Before we say goodbye to 2024, let's take a look at the biggest comic book sales of 2024 using GoCollect's Hottest Comics tool. The Hottest Comics measure popularity not by rising FMV, but by sales volume. In other words, these are the comics that sell the most often regardless of how much they sell for. In general, supply and demand are high for the books listed below.
Below are the Top Ten comic books that sold the most copies in 2024. With further ado...
1. Spawn #1 (Image, 1992);
2. Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 (Marvel, 1984);
3. Wolverine Limited Series #1 (Marvel, 1982);
4. New Mutants #98 (Marvel, 1991);
5. Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Marvel, 1998);
6. Uncanny X-Men #266 (Marvel, 1990);
7. Venom: Lethal Protector #1 (Marvel, 1993);
8. Spider-Man #1 (Silver Edition) (Marvel, 1990);
9. Star Wars #1 (Marvel, 1977); and
10. Wolverine #1 (Marvel, 1988).
Here are a few observations about the Top 10 Hottest sales of 2024; there are some common themes that may provide some insights about our fellow collectors. I think much of the data that we see confirms what we already suspected.
90% of the Top Ten Hottest Comics of 2024 were also the hottest comics during the past 30, 60, and 90 days.
Except for Wolverine #1, nine comics in this list also show up as the Hottest Comics during the 30-, 60-, and 90-day views. One takeaway is that these comics were also the hottest comic books at any given point during 2024 and perhaps in any given year. The only missing comic from the 365-day view was Amazing Spider-Man #252; it's possible that the blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine film may have helped Wolverine #1 bump ASM #252 from the list this past year.
70% of the Top Ten Hottest Books of 2024 were published in late 1980s or early 1990s.
While many collectors ridicule the 1990s as an era of excess (foil and embossed covers) and gimmicks (e.g., polybags and trading cards) for comic books, the period that covers the late Copper Age and early Modern Age represented a high water mark for sales of Marvel comic books. Readers loved Chris Claremont and David Michelinie's stories along with Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee's artwork.
For those of us who grew up reading those comics, nostalgia is likely a major factor for collectors of a certain age. I'm in my late 40s and began reading comics in the late 1980s. I still have clear memories of seeing Amazing Spider-Man #300 and Wolverine #1 on the racks at my local LCS in suburban Philadelphia. I became such a huge Wolverine fan that purchasing a copy of Wolverine Limited Series #1 became a grail for me (that was expensive at the time for a thirteen year old). Now that I'm an adult with a steady job, collecting the books I read as a kid is a priority for me since they bring back such fond memories. I suspect that's also true for many collectors who were born in the 1970s and 1980s.
70% of the Top 10 Hottest Books of 2024 are also among the Top 10 most submitted books to CGC.
Not surprisingly, seven out of ten of the Top 10 Hottest comics are also included among the top 10 CGC submissions of all-time. In fact, five of them (ASM #300, Spawn, #1, Secret Wars #8, New Mutants #98, and Wolverine #1) have been submitted to CGC more than 30,000 times each. When you cross-reference these two lists, an argument could be made that these five comics are the most beloved comics of all-time due to both their demand and accessibility.
