazines (or post-code horror) that there used to be
  

That's 26 books cut off the list. I had another 5-10 on the border as well (I'm looking at you, Flash #105!). I'm going to try and take a crack at adding books and we'll see if more need to come off or not to fit the newbies on.

I like your additions, Scott.. that's definitely much more in line with what's hot right now. I still think it's a little 40s heavy, though.