The World's Greatest Sets! CGC Registry Awards Announcement
Posted on 7/20/2006
We would first like to thank all of the participants in the CGC Comics Registry and congratulate everyone on their individual accomplishments in each and every set. The number of outstanding collections in the Registry is awesome and we are thrilled to honor such great achievement.
The Comics Registry has grown tremendously in the last year. With more than 2,400 registered sets, the Comics Registry is quickly becoming the community where collectors can really share their collecting passion.
Our Mission: Choose three sets each in five competitive categories Best Golden Age, Best Silver Age, Best Bronze Age, Best Modern Age and Best Presented. Additionally we had the task of choosing just three outstanding message board contributors.
Choosing just three winners in each category was a serious challenge. In the process of preparing awards we found there was one individual that stood out among the rest to clearly earn the CGC 2006 Award for Achievement in Comics Collecting.
Our team of judges reviewed all of the top sets across every category in the Comics Registry and after lots of consideration, selected the following sets. Congratulations to our winners!
CGC 2006 Award for Achievement in Comics Collecting
The winner of the CGC 2006 Award for Achievement in Comics Collecting is CaptainTripps! His sets include the #1 ranked set of Avengers, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Journey into Mystery, Silver Surfer, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, Thor, Tomb of Dracula and X-Men. The Amazing Spider-Man set is ranked second. This collection may be the best Marvel Silver Age collection that exists!! Congratulations to CaptainTripps!!! View all of these sets and more at CaptainTripps' homepage.
Best Golden Age Sets
Superman is one of the most collected comic book characters of all time. This set includes 28 high grade issues under #100. Incredibly, 22 out of the 28 issues are the Highest Graded Copies and most of those are the earlier, more expensive ones. The set is highlighted by the best copy of Superman #5 ever certified, a single 9.4. The rarity of these books in grade truly makes this a Super-Set.
Quality is what it is all about and this set certainly has it!! Only missing 3 issues of this classic Golden Age title that lasted 7 years. 10 issues in this set are the Highest Graded Copy. The highlight of this collection is the Double Cover 9.6 copy of Spirit #2. As any collector knows, it takes quite a bit of effort to put together any Golden Age run!
This set is for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #1-100. This collector has specifically focused on the Pre Carl Barks issues (#1-#30). The Carl Barks issues have always been highly collected, while the earlier and scarcer issues were considered to be less desirable. This set has 7 of the Highest Graded Copies of the scarce Pre-Carl Barks issues. This set is highlighted by a 6.5 copy of #1 and the Highest Graded Copies of #6 and #10 graded at 9.0. Finding high grade copies of these book, which span 1940 to 1943 takes a great deal of determination.
Best Silver Age Sets
Wow, what can be written about this set?? 357 out of 359 issues present. The missing 2 are Annuals from the late 1980's. Only 1 book is less than 9.4 and that book is Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man. From #17 and up there are only 5 books that got a 9.4, the rest are all 9.6s and 9.8s. This set of the most highly collected Silver Age title holds its place as one of the best runs ever assembled!!
This Silver Age run of Daredevil features an unbroken high grade run until #45. 76 high grade books are represented with 38 copies under #100 being the Highest Graded Copy. The set is missing 24 issues before #100, although all but one are from the second half of the run. Most of the books are 9.6 or higher, but none of them are less than 9.4. Included in the 8 9.4s in the collection is the ever elusive Daredevil #7 which is the highest graded copy. An incredible accomplishment.
Tales of Suspense is one of the tougher Marvel titles to put together a high grade set of. This set has 59 out of the 61 issues that take us from the first appearance of Iron Man in #39 to #99 in 1968. The entire run of books in this set are all 9.0 or higher (except the 2 that are missing). Over 20 issues are in 9.4 or higher!!
Best Bronze Age Sets
greggy - greggy's sweet DC 100 pagers!
Let it be a secret no longer, DC’s from this era are harder to find in high grade than Marvel’s. Why? Not a lot of fans collected them. Add to the mix that these are square bound comics and include some hard to find romance & horror books and you get one tough set to put together in high grade. For example, the Young Romance #200 is certified 9.2 (highest graded copy) and in six years CGC has only certified 4 copies. Think this set is hard enough? Find a Bernie Wrightson black cover in 9.4 like this DC 100 Page Super Spectacular #4. CGC has certified 55 copies with the highest grade certified a 9.4. This is one copy; there are only 2 others. This is a deceivingly difficult set to put together and it is missing only 5 books out of 115. It is a sweet set.
Conan the Barbarian #1 has been talked about as one of the leading books that brought about the Bronze Age. Conan The Barbarian #1 in 9.8? There are only 7 others at 9.8 and none that graded higher. This is an amazing complete set with every single book certified at 9.6 or higher. Five books at 9.9 including the tough in ultra-high grade issues #2 & #21. We just wish this set had images!
colmoreman - Big Bronze Books!
Giant-Size books (or any square bound books) are hard to find in high grade because of the way they were bound. The interiors were stapled together and the cover glued to the interior at the spine. It is very common for the staples to poke holes through the cover. Maybe even more common is for the cover to have an overhang which bends, dents or creases easily. This set is all certified 9.4 or better including the tough Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #2 (which we’ve only done 2 others in 9.4).
Best Modern Age Sets
Colorado Comics - The Ultimate, Ultimate Spider-man Collection
This truly is the "Ultimate" Ultimate Spider-Man set, having #'s 1-75 completely filled, including all three versions of #1. Collectors of this series know that the #1's in 9.8 are not only difficult to find, but also can be expensive. What made this set stand out was not only its completion, but its grades - having 49 9.8's, 22 9.9's, and 6 10.0's, this set truly deserves it's place at the top.
Vantagepoint - Signature Series Hush
Not just a high grade run of Batman's "Hush" storyline, but a SIGNED run, by the likes of artist Jim Lee. Tough books in high grade, and tough signatures to acquire make this a top pick.
Matt - Wolverine for President
Starting off the set with a Wolverine #1 in 9.9 and a #2 in 10.0, this run is definitely an attention grabber. From #3 on, 169 more issues in 9.6 and higher (4 9.4's) make this soon to be complete set of 189 issues a great example of collecting.
Best Presented Sets
4_my_3_kids - My son Chris's favorite Iron Mans
This is truly the best presented set in the Comics Registry! The story of this collector’s journey is weaved through many of the comments on each issue. Further, this is not one man’s journey but a family affair. Check out the photos of the kids. Thanks Jim, Chris and family for sharing this set with us in such a personal and creative way!
Sterling Comics - sterlingcomics House of Mystery
Lots of work on the presentation of this set. It’s an acknowledgement of all the creators involved in each issue along with clear photographs of every book registered in this set. It’s hard to ignore Sterling, especially considering the fact that he provides photos and comments for nearly every book registered to him – with more than 600 books registered having photos and comments, that is quite an accomplishment!
Ultimate Spider Man Fan Boy - Ultimate Peter Parker: The working man's CGC set
The presentation of this set is defined by the first rate descriptions for many of the issues. This collector combines history, technical info and his enthusiasm for collecting to make for interesting reading and he provides some great pics as well. This is obviously a set in progress and we look forward to watching the presentation of this set evolve.
Best Forumites
Nearmint
For getting the Lamont Larson and family to come to our Forum dinner in San Diego
Valiantman:
For all the work he does to get CGC census breakdowns to our boards and the collecting community.
Skybolt
For posting so many great books, making the boards a fun place to be because that what this is all about; the fun of reading and collecting comics books.
Best Forumites – Honorable Mention
With so many great participants on the forums, it was difficult to select just three. So we would like to give honorable mention to the following:
Bullet123
For organizing and helping to pay part of the expense for all members last year and this years SD forum dinner.
Kevinboyd
For posting “this weeks” comics in the Modern section every week.
Delekkerste
For always trying to help people understand the meaning of investing in collectibles. We'll paraphrase his thoughts: “Buy what you like that is within your budget, so if the market ever crumbles or dips, you are holding something you love, not just colorful pieces of paper”
drbanner
For level headedness on subjects, trying to avoid flame wars, and a true love of our hobby.
Best in Set Type
We would also like to acknowledge the top set in each set type. See our 2006 Awards Archive page for the Best in Set Type winners.
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