January 12, 2017
More Key Comic Books of 1993
As a newcomer to the comic book scene, Image Comics faced a challenge when it came to attaining newsstand distribution and competing with the industry heavyweights. Some concluded Image was exclusively direct edition, but as it turns out, under the mountain of direct edition copies they sold, there was also a small sliver of copies that were distributed on newsstands — 1% by one insider’s estimate. You’ll see a lot of CGC-recognized newsstand variants from among Image’s comics, as they quite often were manufactured differently, causing CGC to break them out as distinct from their direct edition counter-parts.
To repeat the caveat I gave on main 1990’s page [which has links to see other years within the decade], the list you are about to see involves no judgment or pricing data, but rather simply ranks the universe of comics published in 1993 — by publishers other than Marvel or D.C. for this particular page — according to how many copies have passed through CGC’s doors to date, to tease out a list of more key comic books of 1993 — that’s it!
We should reveal key and otherwise interesting 1993 comics from this exercise, but we will not necessarily get an all-encompassing list. So without further ado, here below is a list of the top 50 most-submitted comics from publishers other than Marvel or D.C. from 1993 (the census numbers are as of year-end 2016). [Also see: top 50 Marvel comics of 1993; top 50 D.C. comics of 1993; all key comics from 1993 ].
| Rank | CGC Count | Issue | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1,554 | Spawn #9 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
3/93 | Image Comics |
| 2. | 1,385 | John Byrne’s Next Men #21 | 12/93 | Dark Horse Comics |
| 3. | 657 | Simpsons Comics #1 | 1993 | Bongo Comics Group |
| 4. | 412 | San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 | 8/93 | Dark Horse Comics |
| 5. | 409 | X-O Manowar #0 | 8/93 | Valiant |
| 6. | 380 | Bloodshot #6 | 7/93 | Valiant |
| 7. | 373 | Pitt #1 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
1/93 | Image Comics |
| 8. | 366 | Bloodshot #1 | 2/93 | Valiant |
| 9. | 296 | Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #1 | 7/93 | Valiant |
| 10. | 295 | Spawn #8 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
2/93 | Image Comics |
| 11. | 294 | The Maxx #1 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
3/93 | Image Comics |
| 12. | 214 | Archer & Armstrong #8 | 3/93 | Valiant |
| 13. | 194 | Deathmate Black #nn | 9/93 | Image-Valiant Comics |
| 14. | 185 | Spawn #10 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
5/93 | Image Comics |
| 15. | 179 | Spawn #7 | 1/93 | Image Comics |
| 16. | 174 | Miracleman #24 | 8/93 | Eclipse |
| 17. | 173 | Sonic the Hedgehog #1 | 7/93 | Archie Publications |
| 18. | 165 | Simpsons Comics and Stories #1 | 1993 | Welsh Publishing Group |
| 19. | 163 | X-O Manowar 0 Gold Edition | 8/93 | Valiant |
| 20. | 160 | Sin City: A Dame to Kill For #1 | 11/93 | Dark Horse Comics |
| 21. | 156 | Dime Press 4 Italy | 5/93 | Dime Press |
| 22. | 153 | Bartman #1 | 1993 | Bongo Comics Group |
| 23. | 130 | Itchy & Scratchy Comics #1 | 1993 | Bongo Comics Group |
| 24. | 129 | Radioactive Man #1 | 1993 | Bongo Comics Group |
| 25. | 128 | Turok, Dinosaur Hunter 1 Gold Edition | 7/93 | Valiant |
| 26. | 125 | The Maxx 1 Glow-in-the-Dark Cover | 3/93 | Image Comics |
| 27. | 123 | Bloodshot #7 | 8/93 | Valiant |
| 28. | 111 | Darker Image 1 Black & White Edition
[See my post about a rare cover price variant of this issue] |
3/93 | Image Comics |
| 29. | 109 | Spawn #11 | 6/93 | Image Comics |
| 30. | 104 | X-O Manowar 0 Printing Error | 8/93 | Valiant |
| 31. | 95 | Spawn #12 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
7/93 | Image Comics |
| 32. | 91 | Strangers in Paradise #1 | 11/93 | Antarctic Press |
| 33. | 91 | Rai and the Future Force 9 Gold Edition | 5/93 | Valiant |
| 34. | 87 | Image Zero #nn | 1993 | Image Comics |
| 35. | 84 | X-O Manowar 15 Pink Variant | 4/93 | Valiant |
| 36. | 83 | Deathblow #1 | 5/93 | Image Comics |
| 37. | 81 | Savage Dragon #1 | 6/93 | Image Comics |
| 38. | 79 | Sonic the Hedgehog #0 | 2/93 | Archie Publications |
| 39. | 75 | Magnus Robot Fighter #25 | 6/93 | Valiant |
| 40. | 73 | Magnus Robot Fighter 21 Gold Edition | 2/93 | Valiant |
| 41. | 68 | X-O Manowar #14 | 3/93 | Valiant |
| 42. | 66 | Razor Annual #1 | 1993 | London Night |
| 43. | 63 | Second Life of Doctor Mirage 1 Gold Edition | 11/93 | Valiant |
| 44. | 62 | Spawn #13 | 8/93 | Image Comics |
| 45. | 62 | Deathmate Black nn Gold Edition | 9/93 | Image-Valiant Comics |
| 46. | 57 | Eternal Warrior #6 | 1/93 | Valiant |
| 47. | 56 | Shadowman #16 | 8/93 | Valiant |
| 48. | 52 | Spawn 9 Newsstand Edition | 3/93 | Image Comics |
| 49. | 50 | Darker Image #1 Rare CGC-recognized newsstand variant is confirmed to exist |
3/93 | Image Comics |
| 50. | 50 | Strangers in Paradise #2 | 12/93 | Antarctic Press |
| « 1992 | 1994 » | |||
Even More Key Comic Books of 1993
For even more key comic books of 1993, also see: top 50 Marvel comics of 1993; top 50 D.C. comics of 1993; all key comics from 1993, 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! 🙂
