I will just come out and say it…I am not a zombie fan. I just don’t get the fascination. But…I am a comic fan, and when a phenomenon like the Walking Dead comes along, comic fans take notice.
With the state of the market as it is today for the early issues of Walking Dead, I decided I would take a look at some of the data. How many copies of the book were estimated to be sold? How many of these books ended up in “high grade”? Let’s take a look, shall we? Below I have plotted all the data for CGC 9.2 books and higher (Universal Grade only).
The first thing that strikes me is the low print run of the first few issues. Only 7266 copies of the first issue are estimated to have been sold. In my earlier post on Dark Horse Conan (a title that came out pretty much at the same time as Walking Dead #1) over 50,000 copies of the first issue were printed. That makes sense. Conan is an iconic character with an established fan base. Of the ~7300 copies of Walking Dead issue #1, around 25% (1713 copies…that includes Signature Series, etc.) have been submitted for grade! Sure, some of those submissions may have been the same book being resubmitted. Still, that is staggering.
The second thing that pops out here are the 9.9 issues. A CGC 9.9 issue #1 sold for $11,000 in March of this year. Issues #2 and #3 have no 9.9 issues. But there are two 9.9 copies of issue #4. Neither one has been offered for sale according the GPAnalysis though. One wonders what they would fetch given the very low print run of the book even at issue 4?
Along those lines, one has to ask, “Will it last?” Anything is possible I suppose, but in my humble opinion, a few years does not a cultural icon make. Batman has been around for 75 years. Spidey for around 50 years. Will the Walking Dead be on anyones radar in five, ten, thirty years?? Is there any other book to compare it to? Not that come to mind.
Anyway…I hope you find this chart interesting, and maybe even useful.
Until next time…
P.S. Looking for Walking Dead CGC books?