What is a Pedigree?

Before I start listing and throwing down some knowledge of known pedigrees, I thought I'd try and explain what they are first. A pedigree is a collection of comic books from the Golden and Silver Age. There are certain criteria that a collection must meet in order to be considered a pedigree. The criteria are as follows.

1) The collection must have been bought by one person off of the newsstand as they were released. Only comics bought in the 60's or earlier are eligible to become a pedigree collection some day. This means that you or I can't buy older, ungraded books from your local comic shop, at a convention or online and then 50 years from now the collection will become a pedigree. It doesn't work like that and that time has already come and gone, unless you hop into your Delorean and travel back to 1955 with Marty McFly. If you do, remember to bring extra plutonium.

2) The comics must be vintage. No Bronze or Copper Age and definitely no Modern Age books are allowed in pedigree collections. In fact, it was only fairly recently (the early to mid 90's) that the industry started to recognize Silver Age books in pedigree collections. If a collection consists solely of Silver Age books, they have to have an average grade of 9.4 or greater to be considered. That's a pretty tall order, but if it were lower than that, then every Tom, Dick, and Harry would have a pedigree collection and they wouldn't be nearly as sought out as they are now.

3) The collection must be more than a few comics. It has to consist of a considerable amount of books. There are some collections that have only one or two hundred books, but there are also collections with over 10,000. If the collection is a smaller one, then most of the comics in the collection have to have significant key issues in them, or be extremely rare.

4) The fourth and final requirement of a pedigree comic collection is that they must all be in high grade. This is pretty self explanatory. Like I mentioned before, a Silver Age collection must be of very high grade averaging a 9.4 or more. A Golden Age book is a little different. These books have to be high grade or the highest grade of those that are graded. For example, if your Golden Age key issue is only an 8.5, but all other known copies are only a 7.5 or 8.0, then that comic could be considered for the pedigree.

Well, If I did my job right and wrote clearly enough, then this should help you understand pedigree comics a little bit more. If I didn't, then you're probably just as confused as you were before, but I hope it helps you out.

Detective Comics #27

DC Comics - May 1939

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Batman
First appearance of Commissioner Gordon
First appearance of Gotham

Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939, Batman made his first appearance in a short six page story in Detective Comics #27. 

In the story "The Chemical Syndicate", We find Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne at Gordon's house when he receives a call about the murder of one of partners at the Apex Chemical Company. Both Gordon and Bruce Wayne go to investigate. After Gordon gets a call from another partner that's scared for his life, Bruce excuses himself to go home and let the Commissioner do his job. Well, to make a short story even shorter, Batman stops a murderous partner in the chemical company and saves the day. Spoiler alert, Commissioner Gordon's pal Bruce Wayne is Batman. It's a fun piece of comic history and if you'd like, you can read the story here at reading-room.net.

Detective Comics #27 is one of the most expensive comics of all time. An 8.0 copy was sold in 2010 at Heritage Auctions for over a million dollars. There is also an Allentown Collection pedigree copy that is said to be the nicest copy ever. I'll be getting more into the Allentown Collection and other pedigrees soon, but let's get back to the topic at hand. The Allentown copy is estimated to be a VF/NM 9.0. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't believe that this copy has been graded yet. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know.

CGC Census
Click to Enlarge

Ok, let's take a look at the CGC census. There are a total of 65 copies of Detective Comics #27 graded. However, almost half (32) of those are restored copies. Even the highest graded 9.4 copy is restored. It will still be a very expensive book, even in a Restored grade. But there is a Universal 9.2 copy on the census. Is this the Allentown Collection copy? I don't know for sure. I couldn't find any other information on it or any sales records through my research. This is a comic that would definitely sell for well into the millions of dollars if it ever makes it to the market. It may even sell more than the Action Comics #1. Most Universal grade copies are graded 6.5 by CGC. But these copies still sell over the $500,000 mark. To date, there have been zero sales of graded copies listed on goCollect.com, but their data only goes back to 2010. This is not going to be an easy book to find but, if you're in the market for this comic, and can afford it, it's going to be a great investment in any grade. I wish you luck on your hunt.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Captain America Comics #1

Timley Comics - March 1941

Key Issue Notes
1st appearance of Captain America
1st appearance of Bucky Barnes
1st appearance of Red Skull
1st appearance of Agent X-13


Long before there was Marvel Comics, there was Timely Comics. It was under the Timely Comics name that Captain America would be published by legendary comic creators of Joe Simon and Jack "The King" Kirby. Captain America Comics #1 was published in the Golden Age during WWII. During those years, war comics were immensely popular. There were only a handful of superhero titles available at the time like Superman and Batman and even they were at times depicted facing the Nazis and Japanese armies. War was big business for the comic book industry.

As you can see, this comic is packed full of first appearances for some iconic characters, the first being Capain America. It also has the origin of how Steve Rogers became the iconic character from the Super Soldier Serum developed by the government. 

Captain America Comics #1 also has Bucky Barnes first appearance. James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is Captain America's long time faithful sidekick. Bucky, in the modern age of comics, does become the Winter Soldier, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here.

Now let's get to some bad guys here. We also get the first appearance of Red Skull. The Red Skull that appears in Captain America Comics #1 is not the same as the more popular version of Red Skull. In this comic, he is George Maxon. Maxon often wears a red mask to rob banks to raise money to overthrow the U.S. government. Sounds like a pretty weak villain to me. Johann Schmidt is the more menacing version of Red Skull that most people know. His first appearance is in Captain America Comics #7.

Lastly on the list of 1st appearances is Agent X-13. Agent X-13 is also known as Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross. Betsy Ross is an FBI agent that often found herself in trouble and needing to be rescued by Captain America and Bucky. She was the damsel in distress character.

Click to Enlarge

For a comic that was published in 1941, there are 147 copies of Captain America Comics #1 graded by CGC. I was surprised there were that many. The highest graded copy is Universal 9.8 NM/M. That, to me, is amazing. Even with that many copies graded, finding any sales information is hard to do. The only confirmed sale I could find was at ComicConnect.com in 2011. The comic sold for a whopping $343,000. This comic is definitely no lightweight. But with one of comics most iconic characters first appearances, it should be. This isn't going to be an easy book to find in any grade but most graded copies listed in the CGC census are in the 6.0 F to 8.0 VF range but expect to throw down some dollars for them, even in lower grades.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Superman #76

DC Comics - May 1952

Key Issue Notes
1st meeting of Superman and Batman
Learn each others identities


With Batman v. Superman Dawn of Justice hitting the big screen today, I thought I'd share with everyone, who may not already know, their first meeting in comics.

It only took 11 years after the introduction of Batman and 12 years after Superman in comics, two of DC Comics biggest superheroes, to finally meet in the pages of the Golden Age classic Superman #76.


Do to overcrowding on a cruise ship, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are forced to share a room. While they are both worried that their secret identities will be revealed, a jewel thief starts a fire on the docks to make a distraction for his getaway. The always clever Bruce Wayne comes up with a plan to change into his Batman costume without Clark Kent finding out he's Batman. He tells Clark that he's tired a is going to sleep. Under the cover of darkness, Bruce then changes to become Batman. But, Clark had the same idea. As the lights were out, Clark also changes into Superman. These are two really clever guys. I mean, what could go wrong? Well, the light from the fire shines through the window of their room revealing their secret identities to each other. That in a nutshell is how the two realize who each other is. To me, it's a little corny. But it was a different time.

Values for Superman #76
on GoCollect

Let's talk about some sales now. So far, there are 199 copies of Superman #76 graded by CGC. Two of those copies share the graded highest at a 9.6  NM+. Now, with so few copies in the CGC census, there are even fewer sales as you can see by the chart. I couldn't find any sales data for a 9.6 NM+, if there even are any. However, in Sept 2014, an 8.5 VF+ sold on eBay for $3250 (also shown in the chart). It's a well known key issue and obviously not cheap. Even low graded copies could cost you many hundreds of dollars. 4.0 VG copies have sold over the $1000 mark. So if you're looking to add an already graded copy of this comic to your collection, don't expect it to be an easy find, or a cheap one. I wish you luck on your hunt.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect