Set Description:
Synopsis: This is a set of 135 books with a minimum grade of 8.0 currently starting with Issue #72 and ending with Issue #227.
Background: World's Finest Comics was published initially by National Periodical Publications and later by DC Comics beginning in the Summer of 1941 until January of 1986 spanning a total of 322 issues. The series was initially entitled World's Best Comics, but changed to World's Finest Comics after issue #1.
Originally, World's Finest Comics was an anthology series that featured DC's most popular characters from other anthology series—mainly Superman and Batman. The comic was 1.5 times larger than standard comics, and cost 15¢ (when standard comics were 10¢). The series was orginally issued on a quarterly schedule for the first twenty issues. It then went to a bi-monthly schedule but still retained more pages then the other DC Comics at the time.
With World's Finest #71, the comic was made regular-size (and price). In order to retain the draw of Superman and Batman without giving them both full-length stories, the series began chronicling the team-up adventures of Batman and Superman. Unlike their Post-Crisis counterparts, the early versions of these characters were the greatest of friends and routinely teamed up to battle the likes of villains such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac and the Joker. Although not considered an official part of the World's Finest team, the Golden Age Robin assisted them in many of their adventures.
For the best part of the Silver and Bronze Ages, the series continued publication with different formats going from regular size comics, featuring experimental ideas such as removing Batman from the lineup and making this series a team up book for Superman while Batman would team up with other heroes in the The Brave and the Bold (Volume 1). The sales of World's Finest Comics began to lag so Batman was brought back to the lineup. Other concepts included the Super-Sons storyline and the 80-pages Dollar Comics, which featured various back-up stories including Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow and Hawkman among other notable characters, but always with a main focus on Batman and Superman. The series was eventually cancelled in 1986 after a series of failed attempts to revitalize the concept of the primary characters and the growing tensions between them as their new characterization made it impossible to keep the stories feasible.
Our Collection: While we have registered all our WFs in this set, our goal here has never been to collect all the books dating back to 1941, but rather just the Silver and some Bronze Age issues. We now have 135 books in this title spread out over 20 years (1954-1975), 45 of which are single highest graded. The real highlight of our set are the early books, #90, #91, #92, #94, #96, #99 and #100, all of which are highest graded with five of them holding that distinction alone.
Overall, this is actually a very nice run of books if you look at just Issues #90-#200, which covers a span of a little over 13 years. Of the 111 books in that span, we have high-grade copies of 108 of them, with the vast majority highest graded examples, 39 of which hold that distinction alone. Only one book in that span is worse than second highest graded.
2024 Update: This set remains very much a work in progress, as there are still major holes in our collection. We have decided to start the set with issue #71, although we do not own a copy of said issue. I am not real sure where we will stop it, it may be we will jettison the issues over #200 and aim for a 130 issue set, which would obviously be only a fraction of the books in this WF set. From #90-200 we only need three issues, but all three books are low census. In one case, there is not a reported sale over an 8.0 in 20 years, just to give you a feel for how hard these issues are to find. Again, they are not expensive when they do come up, as the last slot we filled with a top 2 book cost us less than $500, but completing this one is a bear. To use an old analogy, they are like hunting a needle in a haystack.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 72 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 72 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
0116373006
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Owner Comments
Issue #72 features the second Superman/Batman team-up in title, along with a full-page ad for Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #1. As such, I believe this 1954 book clearly belongs in the GA; but after much debate, we decided to start our WF collection with the Batman-Superman team-up, even though we have yet to acquire a copy of Issue #71. Our book here, while just an 8.0, is nevertheless the single highest graded copy in the census. We acquired it from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 75 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 75 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
3776844001
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Owner Comments
Issue #75 is the first code approved issue and also the place where we have decided for now to begin our WF collection. Our book, although just an 8.5, is tied for the highest graded example in the census. We acquired the book from the 9/11/2021 Heritage Auction.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 76 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 76 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
3858299002
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Owner Comments
Our 9.6 is not only the single highest graded example, but it is also the only copy of this issue ever graded above 9.0. I believe this is a book that was originally a 9.4 and was owned by Nick at Comic Book Addiction back in October 2020. I am not sure who the intermediate owner was, but we acquired the book as a 9.6 from the 9/9/2021 Heritage Auction.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 77 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 77 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
3749649007
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Owner Comments
In a twist, Superman loses his powers and Batman becomes Super Batman in Issue #77. Our 9.2 is tied with one other copy for highest graded in the Census. We acquired the book from Nick at Comic Book Addiction in January 2024.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 78 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 78 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
0962668002
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Owner Comments
While just an 8.5, our book is one of the top two ever certified by CGC. We acquired the book from Greg Reece in January 2022.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 84 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 84 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
4335212003
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Owner Comments
Our 9.0 copy of issue #84 from 1956 is the sole 9.0 in the census trailing a single 9.4 amd a single 9.2. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023.*
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 85 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 85 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
4335212004
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Owner Comments
Ok, this is one of the sillier covers in this title, but at least our 9.2 is the single highest graded example in the census. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023.*
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 86 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 86 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
0805476003
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Owner Comments
Our 9.0 is tied with one other copy for highest graded. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in September 2023,
2024 Update: Now there are three 9.0s in the census on this one.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 88 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 88 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
3734657014
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Owner Comments
Issue #88 is notable in that it features the first Joker/Luthor team-up. Our book, although just an 8.5, is tied for second highest traded trailing a single 9.0 in the census. We acquired the book from the 9/11/2021 Heritage Auction.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 90 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 90 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
3734657015
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Owner Comments
Issue #90 features the Super Batwoman, along with our trio of male heroes. This book is effectively where our WF collection begins and was easily the most expensive book in our set. It is far and away the best copy ever certified by CGC, as the next highest graded copy is a 9.0. We targeted it to go along with our single highest graded copies of Issues #91 and 92. But for some unknown reason, we were obviously not the only ones who really wanted it and the bidding got way out of hand. It was the last book in the Thursday session of the January 2021 Heritage Auction and, if we had not been basically shut out of that auction, we never would have ended up with it. But because we had already lost so many books we had targeted in that auction, we kept bidding on this one-although admittedly, we would not have bid again if the other buyer had made one more bid. It’s strange how you end up with some books and lose others, it is often a question of how much you have already spent that month. I would have probably preferred several books I lost in that auction, which I could have gotten for what I paid for this one, but it was all a question of when each book came up in the auction.
At any rate, it is a cool book with great colors. We acquired it in the 1/14/2021 Heritage Auction.
2024 Update: In reading our description above, I guess one thing that is now inaccurate is that we do own earlier issues and are trying to fill in between #71-#89, which is certainly not easy. And while we certainly overpaid for this one, it is still far and away the best copy of this book ever graded by CGC. But this is a very weird title, in that we have paid hundreds for some single highest graded books and then five figures for others. I guess the short explanation is that nobody really collects this title, collectors just target certain covers and this is one of them. Three years later, I am glad we spring for this one, it is still a very cool cover and there is nothing even close in the census. In fact, I just added it to our list of favorite books.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 91 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 91 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
4191357002
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Owner Comments
A 9.8 from 1957, yikes! As was the case of our Issue #90 9.6, this book is the only example of this issue ever certified above 9.0 by CGC. We acquired it in December 2020 from Comic Book Addiction. It was not cheap, but much less than we paid for the prior issue.*
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 92 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 92 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
4306685001
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Owner Comments
While just a 9.0, and with cream/ow pages to boot, our book is still the tied with one other copy for highest graded in the census. It also hails from the Mohawk Valley Collection. We acquired the book off a e-bay listing in October 2023.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 93 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 93 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
0325362013
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 94 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 94 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
3779022002
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Owner Comments
Issue #94 features the the Origin of the Batman/Superman team, which I guess makes it a key issue, as it is accorded more registry points than surrounding issues at this grade and cost a pretty penny. Our 9.4 is not only the single highest graded issue, but there are also no 9.2s. We acquired the book in the 4/3/2021 Heritage Auction.
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Slot: |
World's Finest Comics 95 |
Item: |
World's Finest Comics 95 Universal |
Grade: |
CGC |
Cert #: |
0963114012
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Owner Comments
Our 9.2 is tied for highest graded with one other copy. We acquired the book from a friend and fellow collector in August 2023.
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