Wonder Woman CGC Grading Guide: Which Issues to Grade and Why

Created by William Moulton Marston (writer) and Harry G. Peter (artist), Wonder Woman is one of DC's three flagship icons alongside Batman and Superman, and the only one with an unbroken publication run since launch. Her first appearance came in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), followed by Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942, her first cover appearance), then her solo title Wonder Woman vol. 1 #1 (summer 1942). Vol. 1 ran for 329 issues through 1986. In 2017, Patty Jenkins' film starring Gal Gadot grossed $824 million worldwide, reigniting collector interest in the series.

This guide sticks to the verifiable: eBay medians from our estimator (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026) and documented records from Heritage Auctions, CGC News, and Bonhams. Key rule: if a series returns fewer than 15 active listings, no median price is cited as a headline figure — auction records take precedence. One critical distinction: "Wonder Woman #1" is ambiguous — vol. 1 (1942, Golden Age grail) and vol. 2 #1 (1987, George Perez relaunch, broadly available) are worlds apart in value.

Wonder Woman Key Issues by Era: Grade or Not?

Sources: Heritage Auctions, CGC News, Bonhams, GoCollect.

Golden Age: Three Grails Worth Six Figures

Wonder Woman's three founding issues belong in a category of their own: extreme rarity in high grade, and very few raw copies circulating on eBay (volumes too thin for a reliable median). Specialized auction houses set the benchmarks here.

• All Star Comics #8 (1941) — $1,620,000 in CGC 9.4: the absolute record for a female superhero's comic, and the first time that category crossed the million-dollar threshold at public auction (Heritage Auctions, June 2022). The previous record for this issue stood at $936,223 (2017). In low-grade raw form, an authenticated copy realistically floors at several thousand dollars.
• Sensation Comics #1 (1942) — $399,100 in CGC 9.6: the first issue to put Wonder Woman on a cover (Heritage Auctions, 2017). As foundational as All Star Comics #8 for Golden Age collectors.
• Wonder Woman vol. 1 #1 (1942) — $291,100 in CGC 9.0: her first solo title. Heritage Auctions, 2016. For context, a CGC 6.5 copy sold for $40,960 in June 2024 at Bonhams — still far out of reach for most collectors, but illustrating the grade-tier spread clearly.

Silver Age: Wonder Woman #98 and #105 — The Accessible Keys

In May 1958, Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru rebooted the series with a complete new origin story in Wonder Woman #98 — widely recognized as the first Silver Age issue of the character. Our estimator returns 63 active eBay listings for this issue, with an all-grades median of €9. That low median reflects the majority of low-grade copies on the secondary market; graded CGC copies scale quickly upward: a CGC 9.0 reached approximately $1,020 in 2018. Specialists note the issue is exceptionally rare above CGC 8.0 — fewer than 30 copies had been graded by CGC as of a 2015 census count.

Wonder Woman #105 (April 1959, same Kanigher/Andru team) rounds out this Silver Age duo: 52 active listings, median €10, high €14. Accessible in raw form, both issues justify CGC submission once they reach an estimated grade of 6.0 or higher — the certification premium on recognized guide keys can offset the grading fee.

Bronze Age: Issues #200 and #204 — Between Collecting and Speculation

Wonder Woman #200 (May 1972), the series' anniversary issue, is the most liquid Bronze Age key in our data: 22 active listings, median €22, high €46 (treat this count as a floor for reliability). Issue #204 (January 1973) marks Diana Prince's official return to her full powers, ending the "no powers" era launched in #179 (1968): 28 listings, median €9, high €24. For #179 itself — the issue that introduced the mod Diana Prince direction — our estimator returns only 14 listings, too thin to cite a reliable median price.

Modern Era: Vol. 2 #1 by George Perez — Don't Confuse the Volumes

This is where precision matters most: when you see "Wonder Woman #1" on eBay without further detail, it may be either the vol. 1 (1942, Golden Age grail) or the vol. 2 (1987, large-print Perez relaunch, broadly available). Our eBay tool blends both series and returns only 5 listings — too thin for a reliable median, and the blend makes the signal unreliable. Vol. 2 #1 (February 1987), published by DC after Crisis on Infinite Earths, is pencilled and co-plotted by George Perez (original script by Greg Potter): it introduces the modern version of Themyscira and the Olympian gods with a wraparound cover. In raw Near Mint, its Overstreet value sits around $50 (NM- 9.2, 2023). CGC 9.8 copies with Perez's signature (Signature Series) command a meaningful premium — a desirable piece for fans of the Perez era, but not a speculative grail in the strict sense.

The Economic Case for Grading Wonder Woman

CGC grading makes economic sense when three conditions align: (1) the issue is a recognized key in the price guides, (2) its raw condition is high enough that a credible CGC grade will lift the value, (3) the certification premium covers the grading fee (typically $25–65 per book depending on service tier). For Wonder Woman, Golden Age issues (vol. 1 #1, Sensation Comics #1, All Star Comics #8) always justify grading even in low grade — authenticated provenance is intrinsically valuable on 80-year-old books. For Silver Age keys (#98, #105), grading becomes cost-effective at an estimated raw grade of VF (8.0) or better. Common vol. 1 issues showing a €9 eBay median do not justify the grading cost unless the copy is in exceptional condition.