January 13, 2017
1997
[ 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 1997, 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 1997, 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 1997. You can also drill down and see the top 50 Marvel comics of 1997, top 50 D.C. comics of 1997, and more key comic books of 1997 from other publishers.
Key Comics From 1997:
(Census data as of year-end 2016)
| Rank | CGC Count | Issue | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1,171 | Deadpool #1 | 1/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 2. | 520 | Spawn 1 Black & White Edition | 9/97 | Image Comics |
| 3. | 359 | Superman Adventures #5 | 3/97 | D.C. Comics |
| 4. | 355 | Incredible Hulk #449 | 1/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 5. | 314 | JLA #1 | 1/97 | D.C. Comics |
| 6. | 247 | Uncanny X-Men 350 Prism Foil Cover | 12/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 7. | 154 | Uncanny X-Men 342 Variant Cover | 3/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 8. | 140 | Transmetropolitan #1 | 9/97 | D.C./Helix |
| 9. | 95 | Wolverine #1/2 | 1997 | Marvel-Wizard Pub. |
| 10. | 90 | Deadpool #2 | 2/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 11. | 89 | Superman 123 Glow-in-the-Dark Cover | 5/97 | D.C. Comics |
| 12. | 80 | Thunderbolts #1 | 4/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 13. | 73 | Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #1/2 | 2/97 | Dark Horse-Wizard Pub. |
| 14. | 73 | Wolverine/Witchblade #1 | 3/97 | Image/Top Cow-Marvel |
| 15. | 72 | Deadpool #11 | 12/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 16. | 71 | Star Wars: Boba Fett #1/2 | 12/97 | Dark Horse-Wizard Pub. |
| 17. | 66 | Deadpool #-1 | 7/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 18. | 63 | Uncanny X-Men #345 | 6/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 19. | 56 | Deadpool #4 | 4/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 20. | 55 | Amazing Spider-Man #424 | 6/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 21. | 54 | Spectre #54 | 6/97 | D.C. Comics |
| 22. | 54 | Deadpool #3 | 3/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 23. | 53 | Uncanny X-Men #346 | 8/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 24. | 51 | Sin City: Just Another Saturday Night #1/2 | 8/97 | Dark Horse-Wizard Pub. |
| 25. | 50 | Amazing Spider-Man #425 | 8/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 26. | 49 | American Entertainment: Encore Edition Witchblade | 4/97 | Image/Top Cow |
| 27. | 47 | Uncanny X-Men #344 | 5/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 28. | 46 | Amazing Spider-Man #427 | 10/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 29. | 46 | Tales of the Witchblade 1/2 Chromium Edition | 1997 | Top Cow-Wizard Pub. |
| 30. | 45 | Amazing Spider-Man #422 | 4/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 31. | 45 | Wizard Ace Edition: The Darkness #21 | 1997 | Top Cow-Wizard Pub. |
| 32. | 44 | Uncanny X-Men #350 | 12/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 33. | 44 | JLA #2 | 2/97 | D.C. Comics |
| 34. | 44 | Wolverine 1/2 Wizard Special Edition | 1997 | Marvel-Wizard Pub. |
| 35. | 42 | Amazing Spider-Man #426 | 9/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 36. | 42 | Witchblade #18 | 11/97 | Image/Top Cow |
| 37. | 42 | Amazing Spider-Man #421 | 3/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 38. | 41 | Darkness #2 | 1/97 | Top Cow Publications |
| 39. | 41 | Amazing Spider-Man #423 | 5/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 40. | 40 | Witchblade #13 | 4/97 | Image/Top Cow |
| 41. | 40 | Amazing Spider-Man #419 | 1/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 42. | 40 | Tomb Raider/Witchblade #1 | 12/97 | Image/Top Cow |
| 43. | 39 | Batman: Special Replica Edition #121 | 1997 | D.C. Comics |
| 44. | 38 | Darkness #3 | 3/97 | Image/Top Cow |
| 45. | 38 | Danger Girl Preview nn American Entertainment Edit | 12/97 | Image/Cliffhanger |
| 46. | 38 | Uncanny X-Men #343 | 4/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 47. | 38 | Deadpool #6 | 6/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 48. | 38 | Deadpool #5 | 5/97 | Marvel Comics |
| 49. | 37 | Preacher #21 | 1/97 | D.C./Vertigo Comics |
| 50. | 37 | Devil’s Reign #1/2 | 3/97 | Marvel-Wizard Pub. |
| « 1996 | 1998 » | |||
More Key Comics From 1997
Also see: top 50 Marvel comics of 1997, top 50 D.C. comics of 1997, more key comic books of 1997 outside of Marvel and DC, all key comics from 1997, 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! 🙂
Rare Comics 