Set Description:
Synopsis: This is one of our poorer sets with only 63 of the 100 books; however, there is a lot of quality here, as 41 of our books top the census with 27 of those single highest graded examples. This set has also topped the registry as of June 2023, although if a percentage of completion component is introduced into the scoring of registered sets, a change which we would very much support, that status would most definitely change.
Background: Detective Comics is an anthology comic featuring detective characters, both superhero and civilian. The longest-lasting character in Detective Comics was Batman, as from the time of his debut (#27, May 1939), the Caped Crusader was almost always the star of the cover and lead story.
Detective Comics has remained in publication longer than any other DC Comics title, and indeed, the very name DC was taken from its initials. In March 2019, Detective became only the third American comic book in history - after Action and the Four Color series of the 1930s-60s by Dell Comics - to publish a 1,000th issue.
This set begins in November 1953 with Issue #201 and continues through Issue #300, which is dated February 1962. It thus straddles the Golden and Silver Ages.
Our Collection: Detective Comics is a very long run and one we did not collect when we started actively pursuing this hobby again 20 years ago. But I have long admired many of the covers and started buying some in the upper range of this set when several big collections started appearing at auction.
Initially, we only bought books from the 1960s, but later started buying issues from 1957-1959. I really wish there was a pure Silver Age set for these books, as I am really not that big of fan of some of the earlier covers. But we have nevertheless picked some up when they are both highest graded and reasonably priced. From what I can tell, with the sale of the Alfred Pennyworth books, there are really no collectors trying to replicate his collection, which has left an opportunity for us to start this set. But it is so far from being finished, that I can’t say we are in this one for the long haul. Still, it’s a decent start, highlighted by 26 single highest graded issues, including our Issue #298, which features the first appearance of Clayface.
For the time being, we are only targeting books graded at least 9.0 or 8.5s that are at least second highest graded. That seems like a pretty low bar, but the census in some issues is almost devoid of high-grade examples. In fact, 9.8s are pretty much non-existent-I think we currently have just one. In fact, even 9.6s are rare, with many issues having as low as an 8.5 topping the census. Also, white page examples are very rare, as are pedigrees.
I am really not sure where we are going with this collection. Being completist, this is not a set where I really see that goal as being achievable, at least not with the parameters we have established for this set. If we were going to do that, we probably needed to be much more aggressive buying these books a few years ago when so many were on the market. As is, I think the Detective Comics #300-400 set may be completable, although a good copy of Issue #359 will be very costly. I am really not seeing it as an achievable goal for this set.
2023 Update: While this set currently tops the census, it’s really a mess. Currently, we only have about half the books with none between #221-#239. We were doing pretty well on #201-220, but a 8.5 of #203, which we needed, recently came to auction and we came nowhere close to acquiring it. The book ended up selling for about $17k, which seems ridiculous for a book graded that low, and certainly not something we could do chasing as many titles as we are currently. In point of fact, that’s more than we have paid for any of our single highest graded books in the #201-220 range, including those graded 9.4-9.8. I am really not sure what we are going to do here, as we have clearly bitten off more than we can chew with this one and we may end up selling these books. For now, we are lowering our minimum grade on this set to 8.0 for the earlier Golden Age books and may start acquiring some books that are third highest graded just to fill some slots. Still, there are several books in this set that we have never seen on the market in any grade.
2024 Update: Well, we now have 62 of these books, as we have started acquiring a few more books that are not highest graded, but the chances of ever finishing this one seem extremely remote. There are some highest graded slot fillers on the market currently, but the asks are simply astronomical. If the registry points awarded this set are supposed to correlate to market values, all I can say is they are a joke. It would take hundreds of thousands to complete this set in high-grade examples -and that's if you can even find all the books.
Current Stats:
63/100 Books
1 9.8-Highest Graded
11 9.6s-All Highest Graded
12 9.4s-9 Highest Graded
14 9.2s-8 Highest Graded
18 9.0s-10 Highest Graded
4 8.5s-3 Highest Graded
3 8.0s-1 Highest Graded
5 WP
33 OW/W
17 OW
8 Cr/OW
27 Single Highest Graded
41-Highest Graded
18 Second Highest Graded
4 Third Highest Graded
2 Pedigrees
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