2025 Year in Review (Top of the Stack, CGC-Graded Comics)

Insights
Written By GPAnalysis Team

Every fortnight in 2025, we published our ‘Top of the Stack’ roundups (starting as the title ‘Current CGC Market Trends’) tracking how many CGC-graded comics traded, total dollars, median price, the most-traded titles, the single biggest sale, and decade-by-decade leaders. With all sales data sourced from GPAnalysis.  

Across the 2025 fortnights where we published total sales and total volume, the CGC-graded market didn’t just move — it marched: at least 165,694 slabs traded hands for more than $57.6M in recorded sales.

This Year in Review summarises the 2025 fortnights we’ve published below; some windows may be missing, but all conclusions match the published roundup coverage in hand, links available below.

Source: GPAnalysis.com, sales recorded from January 1 to December 15, 2025.

Biggest single issue sales

10. Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) CGC 6.0 — $42,500

A blue-chip Marvel key with consistent buyer appetite whenever it appears. 

9. Marvel Mystery Comics #9 (1940) CGC 9.4 — $44,400

Golden Age depth: serious money even outside the obvious two or three “headline” books. 

8. Casper the Friendly Ghost #1 (1949) CGC 9.0 — $45,600

A standout ‘non-superhero’ surprise that still demands respect when the grade pops. 

7. Fantastic Four #48 (1966) CGC 9.8 — $56,000

A high-grade Marvel staple showing how condition still drives modern dollar concentration. 

6.

Superman #1 (1939) CGC 0.5 — $66,000

Even at entry grade, the right book remains a big-ticket book. 

5. Showcase #4 (1956) CGC 9.0 — $115,000

A Silver Age mega-key that keeps proving its cross-era pull.

4. Detective Comics #27 (1939) CGC 8.0 — $330,000

A market ‘north star’ sale — the kind collectors point to all year.

3. Flash Comics #1 (1940) CGC 8.5 — $396,000

Another elite Golden Age trophy sale, doing exactly what trophies do: set the tempo. 

2. Action Comics #1 (1938) CGC 8.5 — $554,428

A Golden Age cornerstone result that anchors the entire period.

1. Superman #1 (1939) CGC 9.0 — $9,120,000

A true ‘headline sale’ that dwarfs everything else and instantly defines the year. 

Heroes of the eras (Most traded title by decade)

Measured by “Top 5 titles by volume” appearances across our 2025 fortnightly roundups.

🕰️ 1930s: Weird Tales (1923–1954)

Runner-ups: The Shadow (1933–1949); Superman (1939–1986); Doc Savage (1933–1949)

🦇 1940s: Batman (1940)

Runner-ups: Detective Comics (1937); Superman (1939–1986); Captain America Comics (1941–1954)

☢️ 1950s: Batman (1940)

Runner-ups: Detective Comics (1937); Showcase (1956–1978); Action Comics (1938)

🕷️ 1960s: 

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963–1998)

Runner-ups: Fantastic Four (1961–1996); X-Men (1963–1970); Avengers, The (1963–1996)

🚀 1970s:

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963–1998)

Runner-ups: Star Wars (1977–1986); Incredible Hulk, The (1968–1999); X-Men, The (1963–1970)

🕶️ 1980s: 

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963–1998)

Runner-ups: Uncanny X-Men, The (1981–2012); Daredevil (1964–1998); Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars (1984–1985)

💥 1990s: 

X-Men (1991–2001)

Runner-ups: Spawn (1992); The Amazing Spider-Man (1963–1998); Uncanny X-Men, The (1981–2012)

🧟 2000s: 

Invincible (2003–2018)

Runner-ups: The Amazing Spider-Man (1963–1998); Batman (1940); The Walking Dead (2003–2019)

⚡ 2010s: 

Spawn (1992)

Runner-ups: Venom (2018); Invincible (2003–2018); Ultimate Fallout (2011–2012)

🦇 2020s: 

The Amazing Spider-Man (2022)

Runner-ups: Absolute Batman (2024); Batman (2016); Mark Spears Monsters (2024)

The year’s volume engine

If 2025 had a heartbeat, it was

Amazing Spider-Man (1963)

Across the year, we recorded the “most-traded title” count. Spidey moved 29,007 CGC-graded copies — roughly 1,381 slabs every two weeks.

Data sources for this 2025 Year in Review

Wrap-up

2025’s story is wide-market grind + concentrated heat: thousands of “everyday” slabs changing hands week after week, powered by liquid blue-chips (with Amazing Spider-Man acting like the market’s metronome), while a small handful of trophy books created genuine gravity-well moments — none bigger than the Superman #1 CGC 9.0 result that effectively became the year’s signature sale.

But the year wasn’t just vintage dominance. Modern had real spikes of its own — not in the “one random flash” sense, but in the repeat way modern books kept forcing their way into the conversation: contemporary keys and breakouts showing up in the decade leaderboards, pulling volume, and occasionally stealing oxygen from the classics. In other words: the floor stayed wide, the ceiling stayed historic, and the middle kept getting interrupted by modern heat.

GPAnalysis Team
Next

Top of the Stack: Best-Selling Comic Titles by Decade (December 2–15, 2025)