Winners Revealed - Wizard Magazine Top 10 Hottest Comics (20 Years of Data)

[Hado]

I had one of the last issues the OP needed to finish this, 97 I believe.

When I looked at the top 10 I was expecting books I'd recognize. 2 of the 10 were Pokèmon books and the only book worth the paper it's printed on is Miracleman #15.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Wow! So many female characters on that list. I forgot how many women collected 'mics back in the 90s.

 

Wasn't Witchblade the highest rated TV show ever to be cancelled?

[HarveySwick]

 

Thanks for all the hard work Mark!!!!

[RickL]

Interesting, particularly given how that issue of JLA has fallen value and how reviled Morrison has been of late.

Really? What's he done?

[Davenport]

Walking Dead will end up like all this stuff...

Yeah I remember when Lady Death ran for over 100 issues, sold hundreds of thousands of TPBs and spawned TV show that was #1 for 3 straight years.

 

Those were the days.

And don't forget 'Lady Death: The Motion Picture'.

 

[jaeldubyoo]

A bit dated but so apropos.

http://www.tomheroes.com/Comics/Stories/the_little_investor.htm

 

[Shaven Kev-migration]

Walking Dead will end up like all this stuff...

Yeah I remember when Lady Death ran for over 100 issues, sold hundreds of thousands of TPBs and spawned TV show that was #1 for 3 straight years.

 

Those were the days.

And don't forget 'Lady Death: The Motion Picture'.

 

 

Yeah, sorry I guess it will be worth even less since its so over printed and over exposed.

 

[Hado]

The early issues had relatively small print runs :shrug:

[Gatsby77]

Interesting, particularly given how that issue of JLA has fallen value and how reviled Morrison has been of late.

Really? What's he done?

 

Batman a few years ago. Started strong, got really confusing and lame fairly quickly. And DC's New 52 Action Comics.

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=6578413#Post6578413

 

 

[RedGiant]

Images added to original post. Oh the memories.

[RickL]

Interesting, particularly given how that issue of JLA has fallen value and how reviled Morrison has been of late.

Really? What's he done?

 

Batman a few years ago. Started strong, got really confusing and lame fairly quickly. And DC's New 52 Action Comics.

Oh, he just wrote some lame comics. I thought maybe he'd gone all Frank Miller / Alan Moore style controversial. Still,I think he has the potential to get there yet.

[RedGiant]

...and for anyone who cares, re: Walking Dead

(keep in mind Walking Dead was first published in 2003, and Wizard ran through March 2011 - sure the book is more popular now than ever, but still this might help put the analysis into perspective for those who weren't collecting until recently)

 

Walking Dead first showed up in the top 10 hottest comics in issue 151 (May 2004) when issue #2 came in at the number 8 spot.

 

#1 didn't show up until issue 212 (April 2009) and was only in the top 10 four times and only in the number 1 spot once.

 

 

[HarveySwick]

A bit dated but so apropos.

http://www.tomheroes.com/Comics/Stories/the_little_investor.htm

 

Thanks. Great little tale. Unfortunately, I may have been sucked into this theory at that time (although I did read the books). Anyone want a NM copy of Turok #1 or Deathmate #1 - I have multiples! I also have tons of Ultraverse!

[RedGiant]

Rounding out the top 10 for number of a times a book was in the top 10:

6 - Preacher #1 - 20 times

7 - X-Files #1 - 20 times

8 - Darkness #1 - 17 times (includes both regular and black covers)

9 - NYX #3 - 16 times

10 - New Mutants #87 - 15 times (I bet a lot of people thought this would have been much higher on the list) plus the 2nd print was in the top 10 twice, so 17 times if you combine the two, I count them as separate books

 

Where are all the Valiants?

the highest is tied for ranking 25 - Rai #0 appears 10 times

[RedGiant]

and rounding out the top 10 for number of "total points":

6 - X-Files #1 - 147 points

7 - Preacher #1 - 130 points

8 - New Mutants #87 - 116 points

9 - NYX #3 - 106 points

10 - ASM #529 - 99 points

 

The highest Valiant book was Rai #0 with 54 points

[Erndog]

Very cool list. I thought Battle Chasers might have snuck in there somewhere simply because of the lag in time between issues and I remember everyone talking about it at the shop for months before the next issue came out. I figured it was going to have "default-months" of being hot because everyone awaited the next issue and still wanted the 1st one (if that makes sense).

[RedGiant]

Very cool list. I thought Battle Chasers might have snuck in there somewhere simply because of the lag in time between issues and I remember everyone talking about it at the shop for months before the next issue came out. I figured it was going to have "default-months" of being hot because everyone awaited the next issue and still wanted the 1st one (if that makes sense).

Battle Chasers #1 was in the top 10 a total of 7 times, the only other issue was #7 which was in the top 10 only once. Just helps puts into perspective how HOT Witchblade #1 really was.

[conditionfreak]

I never owned even one of these books listed as the hottest.

 

I think I am happy about that.

 

Oh wait. I did have a New Mutants 87, 1st and 2nd print.

[RedGiant]

Someone PM'd me today asking for a copy of the master list - so thought a bump may be in order.

[freshcollect]

Interesting read - these were the days I started collecting, and unfortunately the stacks of long boxes I have in the basement are directly correlated to what you'll find on those Wizard Top 10 lists (heck I have a box full of the Wizards). Of course it's all worth next to nothing now, but I had a heck of a lot of fun collecting back in those days, and read everything.

 

That's my challenge getting back into it these days, trying hard not to get sucked into the "new hot thing", but at the same time, I enjoy the read, and it's more financially realistic to chase all of the new Avengers books vs. buying 1 SA Marvel Key a year. At that rate I'd barely feel like I'm collecting. Trying to find the right balance is an interesting challenge.

 

Note: I also need to decide how much of this "hot" stuff I choose to keep as apparently my wife would like some space in the basement - but it's very hard to choose what to part with from my fun period of collecting (for example I think I have almost every Wildstorm comic ever printed - hard to pick what 10% of that is personally important to keep)