What comic title goes deepest into its run before having a CGC 9.8 graded? 1 1

[electricprune]

It’s not Action Comics nor Detective Comics. I’m guessing Pedigrees have something to do with that. It’s also not Four Color.

Marvel Mystery Comics has a few, but the original Marvel Tales don’t seem to have any after the name change. I’m counting name changes with continuing issue numbers as one run.

Here’s my best guess.

Spoiler

Girls’ Romances 156. Title started in 1950 and the first 9.8 is from 1971. There are only three 9.8s in the entire 160 issue run.

 

[valiantman]

Since you mentioned "comic title" in the question, we'll have to rule out the overall correct CGC answer (for now, surely a CGC 9.8 will come along eventually): 

TV Guide has 168 different issues that have been CGC graded from 1953 to 2016 and none have ever been CGC 9.8.

Believe it or not, there are 9,749 titles without a CGC 9.8, but only 209 titles have at least 100 CGC submissions.

There are no CGC 9.8 graded copies of Blondie Comics Monthly, King Comics, or D-Tracy Comics Monthly.  Those are the Top 3 by the number of different issues in the run (more than 118 different issues). 
The Top 3 by the number of graded copies (attempts to receive a CGC 9.8) are: Mystery Tales, Astonishing, and Witches Tales - each with at least 900 total submissions each and no CGC 9.8.

Girls Romances is a good guess, 96 different issues have been CGC graded before the first CGC 9.8 comes along.  Only 3 CGC 9.8 in the whole title.

Edited January 20, 2022 by valiantman

[electricprune]

Thanks, @valiantman. The TV Guide answer is interesting, but I definitely wasn't trying to include anything but comics.

9749 titles without a 9.8 is mind boggling to me. I had absolutely no idea there were anywhere near that many titles period, let alone without a 9.8. Incredible.

It looks like Blondie Comics/Blondie Comics Monthly ran for at least 172 issues, and has zero 9.8s. So, that beats GR for sure. King Comics ran at least 159 issues, and Tracy Monthly/and Tracy ran to issue 145 and has no 9.8s. So, DTM/DT would be 4th behind GR? At least from this small amount if info?

Another interesting one to me is Kid Colt Outlaw. It goes to issue 127 to see the first 9.8. I would have guessed that both DTM/DT and Kid Colt would have shown up in a Pedigree over the years in great shape, but I guess not.

[valiantman]

You're giving Girls Romances credit for more than 50 issues with zero graded copies. 

I'm not sure whether it's fair to include issues with zero graded copies on the CGC Census as part of the title's total.

Theoretically, you could pick an obscure title with 200+ issues with only one graded copy (and 199+ issues never graded) and say it has 200+ issues and no CGC 9.8s.

True, yes, but that would be zero CGC 9.8 out of one try... not zero CGC 9.8 out of 1,632 tries (as is the case with Mystery Tales).

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/title/:mystery:tales:/desc/no/comicyearend/1958/label/all/orderby/year/

[valiantman]

One of the interesting things about all the CGC Census data is how many "headlines" can be written which sound impressive, but are hard to justify.

"Highest Graded Copy On The CGC Census" applies to millions of books.

"Single Highest Graded Copy On The CGC Census" applies to hundreds of thousands of books, and many of them are the only graded copy.

When no one has cared enough to have something graded twice... it's hard to justify a headline for "Single Highest Graded Copy On The CGC Census", but people do it in their sale title anyway.

When no one has cared enough to have something graded even once... it's hard to justify much of anything for that issue. 

[musicmeta]

Very interesting info on CGC 9.8's.  

[electricprune]

On 1/20/2022 at 10:24 AM, valiantman said:

You're giving Girls Romances credit for more than 50 issues with zero graded copies. This is correct, but several of the issues along the way were graded. So, to me, it's interesting to see what title just had many issues without few 9.8s.

I'm not sure whether it's fair to include issues with zero graded copies on the CGC Census as part of the title's total.

Theoretically, you could pick an obscure title with 200+ issues with only one graded copy (and 199+ issues never graded) and say it has 200+ issues and no CGC 9.8s. For me, these two sentences is what makes it interesting to me. Using your example, was there a comic title that ran for, let's say, 210 issues coming out once per month. Is there a title that would have sold for 17 1/2 years with no 9,8s? If so, how was it popular enough to be published for that long and either: a) no copies remain in 9.8 grade, or b) collectors are now so ambivalent about the title that people supported it for years, but now don't care about it at all.

True, yes, but that would be zero CGC 9.8 out of one try... not zero CGC 9.8 out of 1,632 tries (as is the case with Mystery Tales). Honestly, this is an entirely different subject, although equally as interesting. A title obviously people still care about, but the 9.8s are nearly impossible to find across the entire run. 

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/title/:mystery:tales:/desc/no/comicyearend/1958/label/all/orderby/year/

"When no one has cared enough to have something graded even once... it's hard to justify much of anything for that issue. " On this, I'd have to disagree with you. I have the entire run of all of the YR books with the National or DC logo on them. I have looked for years for the best raw copies I could find. If I found any issue I though would even grade NM or better I would submit it. They are just really difficult to find. Maybe @greggyor @Dr. Love have some issues pre #156 that are 9.8 candidates?

 

Either way, thanks for your input! It's all interesting to me.

[Dr. Love]

Wish I did.  Crowley Fawcett run came close, but even then didn't hit the mark.  Silver DC had just the Savannahs, and they typically weren't 9.8 material.

The short answer, always, on romance and condition - girls bought 'em, and once read, didn't care about that stuff like the boys.

[Iceman399]

Leave it to you to try and find some perfect woman.

[electricprune]

On 1/20/2022 at 2:44 PM, Dr. Love said:

Wish I did.  Crowley Fawcett run came close, but even then didn't hit the mark.  Silver DC had just the Savannahs, and they typically weren't 9.8 material.

The short answer, always, on romance and condition - girls bought 'em, and once read, didn't care about that stuff like the boys.

The Murphy Anderson Pedigree also has some nice Silver Romance, stretching out into Bronze. But I agree about the girls buying them, reading them and then likely not worrying about condition after that. I do remember at least one sale on here of an OO collection from a young lady that had some Romance/Teen Humor bools that were really nice. I picked up quite a few of them. I also found a husband and wife on eBay that were selling her OO collection of DC Romance that were very nice, but not NM+ or better nice. Otherwise, a book here or there is about all I see from young ladies that collected Romance in the 50s-70s. Hopefully some more pop up.

[valiantman]

On 1/20/2022 at 1:26 PM, electricprune said:

"When no one has cared enough to have something graded even once... it's hard to justify much of anything for that issue. " On this, I'd have to disagree with you. I have the entire run of all of the YR books with the National or DC logo on them. I have looked for years for the best raw copies I could find. If I found any issue I though would even grade NM or better I would submit it. They are just really difficult to find. Maybe @greggyor @Dr. Love have some issues pre #156 that are 9.8 candidates?

I'm just saying that it's odd to celebrate a title according to its CGC Census results when you're including books that no one has submitted to CGC.

It seems a bit like a land-locked state celebrating the fewest shark attacks. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by valiantman

[electricprune]

On 1/20/2022 at 4:16 PM, valiantman said:

I'm just saying that it's odd to celebrate a title according to its CGC Census results when you're including books that no one has submitted to CGC.

It seems a bit like a land-locked state celebrating the fewest shark attacks. 

Just because there hasn't been a recorded attack doesn't mean they aren't out there. 

Bull Sharks In St. Louis