Set Description:
Synopsis: We own copies of all 64 books in this set, with a minimum grade of 8.5, consisting primarily of the Flash, Challengers of the Unknown, GL, Aquaman, Atom, Metal Men, Lois Lane, Rip Hunter, Sea Devils, Teen Titans, Tommy Tomorrow and Spectre try-out issues, most of which became their own titles. Forty of our books are highest graded examples with 22 holding that distinction alone. The highlights of the set are the first 14 issues, ten of which are highest graded (8 single highest), with single highest graded copies of the first Lois Lane (#9), first Sea Devils (#27), first Atom (#34) and first Metal Men (#37) try-out issues.
Background: Showcase was a comic anthology series, which was first published by DC Comics in March 1956. It is generally regarded as the most successful of such tryout series, having been published continuously for more than 14 years, launching numerous popular titles, while maintaining a considerable readership of its own. The series ran continuously until September 1970, suspending publication with issue #93, and then was revived for eleven issues from August 1977 to September 1978.
Showcase featured characters in either one-shot appearances or brief two or three-issue runs as a way to determine reader interest, without the financial risk of featuring untested characters in their own ongoing titles.The series featured the first appearance of several major characters including the Silver Age Flash, the Challengers of the Unknown, Space Ranger, Adam Strange, Rip Hunter, the Silver Age Green Lantern, the Sea Devils, the Silver Age Atom, the Metal Men, the Silver Age Spectre, the Inferior Five, the Creeper, Anthro, Hawk and Dove, Angel and the Ape, and Bat Lash.
In 1962, DC purchased an adaptation of the James Bond novel and film Dr. No, which had been published in British Classics Illustrated, and published it as an issue of Showcase. It was the first American comic book appearance of the character.
Showcase stood out from other tryout series in that it maintained its own readership, as readers who liked a feature would buy the series when it came out, but would often continue buying Showcase as well.
Our Collection: Prior to the last few years, we never bought any Showcase issues that were not part of another set. But as time has passed, my son and I have gained a greater appreciation for this title and began to pick up some of the one-shot Showcases, which were not associated with other titles that we collect.
2024: Well, we now have crossed the threshold of having more than half the books in this one. This set still has a very long ways to go, but it does feature 34 highest graded examples, 18 of which are single highest graded. So what we have isn’t chopped liver and since many of the high registry point books are associated with titles we have long collected, our books have sat atop the registry set standings for several years.
2025 Update: We acquired several more Showcases this past year and now have 53 of the 64 books in this set with 20 single highest graded issues. We certainly are not on the precipice of finishing it, but we can see the finish line from here. However, with 53 books, 38 of which are highest graded examples, our set still scores less than the Showcase #4 9.6 alone. Now perhaps it is more valuable than all our books, but is that all we are trying to measure here? And, if the answer there is yes, then somebody needs to do some wholesale updates to the point system because in many cases the registry points awarded are not close to last sales (both high and low with all the price declines since 2021-2022).
I realize I am beating a dead horse here, but if CGC is going to score and rank sets, we really need some percentage of completion factor, otherwise the rankings are really a joke. I am not saying our books should rank ahead of several complete sets, in fact, I would have zero issue with Roulette44 or Sam I Am being first in this title, I just don’t think one book should place a set higher than all of ours. If we are going to score sets, we need a better system. Is anybody there, does anybody care, does anybody care, does anybody see what I see (John Adams 1776) ?
It’s certainly not that important an issue in the big scheme of things, but if we are going to do this, let’s fix it please. Otherwise, let’s dump all the registry points and set rankings and make the registry for display only, which is OK by me too. At any rate, in our personal effort to make sure the top ranked sets are actually the best ones. We have decided to keep all of our incomplete sets obscured so that we don’t pick up the annual banners year after year for sets that are not worthy of any recognition. I know in some cases there are no completed sets, but I don’t think any incomplete set should be recognized anyway.
2026: LOL, I guess I went a little crazy with our 2025 Update above, but since I doubt anyone actually reads these things anyway, except for me, and at times even I get bored, I think I will just leave it. The news is that I am happy to report that, after a number of private purchases from collectors exiting this title, we finally completed this shorter set in February 2026. It took a few months more to finish the longer Showcase #1-#104 set, but both are now done. Hallelujah!
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