Set Description:
Captain Marvel Adventures is to WHIZ comics what Superman Comics is to Action Comics, a chance for the publisher to showcase its biggest star. In the case of Fawcett, Captain Marvel was even more important to their stable of heroes than Superman was to National Publications. Action Comics #1 was published in 1938 followed by Superman Comics #1 in 1939. Subsequently WHIZ comics #1 saw its first issue in 1940 with Captain Marvel Adventures starting the next year. It would be naïve to think that Fawcett wasn’t trying to follow in National Publications very successful footsteps although in many cases the Worlds Mightiest Mortal was a more interesting alternative to the Man of Steel with one of the most unique origins in the history of comics. Supposedly, in his heyday Cap boasted sales that exceeded even Superman’s. The success was in no small part due to the efforts of two of comic’s greatest legends, Otto Binder and C.C. Beck. Captain Marvel Adventures survived until November 1953 ending with issue 150 after a losing legal battle with DC Comics who claimed trademark infringement.
The highest unrestored CGC graded copy of Superman #1 is an 8.0 guide listed at $312,000. By comparison Issue #1 of Captain Marvel Adventures graded 8.0 is a bargain at $31,250. The highest unrestored CGC graded CMA #1 is an unimpressive 5.0. CMA #2 has an 8.0 CGC graded copy but from then on most issues have at least one high CGC graded copy more often than not a 9.6 with the occasional 9.8 sprinkled in. Most issues have between 1 and 2 dozen CGC graded comics. Because the first two issues are lower quality the highest guide priced CGC graded comic that actually exists would be the 9.6 copy of issue #3 at $18,000. WHIZ #2 (there is no issue #1) has a highest grade issue of 9.2 at a pricey $94,000 making it the highest valued issue starring Captain Marvel. Issues 20, 21 and 23 of CMA featured a mini comic attached and these three comics are significantly higher priced if the comic is still attached but the CGC grading doesn’t tell whether this is as far as I can tell.
In my opinion Captain Marvel Adventures are guide priced too high in the sense that when CMA issues are priced near guide and offered online they don’t sell. In fact I’ve seen about a 5% reduction in guide prices in the last year or so for CMA issues. It’s hard to say what the future holds for Captain Marvel Adventure’s value. For the series to be going down in price 60 to 70 years after it was first published doesn’t bode well but maybe it’s just going through a cold period. When compared to a popular series like Amazing Spider-Man the number of CGC graded issues is minuscule. Captain Marvel’s popularity pales in comparison to Spider-Man or Superman but from a historically relevant standpoint Captain Marvel is huge and continues to be popular to this day. From issue 82 onward not a single issue has more than 11 CGC graded copies and a majority have 5 or less so there is the scarcity factor.
There are two reasons I can think of as to why there are so few CGC graded copies of Captain Marvel Adventures. Either there is a pile of high quality comics that no one bothered to submit for grading or the number of preserved issues really is quite small. So why would someone not submit a high grade CMA comic to CGC? Issue’s graded 9.4 and above would theoretically double in value. Maybe a lot of CMA collectors never heard of CGC. It’s rare that I see a high grade CMA issue selling online that isn’t CGC graded which implies that there really aren’t that many. It’s not completely shocking since at the time when these comics came out they were seen as disposable entertainment and it was the rare collector who kept them in a place where they would be preserved for 60+ years. I made no attempt to focus on Pedigree issues and yet 27 of the 46 issues in my collection are Pedigree Copies. Mile High pedigrees seem to be the Crown Jewels of CMA and sell for double and triple guide (or should I say don’t sell). There are also a lot of Crippen “D” issues and other smaller Pedigree comics but I only own a couple non-Crowley Pedigree copy. The main reason I don’t own more Crippen comics is because they are rarely if ever the highest grade.
The goal of my collection is to gather the highest grade copies of as many issues as possible given my current budget. There are a few more highest grades available that I don’t have but they tend to be early Mile High pedigree issues that are well outside my budget. Currently my collection has 26 highest grades. 14 of those stand alone at the top position. In a comparison between myself and the current top CMA set there are 15 issues owned by both of us. We have the same grade on 3 issues. My competitor has 2 comics with higher grade than mine. In the other 10 issues mine is the higher grade. On an issue by issue basis my set is of higher quality than the 8 time CMA set of the year and 2009 Golden Age set of the year. My collection has 8 comics graded 9.4 while Starman221 has only 3 and only my set has a 9.6. On the other hand Starman221 has the first 26 issues while I haven’t a single comic prior to issue 30 so from a shear dollar value mine lags far behind.
Key Issues in my Collection….
Issue 64 – Highest Graded Copy of Oggar’s (“World’s Mighiest Immortal’s”) First Appearance
Issue 79 – Highest Graded Copy of Tawky Tawny’s First Appearance
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