Nerds like slabs, bigger nerds like slab data.
Popular comic book submissions to CGC from 2000 to 2015 are fairly consistent, with the same comics appearing most years, but a few surprises do appear as recent events such as movie releases, character re-introductions, and television series impact the demand for their CGC graded key issues.
1970s: View the annual “Top 10” and an overall ranking for comic books from 1970 to 1979 in the chart below (enlarge), or as a printable PDF.
A comparison of the number of CGC submissions for Star Wars #1 (1977) over time, including both the regular edition and the 35-cent variant.
The total submissions as of January 2017 are 5,895 copies of Star Wars #1 regular edition, and 195 copies of the Star Wars #1 35-cent variant. The 35-cent variant is effectively a 1:30 variant of the regular edition (1 variant for every 30.2 regular), for copies of both submitted to CGC.
It is likely that the Star Wars #1 (1977) 35-cent variant is significantly lower than 3% of the existing/remaining supply, because lower grade copies of the Star Wars #1 regular edition are generally not “worth submitting” for professional grading when considering the resale value compared to the submission and grading fees.