Congratulations, 2020 CGC Registry Award Winners!

The CGC Registry has grown to over 81,000 registered sets in the last year! There are now more than 4,700 competitive set types and we continue to receive new set type requests daily. The possibilities are endless and it is thrilling to see how the CGC Registry has evolved over time.

Our Mission was to choose three sets each in six competitive categories - Best Golden Age, Best Silver Age, Best Bronze Age, Best Modern Age, Best Copper Age and Best Presented. Additionally we had the task of choosing one winner for Best Magazine set, one Best Signature Series Set, three outstanding message board contributors and just one collector for the John Verzyl Sr. Registry Masterpiece Award. Our team of judges reviewed all of the top sets across every category in the Comics Registry and after much deliberation, selected the following winners. Congratulations to all!

CGC 2020 John Verzyl Sr. Registry Masterpiece Award

CGC is proud to announce that the 2020 John Verzyl Sr. Registry Masterpiece Award is presented to jjbjheartman! 8th in overall points with 1,740,276 and a total of an astounding 80 sets ranked #1! Out of those #1 ranked sets, 49 of them are 100% complete! Wow! While jjbjheartman has 28 sets dedicated to Spider-Man, his collecting interests are not limited to superheroes. It is clear that he is a collector with a love of horror, science fiction and crime comic books as well. His sets range from hard to find vintage books to Rick and Morty. With his eclectic taste and a passion for it all, we are happy to congratulate jjbjheartman on winning the 2020 John Verzyl Sr. Registry Masterpiece Award! Congratulations! jjbjheartman profile page.

Best Golden Age Sets

Mr.Illmannered - Black Cat Mystery (1951)
This set is significant given the rise in popularity of classic horror covers. Complete, with almost every issue in 9.0 or higher! And the single highest grade happens to be #50 (9.6), featuring the famous face melting "white heat" cover.

zzutak - Venus (1948)
A great Marvel/Atlas title that starts off with great cheesecake covers that morph into science fiction, then into horror. A run that has it all! This set is complete and includes many high grade copies, which are quite hard to find.

Tsp99 - Crime Does Not Pay
CDNP is significant not only because it's the first crime comic, but also because of the lurid Biro stories and crazy covers. While this set is less than half complete, it is solid through the first 30 issues, with many high grades to boot. Good luck finding those later issues in grade!

Best Silver Age Sets

Colorado Comics - Amazing Spider-Man #1-#100
This may not seem fair, but HOLY COW!! This set just keeps on winning awards. AND IT DESERVES TO CONTINUE WINNING!! After upgrading (how?) several issues since this set last won an award, there is now only 1 lonely 9.4 NM graded issue. All of the rest are impeccable 9.8-9.6's. All posted with photos to drool over. Truly a monumental accomplishment that Colorado Comics must be proud to own! Thanks for sharing!!!

wallstreetrebel - Green Lantern (1960) #1-#89
Quite likely the best Green Lantern set in existence! Read the set description for all the details, as there is not enough room here to sing the praises of this beautiful collection of Green Lanterns. Most grade 9.8. Many of them are the highest graded copy on the census. Many upgrades this year alone keeps pushing this set to loftier heights! And, we are provided photos & descriptions of each book for us to enjoy. Great job Wallstreetrebel!!

wxman_slaw - Metal Men
Here's an often overlooked set from DC Comics. To find a few issues in high grade is tough. To find them ALL in grade is a real accomplishment! And that's why WXMAN SLAW gets an award this year. The complete 1st series run of #1-56, along with the very hard to find early Showcase appearances make for a beautiful grouping to behold. Overwhelmingly a Near Mint collection, all but 3 later issues have been scanned for our viewing pleasure. Congratulations on the achievement, and thank you for sharing it with us!

Best Bronze Age Sets

greggy - DC 100 Page Books
Wow! This set just keeps winning! This collection is such an amazing accomplishment, and shows Greggy's passion for collecting! It boasts a whopping 57 9.8's and 45 9.6's! Including the only 9.8's on the census for the Young Love issues!These square bound books are all gorgeous in high grade and not easy to find. Congratulations Greggy!

electricprune - Tomb of Dracula #1-#70
This is awesome! This set won seven years ago, and at the time consisted of only 9.8's and 9.6's. Impressive as that was, Electricprune took it even further by completing the set all in 9.8's! It is mind blowing to see a bronze age horror series complete this way! This set is the prime example of what collector's strive for!

Tec-Tac-Toe - Detective Comics #401-#500
The most beloved era of the Dark Knight! What makes this set so special isn't just the content of amazing stories and art, which is some of the finest in comic book history! It is in the owners descriptions of each issue! The memories and observations made by Tec-Tac-Toe are at the very core of what collecting should be about. The amazing feat though? 62 9.8's, 34 9.6's & 4 9.4's that make up this 100 issue run! Wow!

Best Copper Age Sets

nostromopilot - Akira
One of the most beloved Manga series of all time in Japan, and the series that revolutionized story-telling styles and comic coloring in the US, Akira remains influential to this day. Nostromopilot's Akira collection is a real triumph. These books are well-known for their difficulty to track down - especially the later issues - and nearly impossible to find in higher grades.

Akira collectors can attest to the challenge of getting any copy in 9.8. Nostromopilot has assembled the full run in 9.8! Stunning! Issue 3 and 38 of this collection really stand out. A scant 31 copies of issue 3 have been graded, and only 7 hold a 9.8! Of the 93 copies of issue 38 graded, only 18 hold a 9.8! These are exceptionally tough books! This is a superb collection and well-deserved as the winner of Best in Age for Copper!

RMI High Tech - Daredevil - Miller Run. Part 1
We were certainly BLINDED by the exceptional white pages and high grades of RMI High Tech's Daredevil Miller Run collection! CGC collectors all know the rarity of a 9.9 in any Copper-age book. This collection boasts 6, and all with white pages! Holy smokes!

Issue #168 stands out in the collection as a quad-signed Signatures Series 9.8. This issue is tough to get a 9.8, but after adding the signatures, retaining the grade is a real accomplishment! The same can be said for issue #158, a triple-signed Signature Series 9.8! Congratulations on such an impressive collection RMI High Tech!

HarrisonJohn - Savage She-Hulk (1980)
We're very happy to award HarrisonJohn's CGC-Hulk collection! This fun title is much-beloved by fans of Jennifer Walters, the Savage She-Hulk!

As with similar titles that were fun to read from the 1980's, well-preserved copies can be hard to come by! It took HarrisonJohn four years to assemble this SMASHING, complete 9.8 run! Stand out issue #1 is Signature Series, signed by Stan Lee, who created Jennifer Walters - the last character he did for Marvel!

We give HarrisonJohn two very enthusiastic thumbs up for this great run of a classic Copper title!

Best Modern Age Sets

Steve Trevor - Wonder Woman (Rebirth - 2016)
Steve Trevor has put together a very impressive run of the current Wonder Woman series. His collection not only includes high grade copies of the most of the regular covers but also many of the variants as well. The collection includes many of the convention variants which can be harder to find in 9.8 He clearly has put a lot of effort into this set as most books have pictures and descriptions. His passion for collecting and Wonder Woman is truly reflected by this amazing set.

celluloidbuff - Star Wars Action Figure Variant Covers
This is a fun set! Celluloidbuff has put together a great collection of high grade Star Wars comics. What makes this set unique is that it is focused on the popular Action Figure variant covers. This collection combines both blue labels and signature series of both the artists and actors on their character's variant. This collection shows how creatively fans can go about collecting modern comics series. It will be great to see where this goes from here.

MAD - Back to the Future (2015 Complete with Variants)
MAD's Back to the Future set stands out because of the dedication to improving the set. He has 2 Signature Series 9.9s which are very hard to get. With only a couple of books missing, I hope MAD keeps up the good work building this cool little set.

Best Presented Sets

wallstreetrebel - Fantastic Four Lee-Kirby #1-#102
What a “Fantastic” set you have put together over the years! This was already an outstanding collection, but you still managed to upgrade over 15 issues in 2020 alone. Kudos to you for your diligent efforts to track down higher grade copies. This complete set, graded at 9.4 and higher, is the current 4-time winner of Best in Set Type and the 2019 Best Silver Age Set winner. Here is another award for your mantle!

Sensei Ryan - Walking Dead (2003 Complete with Variants)
The attention to detail, statistical breakdown and shear volume of this collection make it a must see! This complete set of 663 books graded in 9.8 or higher is a spectacle to behold. Sensei Ryan, your personalized set description provides the collecting world with a glimpse of your passion for TWD which many others share with you. Congrats on such a great set and ‘Rot on.”

Iconic1s - Superman (Doomsday Death Funeral Return)
With a big surge at the end of 2019 this set shot up the ranks like a speeding bullet! Using his patience and laser-like focus Iconic1s has put together a complete set over the span of 27+ years. Your tireless efforts did not go unnoticed by our judges and we are sure that the collecting community will agree! Thank you for sharing your collection and personal journey with us all.

Best Magazine Set

BarryJames - Marvel Graphic Novel
Six years running as Best in Set Type, and nearly doubling the score of the next contender, this set can clearly boast of having some of the highest graded Marvel Graphic Novels in the Marvel Universe. The fact that there are still a few slots to fill in only shows that there is still room to take this set to a whole other level. And the issues that are represented are all 9.8’s! There is but one lone 9.6 in the whole bunch and that is from late in the run when Marvel ceased releasing MGN’s as a numbered series. With just a few more pieces this could reach the practically unbeatable pinnacle of a complete set of 9.8’s! Excelsior BarryJames!

Best Custom Set

Pristine Comics - Pristine's HG Key's "The 68's" 1965-1975 Key Marvel Issues Signed by the man himself
Not only is this an amazing collection of comics signed by Stan Lee but almost every single one has both an image and description! It is clear to see all of the hard work and dedication it took to assemble and display these books, especially since some are the highest grades as well! Excellent job!

Best Signature Series Set

Comic-dude - Amazing Spider-Man #1-#441
To have this many of the original Amazing Spider-Man run signed by many of the creators of each book, and many by Stan Lee himself, is a feat definitely worthy of the Signature Series set of the year! Congratulations!

Best Forumites

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Buzzetta
Delekkerste

Best in Set Type

We would also like to acknowledge the top set in each set type. See our 2020 Awards Archive page for the Best in Set Type winners. 2020 Awards Archive

NEW PROCESS FOR WINNERS RECEIVING CERTIFICATES
Winners can print their certificates of achievement through their My Account page on CGCcomics.com. Hard copy printed certificates will not be mailed automatically. Winners who prefer to receive a hard copy printed certificate by mail must request them on their My Account page on CGCcomics.com by August 31, 2020.