I'd love a follow up video to this one with a list of key books with the least amount of 9.8's. I've got quite a few of the books on this list raw/upgraded- might have a couple 9.8 contenders 😁
I think an interesting bit of this is it made me dig into these and determine how many of those 9.8s were signature based. I’m still reviewing this list, but a signature is pretty rare for most of these listed. I assume because most people aren’t willing to risk associated with someone handling an older book like these. Great video that definitely sent me down a research rabbit hole :)
Crazy to see what made this list. Great topic to speak on. I always feel like I walk away with something new after these videos. Keep up the great work!
Rarity, by itself, is not really a huge factor until you consider how many people want it. That said, almost everything in this video is actually rare when you consider how many were actually printed. Most of these books were made in the era where the circulation numbers were 200k - 300k copies.
It always shocks me when I look up the numbers on graded comics, both ways. I am surprised at how many or few 9.8 are on the census. Great video. Keep em coming.
Decades ago I read that Shazam # 1 was one of the first widely-speculated upon books of the 1970s - such that someone actually bought one of the distribution trucks headed west upon its release -- effectively hoarding 20,000+ copies from day 1. It *still* skyrocketed upon release, and was (predictably) hard to find in some areas of the country due to the lack of distribution from that diverted truck. In addition, it's well-known that the mafia in NYC / NJ speculated upon Conan # 1 upon release - and it was a major book included in bulk in the affidavit return fraud that Chuck Rozanski purchased and dubbed the Mile High II collection in 1985 (1.5 million high-grade pre-1979 books).
The increase in more sophisticated pressing/cleaning/whitening practices, combined with CGC's fluctuating grading scrutiny (I'm being very generous there) should be taken into account before declaring that 9.8s of the shown books aren't "rare." And as another commenter pointed out, 500 9.8s from a print run of 250K is only 0.2% of all existing copies. Sounds pretty rare to me. I'd expect more high grade books to survive from the 70s, when collectors/readers started really taking care and storing their books properly.
The thing that amazes me is that some old comics have white pages. You see old newspapers and they yellow. What paper did they use in comics? 9.8 grading on old comics is amazing considering the materials and production methods to produce a comic. I am thinking about getting a graded comic some day.
Also - Spectacular Spider-Man # 1 -- another heavily speculated upon & hoarded on release - it's the 70s version of Iron Man # 1, with 884 9.8s on the census.
Cool video, as always. I do not agree though. 500-600 is a lot but sub 200 is definitely low. Depending how many people collect them. But the reality is you have to look at all the numbers. For example this TOD 10, there are over 5000 on the CGC census. So that means 1% of all graded on CGC is 9.8. So pretty rare. Not too mention how many total prints it had. Low print or limited print always carry more value in my eyes.
I never would’ve guess there were 61 9.8 Tomb of Dracula #10 on the CGC census. Pretty incredible for a Bronze Age book. And definitely one of personal grails too.
I love how you call them all “perfect” 9.8’s. A 10, while almost never realistic, is perfect. Based on what it takes to get a 9.8 they basically have to be perfect though.
Definitely eye opening especially given that early 70s books were typically purchased on a spinner rack which led to damage as people would flip through the titles while still racked.
They're not rare, just very desirable keys. Try finding issues of Pete the Pest, Night Nurse, Millie the model, etc. The REALLY oddball stuff is always hard to find.
In comparison to all those books that were printed in that time and shoved in closets, or boxes, etc, those numbers still feel rare. I enjoy the hunt for more!
Never really got the fascination with 9.8s, I like the idea of conservation of the books, but the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.8 is so small that the premium you paid for one always seemed excesive to me. Works for me as a collector, though, since I can get over 9.0 copies of most of these for very good prices.
Agree. Imagine the amount of money you'd "save" by buying 9.0s of all the books in the video instead of 9.8s. You could probably afford to buy a house or two with the difference! :)
All of those books in 9.8 are rare. The issue is our comic community is dwindling down, so the demand is low. When you compare it to Pokemon cards for example, which some cards have 15k 10s on the census but can still get thousands, because that community is so large. Unfortunately, comics are very heavily swayed to the 40-60 year old guys now, based on nostalgia from their childhood.
Couldn’t agree more with your take. You can’t tell me that a book that has less than 300 copies in 9.8 is not rare. But to your point the population of our community has shrunk. I’m 55 and worked at a comic book store in my teens and I did all the ordering and we sold way more comics every week than my local comic store does today. Print runs are way down from the peak in the 80s and early 90s. We’ve lost new blood to smart phones and tablets. I wish comics could have a Harry Potter type phenomenon to spark an influx of readers. Marvel and DC have been terrible in leveraging the success of the movies to promote buying and reading comics.
She-Hulk makes sense. Collecting and keeping in pristine condition was just getting going mainstream and it says it on the front cover “Collectors Item Issue”, I am sure that helped back then.
I'm not shocked with any of the comics that are the #1 issue. when I was really nerding out on comics can't tell you how many times I picked up the #1 issue of whatever just for the hope it hits, you might read it once or you buy two copies of it, one to read and one for investment. I know I'm not the only nerd who thinks and buys this way. The marvel premiere, astonishing tales, etc.... one off character story first appearances however are a little odd that there are so many 9.8s(maybe they didn't sell and set in a box in the back 20 years kinda thing). Spiderman/Batman/X-Men, I was surprised there wasn't more just because of the shear volume of copies printed
Great vid idea, and cool data! As a new collector, it's good to hear these kind of numbers - I imagine it doesn't change or matter much to value, since there's so many great books there, but does give me hope that I might get some of those some day. And yeah, I'd love a 'rare 9.8' vid too!
Not to take anything away from previous videos, but the information here is one of the more valuable comic videos being published. Keep up the good stuff. Thanks
Some of those DCs surprised me, like the Batman 234 and I'm a little surprised that Hulk 180 is less common. Shazam was a highly anticipated title, given the popularity of Captain Marvel in the 1940s and 1950s, so that may explain the higher print run and 9.8 count. Great list with interesting insights!
Fun video. I disagree with your definition of rare though. Those numbers, even for the less popular titles, are way less than 1% of books total left in 9.8 since they were printed for the newsstand
Supply and demand, there are thousands of collectors who’d love to have those books in 9.8. Some of those census counts don’t seem that high to me, especially compared to ASM 300 or New Mutants 98. I have a raw ASM 194 that I think might be a 9.8 contender. At some point I might submit it.
The black spine books really surprise me. ASM 194 Star Wars tomb of Dracula batman 232 is another surprise. But any 70 book is crazy as are the mag copies GREAT video
The twisted part of my mind wonders if one day the lower grades of these book will be more valuable, since they are technically more rare than the perfect copies.
Or , will the books considered run filler that are getting beat up in dollar bins be the collectable books at some point since people aren't trying as hard to preserve them.
Didn't read all the comments, forgive me if you answer it elsewhere. What exactly is rare? There are 10s of millions of collectors in the US alone and nearly 8 billion people worldwide. 500 of something seems rare to me.
Here's some comics that still don't have ANY 9.8s!
ruclips.net/video/wNqUgNgeZuY/видео.html
I'd love a follow up video to this one with a list of key books with the least amount of 9.8's. I've got quite a few of the books on this list raw/upgraded- might have a couple 9.8 contenders 😁
Yes, it would be awesome if you did another segment about the ones who have shockingly low counts!
I think an interesting bit of this is it made me dig into these and determine how many of those 9.8s were signature based. I’m still reviewing this list, but a signature is pretty rare for most of these listed. I assume because most people aren’t willing to risk associated with someone handling an older book like these. Great video that definitely sent me down a research rabbit hole :)
Marvel Spotlight 5 in a 9.8 is nuts! I'd take it over anything 1965 and newer in same grade.
Crazy to see what made this list. Great topic to speak on. I always feel like I walk away with something new after these videos. Keep up the great work!
Rarity, by itself, is not really a huge factor until you consider how many people want it.
That said, almost everything in this video is actually rare when you consider how many were actually printed. Most of these books were made in the era where the circulation numbers were 200k - 300k copies.
It always shocks me when I look up the numbers on graded comics, both ways. I am surprised at how many or few 9.8 are on the census. Great video. Keep em coming.
Decades ago I read that Shazam # 1 was one of the first widely-speculated upon books of the 1970s - such that someone actually bought one of the distribution trucks headed west upon its release -- effectively hoarding 20,000+ copies from day 1. It *still* skyrocketed upon release, and was (predictably) hard to find in some areas of the country due to the lack of distribution from that diverted truck. In addition, it's well-known that the mafia in NYC / NJ speculated upon Conan # 1 upon release - and it was a major book included in bulk in the affidavit return fraud that Chuck Rozanski purchased and dubbed the Mile High II collection in 1985 (1.5 million high-grade pre-1979 books).
Some of those were surprising. Especially books that were from the 70s
Those are crazy numbers considering they are Bronze Age books. Really cool info. We definitely need a low number version.
The increase in more sophisticated pressing/cleaning/whitening practices, combined with CGC's fluctuating grading scrutiny (I'm being very generous there) should be taken into account before declaring that 9.8s of the shown books aren't "rare." And as another commenter pointed out, 500 9.8s from a print run of 250K is only 0.2% of all existing copies.
Sounds pretty rare to me. I'd expect more high grade books to survive from the 70s, when collectors/readers started really taking care and storing their books properly.
The hulk 181 was particularly shocking. That book pushed 100,000 dollars at one point I believe. Silly
Savage she hulk 9.8 is fairly common from what I’ve seen so far across various sites and shops
Amazing how many 9.8’s are actually out there. And I have none 😂
Pressing and cleaning, I wonder how many would be 9.8 without it.
The thing that amazes me is that some old comics have white pages. You see old newspapers and they yellow. What paper did they use in comics? 9.8 grading on old comics is amazing considering the materials and production methods to produce a comic. I am thinking about getting a graded comic some day.
Also - Spectacular Spider-Man # 1 -- another heavily speculated upon & hoarded on release - it's the 70s version of Iron Man # 1, with 884 9.8s on the census.
Cool video, as always. I do not agree though. 500-600 is a lot but sub 200 is definitely low. Depending how many people collect them. But the reality is you have to look at all the numbers. For example this TOD 10, there are over 5000 on the CGC census. So that means 1% of all graded on CGC is 9.8. So pretty rare. Not too mention how many total prints it had. Low print or limited print always carry more value in my eyes.
Having that many 9.8s on the 1st Black Cat is crazy with that black cover! Maybe most of these were graded a long time ago when cgc was more lenient?
I never would’ve guess there were 61 9.8 Tomb of Dracula #10 on the CGC census. Pretty incredible for a Bronze Age book. And definitely one of personal grails too.
The black covers surprised me! So hard to keep them perfect!
Grails that do not have 9.8 sounds very interesting😮
I love how you call them all “perfect” 9.8’s. A 10, while almost never realistic, is perfect. Based on what it takes to get a 9.8 they basically have to be perfect though.
A lot of these books still seem elusive in 9.8, especially the black covers.
Great video, interesting to see the various keys and their 9.8 registrys
Yes a part 2 of the few 9.8 from 80’s would be cool 🆒
Blown away by how many Star Wars #1 9.8’s there are!!
Rumor has it that someone had long boxes full of un-circulated She-Hulk 1's.
This 9.8 might explain that!
ok so i’m way more interested in that custom label on the Firestorm #1. DC had custom labels?!
Definitely eye opening especially given that early 70s books were typically purchased on a spinner rack which led to damage as people would flip through the titles while still racked.
I know right!!!!
They're not rare, just very desirable keys. Try finding issues of Pete the Pest, Night Nurse, Millie the model, etc. The REALLY oddball stuff is always hard to find.
Tell me about it, I'm working on a millie the model run!!!
He wasn’t arguing the validity of the price just pointing out how common they are.
Still don't comprehend how a book that has 100 9.8s isnt rare.
Only 2 people PER state can have 1.
In comparison to all those books that were printed in that time and shoved in closets, or boxes, etc, those numbers still feel rare. I enjoy the hunt for more!
I'm pretty sure that SheHulk #1 was one of those warehouse finds (where someone later found boxes and boxes of them in a publisher warehouse)
Never really got the fascination with 9.8s, I like the idea of conservation of the books, but the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.8 is so small that the premium you paid for one always seemed excesive to me. Works for me as a collector, though, since I can get over 9.0 copies of most of these for very good prices.
Agree. Imagine the amount of money you'd "save" by buying 9.0s of all the books in the video instead of 9.8s.
You could probably afford to buy a house or two with the difference! :)
I always like these types of videos that fly in the face of conventional.
Bronze age keys tend to have a high 9.8 census count. Must have been the page quality back in the 70's lol.
3000 9.8s of she Hulk number one ?? That’s insane, never expected that
Yeah in one way it's amazing so many books can survive being 9.8 but it will be interesting in learning how many survive being 9.9 or 10😅
What's surprising is the number of black covers on this list
First Star Wars was the biggest surprise for me.
She-hulk surprised me
Those grails might be plentiful but they aren’t cheap!!!
The 70s started the big collecting market and speculation.
All of those books in 9.8 are rare. The issue is our comic community is dwindling down, so the demand is low. When you compare it to Pokemon cards for example, which some cards have 15k 10s on the census but can still get thousands, because that community is so large. Unfortunately, comics are very heavily swayed to the 40-60 year old guys now, based on nostalgia from their childhood.
Couldn’t agree more with your take. You can’t tell me that a book that has less than 300 copies in 9.8 is not rare. But to your point the population of our community has shrunk. I’m 55 and worked at a comic book store in my teens and I did all the ordering and we sold way more comics every week than my local comic store does today. Print runs are way down from the peak in the 80s and early 90s. We’ve lost new blood to smart phones and tablets. I wish comics could have a Harry Potter type phenomenon to spark an influx of readers. Marvel and DC have been terrible in leveraging the success of the movies to promote buying and reading comics.
These are certainly rare in my collection. I really enjoy watching your videos.
That stake was a little more then rare 😂
I’m going to be asking for a lot of discounts after this video 😂 thank you for the information as always brother
She-Hulk makes sense. Collecting and keeping in pristine condition was just getting going mainstream and it says it on the front cover “Collectors Item Issue”, I am sure that helped back then.
But if you subtract all the CGC Slab Scammer off the census then there's only like 4 ASM 194’s 😂
I'm not shocked with any of the comics that are the #1 issue. when I was really nerding out on comics can't tell you how many times I picked up the #1 issue of whatever just for the hope it hits, you might read it once or you buy two copies of it, one to read and one for investment. I know I'm not the only nerd who thinks and buys this way.
The marvel premiere, astonishing tales, etc.... one off character story first appearances however are a little odd that there are so many 9.8s(maybe they didn't sell and set in a box in the back 20 years kinda thing).
Spiderman/Batman/X-Men, I was surprised there wasn't more just because of the shear volume of copies printed
Great vid idea, and cool data! As a new collector, it's good to hear these kind of numbers - I imagine it doesn't change or matter much to value, since there's so many great books there, but does give me hope that I might get some of those some day. And yeah, I'd love a 'rare 9.8' vid too!
I’m shocked at how many hulk 180s there are!
And for every one 9.8 out there, how many do you think are in a box somewhere, forgotten by time, and their owners?
The demand is rare since no one buys comics like they used to.
I'm not surprised - anything after 1975 is only rare in high grades if it was an indie with a low print run.
Great info here! You should definitely do another video like this. Also one with modern comics that received really low grades.
The giant size xmen one was pretty surprising!
I was surprised about the all star comics having such a high count. But then again it was the first book in the series since it's hiatus
Not to take anything away from previous videos, but the information here is one of the more valuable comic videos being published. Keep up the good stuff. Thanks
I love graded comics but I really don’t get how weird ppl get about 9.8’s, honestly it just doesn’t mean anything to me
Totally agree about another vid about those with low counts.
There were a lot of Shazam warehouse copies being sold cheap in 1970s...not surprised to see a larger number for that book.
Wow, James, you keep coming up interesting new content. Nice job!
Some of those are really surprising, particularly the Giant Sized X-Men
This is great news for people trying to possibly find their grails in the wild ungraded, but in possible 9.8 condition. :)
Some of those DCs surprised me, like the Batman 234 and I'm a little surprised that Hulk 180 is less common. Shazam was a highly anticipated title, given the popularity of Captain Marvel in the 1940s and 1950s, so that may explain the higher print run and 9.8 count. Great list with interesting insights!
Fun video. I disagree with your definition of rare though. Those numbers, even for the less popular titles, are way less than 1% of books total left in 9.8 since they were printed for the newsstand
Great video. Some of there I never thought there would be so many
Supply and demand, there are thousands of collectors who’d love to have those books in 9.8. Some of those census counts don’t seem that high to me, especially compared to ASM 300 or New Mutants 98. I have a raw ASM 194 that I think might be a 9.8 contender. At some point I might submit it.
Even more shocking is the amount of Black covers in that list!!!
What's the issue with black covers?
@@jeffsun2756 harder to good good grades
Some of the books on this lists are really surprising
Blade is a very underrated character 😈
Really enjoy this segment. Keep them coming!
Some of that was hella surprising - first punisher with 201 that seems insane
Ultimate Fallout!!!
Wow it's amazing how many 9.8 's actually exist, keep up the awesome content
Its amazing how many are 9.8 from the 70s. Thanks for the video.
If there’s that many 9.8s of the first deathstroke then why can’t I find a raw copy for a fair price 😢
The black spine books really surprise me. ASM 194 Star Wars tomb of Dracula batman 232 is another surprise. But any 70 book is crazy as are the mag copies GREAT video
*_Here I go again...._*
*_0.1% are a CGC 10._*
*_0.4% are a 9.9_*
*_40% are a 9.8, over 4 million CGC slabs are a 9.8._*
*_17% are a 9.6._*
Wow and double wow also imagine the cats that have untouched collections in pristine condition. Just sitting
But surprised by some of these especially considering the black spine.
Surprised bout the Shazam 1.
Watch this while I bag my own comics feels appropriate 😊
It's crazy how many bronze/copper age 9.8s exist, it's almost like false advertising saying how rare they are.
The twisted part of my mind wonders if one day the lower grades of these book will be more valuable, since they are technically more rare than the perfect copies.
Or , will the books considered run filler that are getting beat up in dollar bins be the collectable books at some point since people aren't trying as hard to preserve them.
Yeah, you have to do the grails that don't have the 9.8!
Great topic!
More please.
Great vid 👍. How about an a vid on oldest 10.0s that exist? 🇸🇪👋
First Blade is a grail of mines too!
As always, super informative content! One of my favorite channels across all of RUclips content. And absolutely yes to the shockingly low counts
Thank you - and yes, the rare books segment would be great
It makes me feel even luckier to have a 9.2 Green Lantern 76. Great info. Thanks as always.
You are almost never paying for rarity, but you are paying for the nostalgia
Didn't read all the comments, forgive me if you answer it elsewhere. What exactly is rare? There are 10s of millions of collectors in the US alone and nearly 8 billion people worldwide. 500 of something seems rare to me.
Hey James, how about a video covering some of your summer comics reading so far? 📚 ❤
Love the fact that there are more than expected, however just about all of those are out of most people's price range
The GS X-Men shocked me!