Last week, I wrote about the Top 10 CGC submissions of all-time. There we discussed how the vast majority of the top 10 were related to Spider-Man's alien costume saga and mutants. Let's go from macro to micro and take a look at the Top 10 CGC submissions for the month of May 2024. How were those books in May different than the Top 10 CGC submissions of all-time?
And thanks again to Greg Holland and his website, CGCData.com, for providing the raw data used for the discussion below!
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 CGC submissions during the month of May:
1. X-Men #1 (1991, Marvel Comics)
2. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 (1984, Marvel Comics)
3. Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2024, Marvel Comics)
4. Spawn #1 (1992, Image Comics)
5. Wolverine Limited Series #1 (1982, Marvel Comics)
6. New Mutants #98 (1991, Marvel Comics)
7. Transformers #1 (2023, Image/Skybound)
8. Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV v2 #1 BOOM! Direct Reserve Gold Foil Edition (2024, Boom! Studios)
9. Amazing Spider-Man #252 (1984, Marvel Comics)
10. Wolverine #1 (1988, Marvel Comics)
Six of the top 10 CGC submissions in May were also among the Top 10 submissions of all-time.
Perhaps not surprisingly, six of the top 10 submissions during May are also among the top 10 most submitted books of all-time: X-Men #1, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, Spawn #1, Wolverine Limited Series #1, New Mutants #98, and Amazing Spider-Man #252. It may come as no surprise that there's a lot of overlap between the two lists; however, the order in which these books appear on these two lists is substantially different. Most notably, the No. 10 book on the all-time Top 10 list was No. 1 in May: X-Men #1. This is probably most easily explained by the fact that X-Men '97 -- a huge success for Marvel by almost any metric -- drew much of its inspiration from X-Men #1. It seems likely that the success of that show inspired collectors to slab a few hundred copies in May.
At the same time, using that same logic, you might expect Uncanny X-Men #266 (the second appearance of Gambit) to at least hold its place in May in comparison to its ranking on the all-time Top 10 list (No. 7 all-time); #266, however, fell to No. 14 in May.
I am a little surprised that the No. 1 most submitted book of all-time, Amazing Spider-Man #300, didn't make the top 10 for the month of May (it fell to No. 13 in May). Amazing Spider-Man #361 (1st full appearance of Carnage) also did not do well in May in comparison to its place on the all-time submissions list. ASM #361 is No. 3 all-time, but only No. 18 in May.
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 submissions stand out during the month of May.
One comic book that stands out in terms of CGC submissions during the month of May is Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (January 2024). Currently sitting at No. 3 during May, many collectors must believe in the ROI of this book. Published only a few months ago in January 2024, and written by Jonathan Hickman, collectors submitted 278 copies of this issue during the month of May and received an average grade of 9.78 (i.e., the vast majority of submissions receive a 9.8). Remarkably, there are already 1,116 copies on the CGC Census and five 9.9s. Just last week, five 9.8s sold on May 24th and four sold on May 26th for an average of $200.
With these 9.8s selling briskly on the secondary market, I'd be very wary of investing in this book now. Literally hundreds of high-grade copies are being submitted every week with a 9.8 being the average grade. I expect in the very near future for the supply of 9.8s to rise dramatically and I don't think the demand for 9.8s will be able to match the growing supply.
Two other newcomers to the list include Transformers #1 (2023) and Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV v2 #1 (2024). A CGC 9.8 copy of cover A for Transformers #1 is selling in the $75 to $90 range on eBay. As for Amory Wars, I'm actually not familiar with this issue -- does anyone in our community happen to know why collectors are choosing to slab this issue?
Do you have any interesting observations for the month of May in terms of CGC submissions? Please let us know what observations you may have in the comments section below!
