January 13, 2017
1995
[ Note: newsstand rarity estimates show that newsstand comics are dramatically more rare than direct edition comics by this point in time. If you are not already in-the-know about the difference between newsstand and direct edition versions see the following: Comic Book Newsstand Editions: Understanding The Difference ]
There are two main ways I’ve seen online lists of key comics presented by year: (1) personalized lists based upon judgment calls of what is “key” (thereby omitting any comics the particular writer doesn’t happen to consider key — or doesn’t know about), and (2) lists based upon high sales price data (also a flawed method because high prices can just as easily be caused by a non-key book happening to grade a 10 at CGC).
The top 50 list you’re about to see is neither of those other types.
Instead, to briefly repeat the introduction I gave on the main 1990’s page, the list I’m about to present is essentially “crowd-sourced”… by the crowd of collectors sending comics to CGC. All I’ve done here is to rank the universe of comic books published in 1995, according to how many copies of each issue have passed through CGC’s doors to date to reveal the comics with the highest census counts — that’s it!
This exercise should “tease out” a very interesting list of important and/or key comics from 1995, but this will not necessarily be an all-encompassing list (if very few copies were created for a given key, for example, that restricted supply could keep the count of CGC submissions low even though the comic is very important — this exercise will unfortunately see such comics sort themselves off of the bottom through no fault of their own). So essentially, you should think of this list as just one more tool in your tool-belt of researching key comics from 1995. You can also drill down and see the top 50 Marvel comics of 1995, top 50 D.C. comics of 1995, and more key comic books of 1995 from other publishers.
Key Comics From 1995:
(Census data as of year-end 2016)
| Rank | CGC Count | Issue | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1,958 | Preacher #1 | 4/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 2. | 1,189 | Witchblade #1 | 11/95 | Image/Top Cow |
| 3. | 511 | Amazing Spider-Man 400 Die-Cut Cover | 4/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 4. | 474 | X-Men: Alpha #1 | 2/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 5. | 433 | Preacher #2 | 5/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 6. | 366 | X-Men: Omega #1 | 6/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 7. | 347 | X-Men: Prime #1 | 7/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 8. | 309 | G.I. Joe: Special #1 | 2/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 9. | 259 | Preacher #3 | 6/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 10. | 252 | Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe #1 | 11/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 11. | 211 | X-Files #1 | 1/95 | Topps Comics |
| 12. | 208 | Batman Adventures #28 | 1/95 | D.C. Comics |
| 13. | 195 | Absolute Vertigo #nn | Winter 1995 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 14. | 193 | Amazing Spider-Man 400 Die-Cut Variant Cover | 4/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 15. | 185 | Dawn #1 | 6/95 | Sirius Entertainment |
| 16. | 175 | Cyblade/Shi: The Battle for Independents #1 | 1995 | Crusade-Image Comics |
| 17. | 169 | Dawn 1 Black Light Edition | 6/95 | Sirius Entertainment |
| 18. | 161 | Preacher #4 | 7/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 19. | 158 | Lady Death II: Between Heaven & Hell #1 | 3/95 | Chaos! Comics |
| 20. | 144 | X-Men: Omega 1 Gold Edition | 6/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 21. | 139 | Spider-Man Maximum Clonage: Omega #1 | 8/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 22. | 137 | Preacher #5 | 8/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 23. | 125 | Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Alpha #1 | 8/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 24. | 120 | Uncanny X-Men #325 | 10/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 25. | 118 | Cyblade/Shi: The Battle for Independents 1 Variant | 1995 | Crusade-Image Comics |
| 26. | 118 | Ghost in the Shell #1 | 3/95 | Dark Horse Comics |
| 27. | 111 | Spider-Man & Batman: Disordered Minds #nn | 9/95 | D.C.-Marvel |
| 28. | 109 | Gen 13 1 Variant Cover G | 3/95 | Image Comics |
| 29. | 105 | Gen 13 1 Variant Cover H | 3/95 | Image Comics |
| 30. | 104 | Witchblade 1 Top Cow Collection | 11/95 | Image/Top Cow |
| 31. | 103 | Sabretooth Special #1 | 1995 | Marvel Comics |
| 32. | 101 | X-Men: Alpha 1 Gold Edition | 2/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 33. | 100 | Preacher #6 | 9/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 34. | 99 | Amazing Spider-Man #400 | 4/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 35. | 99 | Green Arrow #101 | 10/95 | D.C. Comics |
| 36. | 98 | Rogue Limited Series #1 | 1/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 37. | 90 | Preacher #8 | 11/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 38. | 87 | Astro City #1 | 8/95 | Image Comics |
| 39. | 85 | Amazing Spider-Man #399 | 3/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 40. | 84 | Lady Death In Lingerie 1 Leather Edition | 8/95 | Chaos! Comics |
| 41. | 83 | Wizard Ace Edition: Witchblade #9 | 12/95 | Top Cow-Wizard Pub. |
| 42. | 80 | Uncanny X-Men #320 | 1/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 43. | 75 | Amazing Spider-Man #402 | 6/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 44. | 75 | Preacher #9 | 12/95 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 45. | 74 | Batman: Vengeance of Bane II #1 | 1995 | D.C. Comics |
| 46. | 72 | Uncanny X-Men #323 | 8/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 47. | 72 | Johnny the Homicidal Maniac #1 | 8/95 | Slave Labor |
| 48. | 71 | Uncanny X-Men #322 | 7/95 | Marvel Comics |
| 49. | 70 | Dawn 1 White Trash Edition | 6/95 | Sirius Entertainment |
| 50. | 69 | Astonishing X-Men #1 | 3/95 | Marvel Comics |
| « 1994 | 1996 » | |||
More Key Comics From 1995
Also see: top 50 Marvel comics of 1995, top 50 D.C. comics of 1995, more key comic books of 1995 outside of Marvel and DC, all key comics from 1995, or jump to this list of important comics from the 1990s. Or explore Lists of Key Comic Books by Year. Or jump to my blog’s home page.
Happy Collecting! 🙂
