Set Description
Synopsis: From the standpoint of a collector, while by no means our most valuable set in terms of registry points or potential resale value, this is our best single set relative to the census of a silver age collection of 100 books or more. We own high-grade copies of all 100 issues in the set, with 91 of our books being highest graded examples, 21 of which are single highest graded. Moreover, over 40 of our books come from pedigree collections, with 12 Pacific Coasts and 8 Twin Cities. And 20 of the first 21 issues are highest graded examples, with the lone exception being our #4 9.2. Overall, 68 of our books are 9.8s, 23 books are 9.6s, eight books are 9.4s, and a single book grades out at 9.2, the aforementioned #4. In all cases, none of our books are worse than second highest graded.
Highlights of the set include our #1 9.6, which is one of two highest graded and our #8 9.8, which is single highest graded example and the earliest 9.8 in this run. Additional single highest graded books include our #13 9.8, #14 9.8, #17 9.8, #24 9.8 and #25 9.6, making 6 out of the first 25 issues. This set currently boasts six of the seven single highest graded issues of #1-25, lacking only the #22 9.6, and 21 of the 27 current single highest graded books #1-100, making it far and away the best JLA collection of these 100 issues, at least of CGC graded books.
So, while not our most valuable set and not close to some other sets in terms of registry points, this collection is probably the closest thing to perfection we own, at least in a SA set of 100 books or more. As of April 15, 2022, if one had a copy of the highest graded example for all 100 issues in this set, the score would be 256,575. Thus, this set’s total of 250,760 represents 97.73% of the possible points for these 100 books based on the current census. I’m not sure there is any set in the registry of this length from the 60s or earlier that could top that stat.
Background: We use the registry as a journal of our collecting history of CGC books, which now spans three decades. We thus generally don’t rewrite our descriptions, we add to them.
This is a set of 100 books starting in October 1960. The first eight issues were published bimonthly, but beginning with issue #9 in February 1962, DC began publishing books under this title every month. This is a set that we have been in and out of the past 20 years. We like the books, but we have never pursued them as vigorously as we have Flash and Green Lantern, which are generally earlier in time. Truthfully, we only started collecting these books in earnest after completing our Flash and GL sets around 2015.
We still do not actively collect Batman and Superman and probably never will. Those books span several magazines, which date back to the Golden Age. So unlike the Avengers, we do not have collections of all the original members. We do, however, have respectable sets of JLA members, Aquaman, Hawkman and Wonder Woman, although unlike GL and Flash, none of those three sets are complete.
While our JLA set remains incomplete with a large number of empty slots, we do own a number of gems, including many single highest graded books. The goal is to finish it out, but not to add the Brave and Bolds, which would cost more than this entire set in like grades.
2020 Update: No book we own has fluctuated more in value, primarily down, than JLA. For whatever reason, several long-term JLA collectors have recently sold their collections and there has been a paucity of buyers to take their place. Consequently, many books we own are now changing hands at a fraction of the price we paid for similarly graded books a couple of years ago. The lack of buyers finally persuaded us to stay with JLA, rather than following the herd and selling our books, which we were considering to focus on other collections. Instead, we just closed a deal on a large package of books in a private transaction. So this is one set that has improved dramatically over the last year and now tops the census for the first time in our collecting history.
2021 Update: The past year was a very active one for us as far as JLA, as we closed a number of private deals with friends and fellow collectors. As a consequence, this set now rivals our Flash and Green Lantern sets as our best DC collection. Because we lack a nice Brave and Bold #28, while we have all the introductory Flash Showcases, our overall JLA collection is probably still a step behind our Flash collection, but this set with just #1-100 is in 2021 dramatically better than our GL #1-89 set, which in 2020 won best SA set.
While JLA remains just our third favorite DC title, behind Flash and GL, all of which would probably rank behind several Marvel titles, it is perhaps the only long set where we have a realistic chance of one day owning a perfect set: one in which every book in the set is a highest graded copy. It’s still highly unlikely we could ever achieve that goal. However, we currently have highest graded examples of the first three and nine of the first 10, and only lack 10 books in total. Moreover, most of the books we lack are later issues, which would not be prohibitively expensive, so it is at least remotely possible-assuming the census does not drastically change. If you have a highest graded copy of Issues #4, #12, #22, #29, #49, #62, #83, #86, #88 or #95, and would have any interest in flipping such book(s) at a profit without a sales commission, please drop us a line through the registry.
2022 Update: Strangely enough, for a title that has gone from scorching hot to cold as ice over the last few years, there were a lot of new books that hit the market in 2021, knocking several of our books out of the single highest graded category. At the end of 2020, we had 21 single highest graded examples in this set. That number has now been reduced to 18, as despite acquiring the single highest graded copy of Issue #13, our copies of Issues #9, #10, #45, and #74 were all tied by another book during the year, which left our Issue #8 9.8 as the only existing single highest graded example in the first 10 issues. Of course, the census count in the first 10 issues in still relatively low at the top, with seven issues in the first ten having just two highest graded examples: #1, #4, #5, #6, #7, #9, and #10. Only Issues #2 and #3 have more than two books topping the census. In other words, these aren’t Marvels, they are still considerably rarer in high grade.
That being said, for the most part JLAs remain relatively unloved, despite the Snyder Cut, which is actually quite good. There were, however, two noteworthy sales in 2021, both of which came at the end of the year. A second #9 9.8 emerged from CGC, this one with white pages, and sold for just over $30k in the December 2021 CL Auction. Even more remarkable, a #21 9.8, which had previously sold for $32,400 in March 2020, came to market again and sold in the December 2021 ComicConnect Auction for $70,500. Of course, both books are minor keys, many other sales in 2021 were still below the prices from 3-4 years ago. For me, it’s all sort of a mixed bag. I would love to see the prices for books in this title rise, but I am still trying to upgrade a few issues too.
Currently, there are only 13 books ever graded by CGC that would upgrade this set: two #4 9.4s, a single #22 9.6, two #29 9.6s, a single #49 9.8, a single #62 9.6, three #83 9.6s (don’t know why we have never seen one of those), a single #86 9.8, a single #88 9.8, and a single #95 9.8. Moreover, between this set and our second set, there are 28 out of the 100 issues in this set where we own copies that are better than any other collector-in other words, where we own the single best or both of the two best examples in the census. Put another way, of 56 highest graded copies of Issues #1-25, between our top two sets, we own 30 of them.
| Justice League of America 1 |
1295596001
|
9.6
| 70000 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 2 |
0907484006
|
9.6
| 14000 |
| 5/21/2020 |
| Justice League of America 3 |
0152447003
|
9.4
| 7200 |
| 11/15/2020 |
| Justice League of America 4 |
0056280003
|
9.2
| 2400 |
| 5/28/2020 |
| Justice League of America 5 |
1198173018
|
9.6
| 6500 |
| 2/25/2021 |
| Justice League of America 6 |
2015668016
|
9.6
| 4875 |
| 3/2/2022 |
| Justice League of America 7 |
2087175001
|
9.6
| 4875 |
| 12/19/2019 |
| Justice League of America 8 |
2125227001
|
9.8
| 7800 |
| 11/20/2020 |
| Justice League of America 9 |
3930473001
|
9.8
| 9600 |
| 3/4/2022 |
| Justice League of America 10 |
1215045008
|
9.6
| 4875 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 11 |
2125226001
|
9.8
| 4800 |
| 5/9/2021 |
| Justice League of America 12 |
1573076007
|
9.6
| 3000 |
| 3/2/2022 |
| Justice League of America 13 |
3740833019
|
9.8
| 4800 |
| 1/16/2021 |
| Justice League of America 14 |
1573076008
|
9.8
| 4800 |
| 1/4/2019 |
| Justice League of America 15 |
1054966005
|
9.6
| 3000 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 16 |
2087153010
|
9.6
| 2500 |
| 6/24/2020 |
| Justice League of America 17 |
0991408005
|
9.8
| 4000 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 18 |
1036016010
|
9.8
| 4000 |
| 11/19/2020 |
| Justice League of America 19 |
0273895009
|
9.4
| 1500 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 20 |
1218474009
|
9.6
| 2500 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 21 |
2133470001
|
9.8
| 6800 |
| 11/20/2020 |
| Justice League of America 22 |
2087165013
|
9.4
| 2175 |
| 6/18/2022 |
| Justice League of America 23 |
1277938002
|
9.8
| 2880 |
| 3/4/2022 |
| Justice League of America 24 |
0114486022
|
9.8
| 2880 |
| 5/17/2020 |
| Justice League of America 25 |
1042683015
|
9.6
| 1800 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 26 |
0062352015
|
9.4
| 1080 |
| 9/21/2020 |
| Justice League of America 27 |
1040225008
|
9.6
| 1800 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 28 |
1038851014
|
9.8
| 2880 |
| 7/9/2020 |
| Justice League of America 29 |
2087166017
|
9.4
| 1275 |
| 6/18/2022 |
| Justice League of America 30 |
1292718004
|
9.6
| 2000 |
| 11/29/2018 |
| Justice League of America 31 |
0040038010
|
9.4
| 825 |
| 5/9/2021 |
| Justice League of America 32 |
1245925023
|
9.8
| 1680 |
| 11/22/2017 |
| Justice League of America 33 |
0979745011
|
9.8
| 1560 |
| 10/26/2017 |
| Justice League of America 34 |
2133469001
|
9.6
| 1050 |
| 6/18/2022 |
| Justice League of America 35 |
1561564001
|
9.8
| 1560 |
| 3/9/2021 |
| Justice League of America 36 |
3834118001
|
9.8
| 1560 |
| 5/28/2021 |
| Justice League of America 37 |
0089676004
|
9.8
| 2000 |
| 5/7/2021 |
| Justice League of America 38 |
1493708003
|
9.8
| 2000 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 39 |
1397536014
|
9.8
| 2000 |
| 4/9/2019 |
| Justice League of America 40 |
1561564002
|
9.6
| 975 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 41 |
0304632019
|
9.8
| 1560 |
| 3/2/2022 |
| Justice League of America 42 |
1255448015
|
9.8
| 1200 |
| 6/18/2022 |
| Justice League of America 43 |
0107325009
|
9.8
| 1200 |
| 11/10/2019 |
| Justice League of America 44 |
0089660007
|
9.8
| 1200 |
| 11/7/2019 |
| Justice League of America 45 |
3761537001
|
9.8
| 1200 |
| 6/18/2022 |
| Justice League of America 46 |
0160728023
|
9.6
| 1200 |
| 9/23/2019 |
| Justice League of America 47 |
0107325013
|
9.8
| 1360 |
| 11/10/2019 |
| Justice League of America 48 |
0304632021
|
9.8
| 1280 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 49 |
1138221013
|
9.6
| 600 |
| 7/5/2017 |
| Justice League of America 50 |
1095530012
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 8/29/2012 |
| Justice League of America 51 |
1095530008
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 9/23/2019 |
| Justice League of America 52 |
1493708004
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 9/14/2017 |
| Justice League of America 53 |
0304632017
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 9/14/2017 |
| Justice League of America 54 |
0776910019
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 8/13/2020 |
| Justice League of America 55 |
1039841004
|
9.8
| 1280 |
| 8/13/2020 |
| Justice League of America 56 |
1492904005
|
9.8
| 1120 |
| 10/3/2017 |
| Justice League of America 57 |
1473077009
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 6/1/2017 |
| Justice League of America 58 |
2087154013
|
9.6
| 700 |
| 6/24/2020 |
| Justice League of America 59 |
1215344013
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 60 |
1024046011
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 8/13/2020 |
| Justice League of America 61 |
0216843016
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 1/9/2021 |
| Justice League of America 62 |
0148982007
|
9.4
| 255 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 63 |
1054984005
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 11/21/2011 |
| Justice League of America 64 |
0162056022
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 11/6/2017 |
| Justice League of America 65 |
1473077010
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 6/1/2017 |
| Justice League of America 66 |
1271455008
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 8/21/2019 |
| Justice League of America 67 |
2087154014
|
9.8
| 960 |
| 6/24/2020 |
| Justice League of America 68 |
0914720009
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 7/9/2011 |
| Justice League of America 69 |
1260853006
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 6/17/2017 |
| Justice League of America 70 |
0213591006
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 9/23/2019 |
| Justice League of America 71 |
3702531002
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 12/23/2020 |
| Justice League of America 72 |
0914720011
|
9.8
| 680 |
| 9/23/2019 |
| Justice League of America 73 |
0914720012
|
9.8
| 800 |
| 9/23/2019 |
| Justice League of America 74 |
1245905017
|
9.8
| 840 |
| 11/22/2017 |
| Justice League of America 75 |
0304632025
|
9.6
| 475 |
| 5/14/2020 |
| Justice League of America 76 |
1213396011
|
9.8
| 760 |
| 3/16/2018 |
| Justice League of America 77 |
1039397009
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 6/17/2017 |
| Justice League of America 78 |
1042140022
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 10/29/2011 |
| Justice League of America 79 |
0915169001
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 80 |
0915169002
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 10/3/2011 |
| Justice League of America 81 |
0915169003
|
9.8
| 400 |
| 10/3/2011 |
| Justice League of America 82 |
1098661007
|
9.8
| 400 |
| 8/29/2012 |
| Justice League of America 83 |
1211701005
|
9.4
| 150 |
| 9/28/2020 |
| Justice League of America 84 |
2087171017
|
9.8
| 400 |
| 6/25/2020 |
| Justice League of America 85 |
0915169006
|
9.6
| 350 |
| 1/9/2021 |
| Justice League of America 86 |
0330497004
|
9.6
| 250 |
| 3/8/2018 |
| Justice League of America 87 |
1247101007
|
9.8
| 400 |
| 2/25/2018 |
| Justice League of America 88 |
0141026006
|
9.6
| 250 |
| 10/9/2020 |
| Justice League of America 89 |
1054526001
|
9.8
| 400 |
| 7/5/2017 |
| Justice League of America 90 |
1212347001
|
9.8
| 400 |
| 7/5/2017 |
| Justice League of America 91 |
1013895006
|
9.8
| 480 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 92 |
2087171013
|
9.8
| 480 |
| 6/25/2020 |
| Justice League of America 93 |
2087172010
|
9.8
| 560 |
| 6/24/2020 |
| Justice League of America 94 |
0915196020
|
9.8
| 1120 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 95 |
1059207005
|
9.6
| 325 |
| 10/29/2011 |
| Justice League of America 96 |
2087171016
|
9.8
| 520 |
| 6/25/2020 |
| Justice League of America 97 |
1010873015
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 11/6/2017 |
| Justice League of America 98 |
0306682017
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 9/14/2017 |
| Justice League of America 99 |
1075592003
|
9.8
| 440 |
| 5/31/2020 |
| Justice League of America 100 |
1206253008
|
9.8
| 520 |
| 5/31/2020 |