Set Description:
Synopsis: This is a complete set of all 111 books with a minimum grade of 8.0.
Background: World's Finest Comics was published initially by National Periodical Publications and later by DC Comics beginning in the Summer of 1941 until January of 1986 spanning a total of 322 issues. The series was initially entitled World's Best Comics, but changed to World's Finest Comics after issue #1.
Originally, World's Finest Comics was an anthology series that featured DC's most popular characters from other anthology series—mainly Superman and Batman. The comic was 1.5 times larger than standard comics, and cost 15¢ (when standard comics were 10¢). The series was orginally issued on a quarterly schedule for the first twenty issues. It then went to a bi-monthly schedule but still retained more pages then the other DC Comics at the time.
With World's Finest #71, the comic was made regular-size (and price). In order to retain the draw of Superman and Batman without giving them both full-length stories, the series began chronicling the team-up adventures of Batman and Superman. Unlike their Post-Crisis counterparts, the early versions of these characters were the greatest of friends and routinely teamed up to battle the likes of villains such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac and the Joker. Although not considered an official part of the World's Finest team, the Golden Age Robin assisted them in many of their adventures.
For the best part of the Silver and Bronze Ages, the series continued publication with different formats going from regular size comics, featuring experimental ideas such as removing Batman from the lineup and making this series a team up book for Superman while Batman would team up with other heroes in the The Brave and the Bold (Volume 1). The sales of World's Finest Comics began to lag so Batman was brought back to the lineup. Other concepts included the Super-Sons storyline and the 80-pages Dollar Comics, which featured various back-up stories including Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow and Hawkman among other notable characters, but always with a main focus on Batman and Superman. The series was eventually cancelled in 1986 after a series of failed attempts to revitalize the concept of the primary characters and the growing tensions between them as their new characterization made it impossible to keep the stories feasible.
Our Collection: I never seriously collected any Superman or Batman comics as a kid as they were always the least attractive superheroes in my book-one having no super powers except for being rich, one I seriously underestimated as a kid, and the other being too powerful and without any comparable villains. I also think I was turned off by their TV shows of the era, which were plain silly and seemingly intended for much less serious comic collectors. When I started back collecting comics in around 2000, I concentrated mostly on Marvel titles, but my appreciation for DC covers grew as I started collecting new titles. We started collecting this title after completing runs in JLA, Green Lantern, Flash and Aquaman and building significant a collection of Wonder Womans. At that time Superman and Batman were the only early JLA members which our collection completely ignored. Problem was, there were so many Superman and Batman titles and WF seemed to accomplish the goal of having a sampling of both since the title featured both JLA members. Still, I had no interest in the GA WFs, many of which could not be sillier.
We later started collecting the Superman, Batman and Detective titles from the Silver Age and have actually gotten to where we like the Batman and Detective titles much more than WF. But since we started WF first, it makes sense that the first Superman/Batman set we have completed is this one, as it covers just the Silver Age, where our concentration has been with these books. There are still some pretty silly covers in this set, but they are better than those in the Superman title to me where half the stories are either imaginary tales or about his secret identity (and yes, I know that all the superhero comics are imaginary, but at least stay in the lane you create).
This set was only created by CGC a couple of years ago and, while our collection does start a couple of years earlier and continues a couple of years into the Bronze Age, it really covers the heart of our WF collection. In fact, we may decide to sell our earlier and later books at some time in the future, as we have made no progress in years in completing the set that starts and ends earlier (Issues #71-#121) and we have never had any goal to finish the extended set that starts with Issue #1.
This is not our best DC set by any means, but it is pretty sweet. Of the 111 books in this set, 88 are highest graded copies with 33 being single highest graded as of June 2026. However, 14 more books in this set were single highest graded when we acquired them and have now lost that distinction. And over a dozen of our books in this set have now lost their status as highest graded since we acquired them. There are also five books in this set, all early ones, which are only third highest graded, as we have never seen any better copies for sale. Still, there are dozens of pedigrees here and I doubt there are any unregistered sets of these books that could compete with this one, there’s just considerable room for improvement.
I am making this set public since it is now complete, and I have spent the hours involved checking the census to update most of the book’s descriptions, which quite frankly is rather dreadful. (I have gotten to where I can only stand updating a few sets a year, the whole process is too time consuming and generally more than a little depressing LOL). If anyone has an upgrade to any of our books and would like to sell it, please drop us a line. If you happen to catch us when we aren’t paying for other books on time and actually have a little liquidity, maybe we can strike a deal.
|
|
|
| The gallery tab shows only items with images. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. |
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 80 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 80 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0805446007
|
Owner Comments
Issue #80 features a cool cover with the Batmobile and a runaway train. Our 9.0 is one of two highest graded copies. we acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in October 2024.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 81 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 81 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4439198015
|
Owner Comments
Issue #81 features a full-page ad for Showcase #1, which places it right in the border between the Golden Age and Silver Age. While just an 8,0, our book comes from the Richard Anderson Collection and is one of two highest graded copies. We acquired the book from the 9/23//2024 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 82 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 82 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4439198014
|
Owner Comments
DC borrowed from Alexander Dumas in employing the Man in the Iron Mask in Issue #82. Our book comes from the Richard Anderson Collection and was clearly graded with our copy of Issue #81, as they have consecutive cert numbers. It is the fourth best copy ever graded by CGC, bested by two 9.0s and a single 9.4. We acquired the book, along with our copy of Issue #81, from the 9/23/2024 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 83 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 83 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4556237019
|
Owner Comments
Issue #83 features the Mother Goose Mystery, which always struck be as an exceptionally silly cover. Nevertheless, it has also proven to be exceptionally hard to find in this grade, which is the bar we have established for this set and our entire collection, there are three books graded higher by CGC than this book, but I have never seen any of them on the market. Our book is third highest graded, but also top four in the census. It was also much more expensive than I was expecting. We acquired the book from the 7/7/2025 Heritage Auction, now just one more to go to finish our #80-#190 set of these books.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 84 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 84 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4335212003
|
Owner Comments
Our 9.0 copy of issue #84 from 1956 is the sole 9.0 in the census trailing a single 9.4 and a single 9.2. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023.*
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 85 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 85 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4335212004
|
Owner Comments
Ok, this is one of the sillier covers in this title, but at least our 9.2 is the single highest graded example in the census. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023.*
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 86 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 86 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0805476003
|
Owner Comments
Our 9.0 is tied with one other copy for highest graded. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023,
2024 Update: Now there are three 9.0s in the census on this one.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 87 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 87 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4615398003
|
Owner Comments
Superman gets by with a little help from his friends in Issue #87 as the Man of Steel switches powers with our Caped Duo. Our book was initially graded way back in 2002 and has been the single highest graded copy in the census for over 20 years with no other copies graded above an 8.5. We acquired the book from the 5/25/2025 CL Auction.*
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 88 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 88 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3734657014
|
Owner Comments
Issue #88 is notable in that it features the first Joker/Luthor team-up. Our book, although just an 8.5, is tied for second highest traded trailing a single 9.0 in the census. We acquired the book from the 9/11/2021 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 89 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 89 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4550785006
|
Owner Comments
Issue #89 from 1957 introduces Lightning Man. Our 9.0 features white pages and is tied with one other book for highest graded. We acquired the book from the 5/5/2025 Heritage Auction.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 90 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 90 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3734657015
|
Owner Comments
Issue #90 features the Super Batwoman, along with our trio of male heroes. This book is effectively where our WF collection begins and was easily the most expensive book in our set. It is far and away the best copy ever certified by CGC, as the next highest graded copy is a 9.0. We targeted it to go along with our single highest graded copies of Issues #91 and 92. But for some unknown reason, we were obviously not the only ones who really wanted it and the bidding got way out of hand. It was the last book in the Thursday session of the January 2021 Heritage Auction and, if we had not been basically shut out of that auction, we never would have ended up with it. But because we had already lost so many books we had targeted in that auction, we kept bidding on this one-although admittedly, we would not have bid again if the other buyer had made one more bid. It’s strange how you end up with some books and lose others, it is often a question of how much you have already spent that month. I would have probably preferred several books I lost in that auction, which I could have gotten for what I paid for this one, but it was all a question of when each book came up in the auction.
At any rate, it is a cool book with great colors. We acquired it in the 1/14/2021 Heritage Auction.
2024 Update: In reading our description above, I guess one thing that is now inaccurate is that we do own earlier issues and are trying to fill in between #71-#89, which is certainly not easy. And while we certainly overpaid for this one, it is still far and away the best copy of this book ever graded by CGC. But this is a very weird title, in that we have paid hundreds for some single highest graded books and then five figures for others. I guess the short explanation is that nobody really collects this title, collectors just target certain covers and this is one of them. Three years later, I am glad we spring for this one, it is still a very cool cover and there is nothing even close in the census. In fact, I just added it to our list of favorite books.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 91 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 91 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4191357002
|
Owner Comments
A 9.8 from 1957, yikes! As was the case of our Issue #90 9.6, this book is the only example of this issue ever certified above 9.0 by CGC. We acquired it in December 2020 from Comic Book Addiction. It was not cheap, but much less than we paid for the prior issue.*
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 92 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 92 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3743122020
|
Owner Comments
While just a 9.0, and with cream/ow pages to boot, this is still the single highest graded copy of this 1958 issue. We acquired the book in January 2021 from Comic Addiction.
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 93 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 93 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0325362013
|
|
| Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 94 |
| Item: |
World's Finest Comics 94 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3779022002
|
Owner Comments
Issue #94 features the the Origin of the Batman/Superman team, which I guess makes it a key issue, as it is accorded more registry points than surrounding issues at this grade and cost a pretty penny. Our 9.4 is not only the single highest graded issue, but there are also no 9.2s. We acquired the book in the 4/3/2021 Heritage Auction.
|
|