Why VeVe x CGC Slabs are a BIG DEAL!

A couple weeks ago we had the honor of revealing the FIRST ever VeVe x CGC exclusive comic label to the world. It was amazing to collaborate with both of these incredible companies to help introduce this historic event to the collecting community. While we've received amazing responses about the video and announcement, we've also noticed a lot of comments expressing confusion as to why this was such a BIG DEAL. Well fear not, awesome people! We are here to provide you with a bit more context and knowledge as to why we're so excited about this landmark reveal!

CGC is one of the industry leaders when it comes to collectibles grading, and because of that, their labels hold a lot of weight and value for serious physical collectors. CGC has created exclusive labels for large collections, events like NYCC, artist-specific labels like for Stan Lee, and even some dedicated to specific characters. But they rarely collaborate with other companies or brands to make their own exclusive comic labels. In fact, we have only seen them collaborate with ONE other brand! SWAU, a company that organizes and sells autographed collectibles worldwide.

We’ll say that again: only ONE other company has ever had the honor of creating their own exclusive comic labels with CGC. This is major validation from the physical collecting space and it shows that CGC supports what VeVe is doing to merge the physical and digital collecting worlds. And when this label is more widely produced, it will signal to other physical collectors that VeVe is here to stay. Not to mention the incredible impact that this can have on all VeVe original comics moving forward. 

However, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen CGC collaborate with a company promoting the use of Web3. In 2021, CGC partnered with ENCODE Graphics, a comic publishing company that was founded by crypto artist PR1MAL CYPHER. Centered around futuristic concepts, ENCODE Graphics delves into narratives and artistic expressions inspired by the myths of cryptocurrency and the digital realm. Their first comic, “Metatales #1”, was slabbed by CGC and encoded with NFC chips using RFNFT® Technology developed by the CryptoBates Group. These NFC chips in the CGC comic slabs allowed the owner to claim an NFT from the physical comic. This is an awesome application of Web3 technology within physical collectibles, and we hope to see more releases like this!

 We believe partnerships like these will open the door for potential collaborations with other companies building in Web3. For example, DC Comics, who has been releasing comics through the Candy Digital platform, could easily collaborate with a grading company like CGC on phygital integrations. Holders from the Bat Cowl collection, which was co-created by renowned artist & DC Comics President Jim Lee, have been voting on the outcome of new Batman: The Legacy Cowl issues. It would be incredible to see these community-generated comics receive their own Candy Digital- or DC NFT-exclusive labels some day. 

There are many other amazing companies releasing original comic content, like Eon Rift, which is building a new IP ecosystem that includes digital comic books, digital collectibles, video games, phygital collectibles, a trading card game, merchandise and more. Eon Rift has an impressive leadership team with years of experience in the gaming and comic book industry. Their creative lead, Leri Greer, has over 15 years of experience in concept art at Peter Jackson's WETA studios, where he worked on some of the most successful and iconic film properties in recent history, including Avatar, Mad Max Fury Road, District 9, Ghost In The Shell, Elysium, and Chappie. The team also includes NY Times Bestselling Writer Tom Waltz, known for writing critically acclaimed comic book series and graphic novels, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Last Ronin. With Tom, they’ve started developing a series of digital comics called Eon Rift: Ghost Machine, which are hand-drawn but also include animations and some fun burn mechanics.

247 Comics is another exciting company releasing original Web3 comic content that is flipping the comic publishing model on its head. Through 247 Comics, the fans actually own the characters and can influence the direction of stories. They’ve released multiple original comics, including Evermind, by Marvel artist Sean Chen and actor Daniel Wu. 247 Comics has been doing some really interesting things with their comic IP, like their Evermind Power Packs. These packs contain digital comics that are redeemable for physical books, character avatars, tokens redeemable for physical original comic art, limited edition artist sketches, and 1-of-1 panel art. We’re super excited to see how 247 Comics continues to push the space forward! 

When we started Comics & Crypto, we had a very specific motto in mind:

A collector's world in the digital age.

This was the first real hint of our ultimate goal: to bring the physical and digital collecting worlds together. And now, just a couple years later, we are witnessing the first steps of that finally taking place, and it makes us even more hopeful for what's to come!

So, what does all this have to do with CGC x VeVe comic labels? In the short term, it demonstrates that VeVe has solidified its place in the physical comic collecting world, increasing brand recognition among those who may not take digital collectibles seriously. In the long term, this sets an amazing precedent: brands deeply entrenched in Web3 are just as important and collectible as those in the physical collecting space! It's thrilling to witness the bridge between physical and digital collecting growing stronger. We truly believe that this is the future of the collectibles space.

And who knows... maybe we could see official digital comic slabs in the future? 😎