Book Description
From the undisputed authority on comic book collecting comes the most complete record of existing comic books from the 1800s to the present -- indexed, illustrated, and priced according to condition.
• NEW for 2007: Up-to-date market reports and a new, fully illustrated, comic-style introduction
• A brand-new color section highlighting the top comics and the hidden gems of each comic book era
• Latest and most comprehensive pricing information on comic books, graphic novels, and Big Little books
• Tips on grading, buying, selling comics, as well as terminology and practices
• Features an all-new article on the history of Marvel Comics' Daredevil and an intriguing look at Captain America
Customer Reviews:
It's Great !.......2007-06-11
this book is great. It has almost every comic out there and it has been very useful at determining the value of my collection. I highly reccommend this to anyone.
Comic book lover's delight.......2007-05-12
Far more than a price guide, the OVERSTREET is an essential reference for comic book fans if for nothing more than its history section which is very well researched and illustrated. The phenomena and import of the comic book is at this writing finally being recognized by scholars. The pricing of comics list is exhaustive with a strange exception, HEAVY METAL. I would not find a listing for this beautifully illustrated, extraordinary comic book and I have ten years of them from the 1970s.
Book Description
“ ‘The bible for all comic book collectors’ is not an exaggeration for this dependable guide…an indispensable part of any comic book collector’s library [and] a standard reference that has stood the test of time.” — Maine Antique Digest
The Official® Overstreet® Comic Book Price Guide is the one-volume, professional sourcebook for America’s most popular collectible which no comic book collector or investor can afford to be without. This incredible 33rd edition brings you more information than ever before, including:
LATEST PRICING INFORMATION
From the early 1800s to the present, this is the most
comprehensive resource of comic books and graphic novels, listed alphabetically by title, illustrated, and
priced according to its condition. No other guide provides a more complete record of existing comic books and their prices.
MARKET TRENDS AND INSIDERS’ TIPS
With the renowned
Overstreet Market Report by Robert M. Overstreet
, which also
includes
many important tips from other experts in the comic book industry, this guide contains all the current information that is circulating throughout this hot collecting area. You will find the latest titles, the strongest demands, the most valuable issues, and the newest finds in old comics.
BUYING AND SELLING KNOW HOW
Packed with essential
information on grading, collecting and restoration of comic books, this book gives you everything you need to build and maintain a substantial comic book collection.
FABULOUS PHOTOS
More than 1,500 black and white photos of those unforgettable covers -- plus the celebrated all-color
Cover Gallery of your favorite comic books throughout the ages — fill the book.
SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES
* X-Men 2 — Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the X-Men
* The debut of the Sub-Mariner
* The Original Super-Team - The Justice Society of America
BUY IT USE IT BECOME AN EXPERT
Customer Reviews:
Save your money!!.......2006-07-07
Getting this book is no longer important anymore. With the technology of the internet, the comic book collector can now surf the internet and check out comic book sites for current prices of old comics. With the latest of the stupid CDGing where you have to put comics into a sealable plastic shell so you can't take it out to read..............
Accurate pricing trends.......2005-04-06
Glad to see that the Guide is still correcting the overpricing that has plagued editions of this book in the past. Of course, dealers will be upset to see this downward correction (notice the anonymous reviews signed "a reader"). But for the comic buyer, this is a step away from greed and towards making comic book collecting an affordable hobby again.
It's good to have the guide moving ever closer towards accuracy, and not have to judge value by the outlandish prices occasionally seen on eBay which unrealistically skew the average price upwards. These eBay buyers are either uninformed (a dealer's dream), or they have unlimited funds and are bidding aginst another person in the same situation. These sales, however, have NOTHING to do with the book's actual value, which is determined by supply and the mean demand. One or two people who are willing to pay 10 times a book's value, shouldn't have an effect on the pricing for the rest of the comic collecting community.
The Overstreet Guide is an important tool for the hobbyist who wants to have an accurate guide for a comic book's worth. Unfortunately comic book collecting has become a HUGE business, and dealers used to gigantic markups don't want to lose these profit margins. They will continue to fight against the trend towards downward correction in Overstreet. Buyer Beware. The comic you want is out there somewhere at a fair price. Take your time and look around. And of course, get a copy of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide!!!
Trimmed back, seriously incomplete.......2004-07-20
I have bought many of Overstreet's Price Guide issues, including every one of the first twenty years. Every year it became more and more accurate and comprehensive and I depended on it to give me details on almost every comic in existence including underground comics and limited editions.
I got out of the comics scene for a while and then decided to start selling some of my old collection I didn't read much any more, so I bought the most recent issue.
I was shocked! Except for the most common titles, most issues I had weren't even listed! Even issues like Mickey Mouse Album #1 from 1962 was missing. Where there had been several columns of listings per page, there were now only two, to make room for a completely unnecessary breakdown of prices by conditions so fine that it's laughable.
I find it hard to figure out whom this book is supposed to serve. If the book you're researching is at all rare, then you would like to see it in this book, not find out that it's too rare to bother with.
With the huge numbers of advertisements in the book, the price is outrageous!
Sorry, I can't recommend it for ANYONE who is a serious comics fan.
Poor pricing information.......2004-07-17
As a previous reviewer noted, some of the pricing in this edition is ludicrous. Prices of comics that continue to spiral upward have been marked down? What is the problem with Overstreet?
The truth is that historically Overstreet and other price guides have always based many comic prices in large part on educated or even uneducated guesses. But now the comic buyer or seller can go directly to the definitive authority on the subject-Ebay. When a comic is selling on Ebay for $500 in VF and Overstreet says it's worth $200 in VF, Overtreet is just plain wrong.
False prices- This edition is a joke...dont waste your money.......2004-05-21
Look carefully in this edition and you will see that most prices have gone DOWN, which is a joke. It states that an Amazing Spider-man #1 in VF goes for $500 less than last year, which is a joke. Try finding a good deal on EBAY. Fantastic Four #48, the 1st silver surfer, use to fly on EBAY for discount prices, now low grades sell at book prices easy and mid-to high grades above...and the price has dropped in this "price guide". If you look carefully most mid to mid-high grades have gone down in this book across the board. Last I looked the comic business was booming, when talking to all sellers and comparing ebay sales. This book is a joke and it's time for a new "definitve priceguide" Dont waste your hard earned money here. Overstreet should be ashamed.
Book Description
From the publisher of Comics Buyer's Guide - the leading monthly price guide about comics - comes the #1 tool for helping you track and price your collection!
This book saves you money! You can use it to maintain a handy inventory of your collection. Take it to conventions and shops to help you remember what comic books you already have, so you never buy the same comic book twice by accident!
This blockbuster edition brings you:
• Listings and updated prices for more than 125,000 comics
• A grading guide to help you figure your comics' conditions
• Details about characters' first appearances
• Facts about thousands of variant editions - including Marvel and DC Whitman variants
Whether you're new to comics or a seasoned collector, 2007 Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide is designed to meet your needs!
Customer Reviews:
36th ed an: easy to use, complete, comic/magazine $guide.......2007-01-28
Best title in its class!
This Title has a very diverse collection of titles and values good for finding the value of an old unheard of comic. There is normally multiple dollar values for each comic edition and its associated grade on a scale of 1-10. All this book needs is some more guide lines on how to price out comics that are signed and have CGC authentication. They do have general rules for determing CGC (professionally graded comics from a new company) comic values but they seem a little off especially when combined with fractional grades.
Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide 2007: 1961 to Present (Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide).......2007-01-23
very extencive and complet.
A REAL WORLD GUIDE FOR REAL COLLECTORS.......2006-12-18
The Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide published by KP Books and the editors of the Comic Buyers Guide continues to be my comic price guide of choice. The 2007 edition is another 832 pages of prices and information from primarily1961 to the present. A more apt description may be from the beginning of the Silver Age to the present as if covers those DC books such as Showcase # 4 which kicked off what we know today as the Silver Age of Comic books.
There are several things I love about this book. First, it can, if you wish, be used as a checklist. Rather than list comics in a run of issues (for example, Avengers 101 - 110) and listing one price for each issue in that run, this book lists each issue number individually with a check box next to it to check off if you own that issue. Hence the reason that it covers only the silver age to the present, otherwise it would be about 2000 pages instead of 800. I like this idea as a quick reference to one's own personal collection. Second, it lists only the near-mint price for each book with a grading guide to figure out prices for lesser condition books. Anyone who's been collecting comics for any length of time can easily do this right off the top of their heads and I've never found it necessary to list three different prices for comics.
Another thing I like is that the book lists the month and year of each issue. This is a small tool that I think people overlook but that I have found to be very useful. But I think what the Comic Book Chcecklist Price Guide doesn't give you is just as important as what it does give you...namely it doesn't give you hundreds of pages of ads like Overstreet does. It also doesn't give you dozens of pages of stale market reports from dealers whose motives are somewhat dubious in what they report in terms of price information. Rather than rely on this `advisor' information this book has garnered real world data from auction services like eBay to provide what I feel is true pricing, black & white data and that's all I really need...not some dealer in Hoboken claiming to have sold book X for seven billion dollars.
If you want a true price guide without all the vacuous fluff then this is the comic book price guide for you!
Reviewed by Tim Janson
Book Description
No publication in the history of collecting has included more information on more comic books than the Standard Catalog of® Comic Books. Years in the making, this is the “Manhattan Project” of comics collecting books, covering more than 165,000 comic books published in North America since 1900!
The catalog lists not just the issue and after-market price, but also lists the writers and artists who created them as well. Plus, it includes the original print runs for thousands of comics, as well as the number of comics graded by Comics Guaranty Corporation.
Every comic book has a checklist box for easy use as a handy collector's utility—and this book is great reading, with page after page of reviews of some of the most famous (and infamous) comics in history.
• Includes facts about more than 165,000 comic books published since 1900
• Covers after-market prices, writers, artists, original print runs, character appearances, story titles, and number of comics graded by Comics Guaranty Corporation
• Handy collector's utility, designed as a tool for storing a collection
Customer Reviews:
BUILDING A BETTER COMIC GUIDE.......2005-12-13
The Overstreet Comic Price Guide has been around so long that it's become ubiquitous in the industry. It's the default standard of most collectors. Now while Krause Publications does out their own yearly price guide, the Standard Catalog of Comics is a whole other animal. This massive, 1600 plus page tome lists more comic titles than any other guide at over 165,000 comics, far more than any other guide going, and includes hundreds of variant issues. The Standard Catalog of Comics is the blue collar guide to comics. It isn't filled with fluff articles about Superman or Archie, this is a guide designed for and by comic book collectors and enthusiasts.
First, this book does a far better job of explaining comic grading and conditions than Overstreet, and features close-up photos of standard defects such as creasing, spine-roll, rusty staples, and stress creases. But what really sets The Standard Catalog apart from its competitor is it's pricing data. With Overstreet, we get dozens of pages of retailer reports offering their opinions and a handful of recorded sales that to me has always been fairly useless. Today, the internet, and particularly eBay has changed the way comics are bought and sold and pretty much replace retail shops and conventions as the preferred place to buy and sell back issues. What this book provides is real date culled from real sales, and a lot of it.
What the editors have done is to track up to 25 recent auction closings for various combinations of CGC graded comics. For example, Daredevil #1 had at 25 reported closings in a condition of CGC 6.0 over the evaluation period. These books closed with a low of $455, a high of $911, and an average of $640. In another example, Marvel Team-Up #24 had 4 closing (and three is the minimum used for reporting) in a grade of CGC 9.8. The high was $147. Now this book in standard NM condition is only valued at $8 so you can see the wide disparity in slabbed comic books. This is real world data that is invaluable to collectors like myself who have moved to eBay to buy and sell comics. Where there is no auction data each book is given only a NM grade and then there is a chart to calculate the value of a book in lower grade. This information comes from the Comic Base, as well as convention and mail order sales. Purists may be bothered by that but really, what more does one need? The CGC data is what is going to appeal to most collectors anyway.
Another thing setting the Standard Catalog apart is its circulation data. With records of capital City and Diamond orders along with the publisher's statement of ownership figures, circulation totals are provided for thousands of comics. Now you can know just how many copies of the supposed "rare" title were distributed. Again, this is invaluable information for collectors. Listed for issues are items such as notable character appearances, events, origins, first appearances, artist/writer credits, they even list the title of the story for hundreds of thousands of individual issues. In addition brief capsule essays are provided for nearly all mainstream comic titles.
The book is clearly and concisely written. The information is provided in a well laid out format and is easy to follow and locate. Is it perfect? Well not quite. While there are over 2,000 comic photos that only averages to just over one per page and more photos would have been welcome. Still the wealth of valuable information in the book makes it absolutely indispensable for any comic book collector and should be in the possession of anyone who is series about comics.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
So much more than prices.......2005-10-16
This book is so much more than a price guide. Don't get me wrong, as a comic book price guide it's a good one, not only giving you the average comic store retail value of books, but that the average online auction value is in several CGC grades. It's fair and accurate on most books, though it doesn't give insanely high values to some of the `hot new' books. Also, it has individual listings for each comic book with check boxes by every issue so you can keep track of what you have and what you need.
But this 5.5 pound monster isn't just about how much your comic is worth. For most series it gives a background and description of the series. It tells you who wrote and drew every single comic, and it even has how many issues were printed for most comics.
Newcomers to comic books can enjoy this rich wealth of comic book information but I believe the long time comic book fanatic will best enjoy it. For the long time fan this book will not only help you keep track of your vast collection, but it will allow you an opportunity to discover new comic series. It will reacquaint you with lost comic book loves, and it will provide you hours of reading.
This is a must have for every comic book fan new and seasoned, young and old. I can't recommend this enough!
Overwhelming!!.......2002-09-17
This catalog provides a wealth of information for collectors of comic books. It can be overwhelming for a novice (me) to absorb, but what fun I will have while I learn. Definitely a worthwhile investment.
Great big reference book.......2002-07-12
This thing is a monster. It has details on nearly every comic published, through to September 2001 or so. Besides the usual pricing information, if also includes circulation info (for some titles) and CGC info (how many copies have been CGC'd, and what the highest grade is). Many titles have a short series synopsis included, with information on storylines, creators, and anything else that might be interesting about a title.
Customer Reviews:
Grading Guide - A Work in Progress.......2007-01-20
I own the two previous versions of the Overstreet Grading Guide and have a few historical observations which may put the current work into perspective. First, the grading world was stood on its ear with the advent of third party grading companies that "certify" the grades of comics, by far the most prominent being CGC which began operations in 2000. Second, grading is not a science, it is an art. Like Robin Williams in "Dead Poet's Society" you can't grade a comic book on an axis like was suggested for grading poetry in the text Robin taught from in literature class.
What you see here is Bob Overstreet's second attempt to incorporate more CGC-like grading standards into his publication. The attempt at grading uniformity is laudable but not always attainable. True the defects chart/graph in the guide shows that for a 9.8 grade, a book should have no more than two defects, yet a color plate of Infinite Crisis #1, shown as example of a 9.8 book, shows three defects indicated by arrows.
CGC however demonstrates similar occassional inconsistency. In the Overstreet Grading Guide no bindery tears are allowed in 9.9 (Mint) books. I have owned and currently own a number of 9.9 and 10.0 CGC books. None have any bindery tears, except one 9.9 I previously owned which had a prominent and easily visible bindery tear in the upper left corner. I have tried to nail CGC down just what the difference is between a 9.9 and a 9.8 book, relied on their advice in my submissions, but to no avail. I have produced CGC graded 9.9 books from my submissions, but not when expected.
This grading guide is just that; a "guide," to be used in combination with experience in the comics hobby as well as hopefully some education, training and dedication. It is not a bible to be referred to in attempts to discern the objective truths of grading; there are few. What it is, is a solid guide to introductory and intermediate level grading. To go beyond that you have to have enough knowledge to identify the inconsistencies in this guide and deal with them. If you have expensive, key issue Golden or Silver Age issues or high grade issues, you should strongly consider submission to CGC. CGC graded comics are most fungible in the marketplace and will always draw multiples of the bids placed on non-CGC graded comics in the same grade at auction.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS "NEW" GRADING GUIDE.......2006-09-14
Ladieees and gentlemen! New in this Third Edition! 10.0s with visible defects! 9.9s with spine stress! A 9.6 with a 1/4 inch front cover tear!
...and that's not all!
You also get all the same internal inconsistencies that you got in the second edition, such as text descriptions that read "No creasing" accompanied by pictures of books in the same grade with visible creasing!
So what prompted this THIRD edition of the grading guide? Apparently, they thought the addition of zoom boxes on a few of the defects here and there justified an entirely new edition! Well, that and a few pages of the same namby-pamby discussion of restoration, pressing, and disclosure that you can read on the CGC message forums for free.
The bottom line is, if you need a grading guide, buy the second edition; don't buy this third edition. If you follow this third edition and try to sell someone a "10.0" that has visible defects or a "9.6" with a 1/4 inch front cover tear, I don't care what the guide says, you're going to have an angry customer.
And if you already have the second edition of the grading guide, save your money and skip the third edition. This book is a complete waste of cash and paper.
Book Description
This volume display hundreds of full-color photos of comic book covers spanning from the earliest years of Comics' Golden Age (1938-45) through the dawn of its Silver Age in the mid-1950s. The second volume contains books with titles from K-Z. HC, 10x14, 452pg, FC
Customer Reviews:
ESSENTIAL.......2004-12-16
What a [great] set of volumes. I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff. These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics. The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper. And there's 10's of thousands of them! Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector! Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast. These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!
The Blind Collector.......2004-12-08
I've always bought comic books for the cover art. But with tens-of-thousands of comics out there, it was almost impossible to know which ones to search for. Of course, if I remembered a comic from when I was a kid that was a start, but what of the thousands I'd never seen? I was a blind collector. Gerber's books cover almost every comic book published till about 1965! 20,000+ photographs...fantastic! Even if I couldn't buy them all, I could at least see what was out there. The only weakness is that some later issues of the longer running titles are omitted. I would liked to have seen them all, but can understand the desire to wrap things up. For the price of one good 1950's era comic you can view just about ever cover published...a very good deal.
A Great Resource for the Comic collector/fan.......2002-04-24
What a [great] set of volumes. I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff. These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics. The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper. And there's 10's of thousands of them! Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector! Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast. These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!
Covers 21700 of them........2002-01-28
What can you say about two books that have 21700 comic book covers beautifully printed on gloss paper? WOW! for a start. No one is going to better Ernst and Mary Gerber's five-year labor of love to complete this project. If you collect comics from 1935 thru 1965 you need these. I don't collect them but as a publication designer I have an interest in the visual aspects of popular culture so I got a set...despite the price!
Open either book anywhere and start looking and it soon becomes apparent that this is a very comprehensive collection, I kept coming across comics that ran for a few issues, sometimes only one issue. Each cover has up to twenty-five pieces of information, essential for collectors. Many show a cover of the only copy known to exist. The first sixteen pages of each book has text about collecting comics and their values. I liked the page in book two that is devoted to ads that appeared on the back covers, strangely some collectors only go for these, if you do, go for a copy of 'Hey Skinny!' by Mike Beller and Jerry Leibowitz, surely the only book about the subject.
Author Gerber says on the jacket flap...''if you spend one minute examining each picture, eight hours per day, five days a week, it would require an astounding NINE weeks to complete the job.'' Nine weeks later have a rest and then go and buy the two volume 'Photo-Journal Guide to Marvel Comics' and start to look at a further 7700 covers!
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
A gorgeous compilation of 20th Century Art!.......2000-01-03
I was amazed at the scope of this book, every cover from 1935-1965, and the labor that must have gone into compiling and producing it. Its extremely well photographed, carefully indexed, and the quality of paper and binding is excellent. For serious comic book collectors, it's worth every penny. A lifetime book.
Book Description
*Cross-referenced listings aid in easily identifying and accurately assessing collections
*Features original cover artwork of Spider-Man - comic book hero and Hollywood heavyweight with his own movie trilogy
It's nearly impossible to turn on the television or go to the movies without running into some of your favorite superheroes - what a wonderful situation to be in if you're a comic book collector! You see it in the collector values of collectible comic books, and it's evident in the extreme notoriety Comic-Con International is generating - the world associated with comic books is thriving, and one key to success in the collectible comic book market is a reliable price guide. Packed with 1,000 detailed cover photos and more than 94,000 listings, this guide arms you with the essential tools for high-performance collecting.
Customer Reviews:
Price Guide Review.......2007-08-23
The book is very helpful, especiallly formatted for the comic book fan. It is also great because of how it is organized. I think it is as good as Overstreet.
GETTING BETTER EVERY YEAR!.......2007-05-20
The 2007 edition of Comics Values Annual from Krause Publications is out and it continues to get better and better each and every year. This book gains momentum every year as an alternative to the more well-known Overstreet price guide. The main problem with Overstreet is the endless pages of dealer ads that grow longer each year. Who needs 150 pages of dealer ads anyway? Do people really order that many comics from dealers, especially with eBay? I also don't need the dozens of pages of dealer market reports that are basically already stale by the time the book comes out.I just want prices and information, which is what Comics Values Annual 2007 delivers in a no-frills package.
This edition gives a brief introduction on the industry, a grading guide, and features an interview with artist Joe Jusko. The CV Annual is very different from the Overstreet in its layout, Rather than simply list each title alphabetically, this guide lists titles alphabetically by MAJOR publisher beginning with DC and then continuing with Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Classics Illustrated, and then tossing in miscellaneous Golden Age titles, Misc. B & W, titles, and misc. color titles from modern publishers like Valiant, Gold Key, Gladstone, Malibu, etc...Now this may not be to every collector's liking as we've been conditioned to one type of delivery, but I personally like it. I mean it's still a Marvel and DC world to most collectors, especially in regards to Silver and Golden Age books so why have to thumb through all the junk no one's interested in when Marvel and DC have their own sections.
Another big difference between the CV Annual 2007 and Overstreet is that this book only lists the NM price per issue while the Overstreet gives three prices. I can go either way on this one. On one hand, it's nice to have all three major grades listed. On the other hand, it's not all that hard to calculate the price yourself based on the grade. Plus, Overstreet has to end up using a miniscule typeface to fit all those prices in the book.
I think the biggest advantage of the CV Annual is that instead of listing a range of issue numbers, it lists each title number by number. This allows for more information to be supplied such as story arc name, character appearance, artist credits, etc. This is a BIG plus!
If you want a price guide that gets right down to it without all the fluff and waste, I cannot recommend the Comics Values Annual 2007 any more highly!
Reviewed by Tim Janson
A tribute to heroes!.......2002-06-27
I picked up this book simply because I was interested in pricing my comicbook collection. Imagine my surprise when I read the wonderful editorial on heroes (both real-world, and the four-color kind) as well as the moving tribute to those heroes of the 9/11 tragedy. I highly recomend this book to everyone!
New and Improved!.......2002-04-04
If you are looking for a great price guide to price out your comicbook collection, then this is the book for you! Fair, realistic pricing, and fine editorial content as well
An excellent upgrade to an excellent price guide.......2002-03-09
As always, the Team of Malloy, Wells, and Sodaro bring sanity and clarity to the multi-tiered world of comicbook prices. This guide has consistently ranked as one of the best price guides on the market. Malloy truly has a handle on what stuff is truly worth. This edition is especially relevant in the post 9/11 world, as it contains a pair of stirring tributes to "Heroes" (both the four-color and the real-world kind). I heartily recommend this book
Book Description
The Ultimate Authority Delivers The Right Grade Every Time
Grading comic books is the key to successful comic book collecting, and now the leading expert on comic books, Robert M. Overstreet, together with co-author Arnold T. Blumberg, has set the standard for grading the condition of comic books. With The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide, you will learn all the information you'll ever need to accurately grade your comic books.
Find The Right Grade
* A new 10-point grading system helps you determine the grade of all your comic books.
* Exhaustive descriptions of primary and split grades give you the right grade quickly.
* Over 200 full-color photographs of every major comic book defect to help you easily find which grade
reflects your own comic books.
Choose The Right Grade
* A new, suggested restoration scale helps you evaluate comic books that have been restored.
* An essay on "How to Grade" gives you tremendous insight about the grading process.
Use The Right Grade
* Overstreet's expert guidance in grading makes evaluating all your comic books easier than
ever before.
* Charts of allowable defects and terminology take some of the guessword out of grading.
PLUS
* A guide to grading Platinum Age comics.
* An essay on certified grading from Comics Guaranty, LLC (CGC)
* Articles on grading history and nomenclature, comic book restoration, and "odd format" grading.
* And much more!
Customer Reviews:
The Best BUT..........2004-04-30
The problem I find with this book, as with all books on the subject of grading, is that it is getting too complex.
As a collector of coins and stamps, along with comics, I understand the importance of grading when it comes to the determining the value of your collection; however, when I look at a book, I now find myself trying to determine what this stress line or that OWL interior really does to the grade. How many points deducted? Added?
Of course, Overstreet is the definiitve book on the subject but there comes a time when a decision has to be made as far as trying to figure out what grade to give it, i.e., VF- or F+, for example, and sometimes there is not enough details on exactly what it is that makes that determination. This is particularly true when it comes to Golden Age or early Silver Age.
A Goldie is much harder to grade because, given its age, and scarcity, one must decide how much a particular defect will compromise a grade in relation to a modern book. A Goldie with spine stress lines should not be held to the same standards as a modern with the same defect. if you take away one point for that, you then should have the option of adding one point due to its rarity.
Overstreet, while mentioning this problem, does not give enough information on it to make it clear and decisive.
The bottom line is that the Overstreet Guide is the 'Bible' of comic collecting and is highly recommended as the definiitve guide to grading BUT......it is still the old axiom of 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'
So close to being great, but ends up merely average........2003-10-08
Sometimes I wonder how major glaring issues get published with something that purports to be a definitive guide. Of course i'm talking about the size of the photos, many labelled flaws are simply undectable and pressing ones face right up to the book to see flaws is well silly and unnecessary. Its sad to see a total compromise of someones product presumably to sell more copies to WaldenBooks or whomever, it shows a lack of integrity and a lack of dedication to ones customers.
Other than that major disappointment, I'd have to say the only other problem with the book are that the written articles are a bit muddled, the basics of grading seem a bit sparse while some aspects of minutae seem to be overemphasised.
All the information you need to make grading judgements in todays CGC environment is here though. Most probably wont be too happy to learn that most comics they bought as NM/VF in the 80's/early 90's are probably a 7.5 at best in today's market. But thats not Overstreets fault.
The part of the book where they take an Atom comic through the grades is very informative and probably the best visual representation of grading to date.
Theres promise here and the information is factual but presented in a flawed manner, if you need a handy reference guide for comic grading this is it. Surely they cant help but address the basic flaws with their product in later editions?
Invaluable tool for collectors and vendors!.......2003-06-09
This 2nd edition is an improvement over the 1992 edition and bolsters the viewpoint that Overstreet standards must be recognized as the primary source for grading decisions. While this guide does not provide specific CGC guidelines - which CGC refuses to publish - there is an overview of CGC by CGC Primary Grader Steve Borock and there are several examples of CGC-graded comics in various grades pictured. This, of course, merely provides examples of CGC grading and does not address the issue of CGC's well-documented inconsistencies. ***UPDATE: August, 2003 - CGC has announced that it will has adopted Overstreet grading standards as its own! This is a shrewd move by CGC and will help unify overall grading standards.***
In this guide, you will find advertising by some of the largest retailers in the nation, along with several interesting articles whose topics range from comic book history to restoration to shipping comics. Each grade has a fairly comprehensive one-page description of necessary qualities inherent to the grade, along with a full checklist of 21 grading considerations like spine roll, cover creases and staples. The pages following are filled with clear and illustrative examples of covers of books fitting the grade, with appropriate annotation of defects.
While there is still room for improvement in future editions, such as addressing the topic of grade "qualifiers" - a defect impacting the grade of a comic whose appearance would suggest a better grade if not for the defect - it is the premier guide to comic book grading and is a must-have for any serious collector or dealer.
Helpful info, difficult subject matter, don't expect miracle.......2003-05-20
Bottom line: Comic book grading is THE most difficult component of the comics collecting business side of the equation. Subjective interpretation lends disparity between any 2 people's grades, but the more experience that you have, the better equiped that you are to make qualified decisions about a book's grade. This book was much-updated from its previous version, so is an improvement. Bashing the book for not giving a "Cliff-notes" version of how to wave a magic wand, and "poof!" get a grade is a poor position to take. Yes, the book needs work in terms of pictures of defects and corresponding adjustments. One should also keep in mind that there is a functional aspect of grading that allows for a given defect to be (somewhat) offset by a strong characteristic in another are (e.g. stress marks bring book to FN, but stunning colors and/or supple white pages might boost it back to VF-, as a potential example). Given that there is NOT a lot of documented information on this subject, this book is helpful as a reference ONLY, and should be used in conjunction with other references (ComicBase, Wizard, Overstreet Guide), to make a good determination of a grade. Certainly times are better now than they were, say, 10 years ago, when only pros in the business for years could make an accurate estimate. Be thankful for that. CGC info, by design, is not going to be released - it's a Trade Secret for their business model, and if they gave it all away, they would not be in business. Does Proctor and Gamble give away its recipe for its products, or DuPont? - of course not. The discerning investigative researcher uses multiple sources. One such source (if you had bothered to read the Overstreet 33rd Edition) is that Metropolis Comics helped CGC develop the standards that they use. Also, many of the MAJOR comic dealers contribute heavily to the Advisory Board for CGC, so if you look at the sources, you could glean more information as well. Stop whining, and start learning ! This book is a valuable tool to be used with the other resources available to comics collectors, but it is not the de facto "guide" for grading. There will never be such a guide, so get over it.
Invaluable Comicbook Tool!!.......2003-04-25
If you sell on EBAY or just want to track the condition/current value of your personal collection, this is the quintisential book to have.Every major player in the world of comics bases their grading on this book.A wonderful guide with picture representation to ensure accurate grading of individual comics.From the beginners to the experts,a true comic collectors "Must Have!"
Book Description
-Hollywood's focus on comic book storylines is helping catapult Spider-Man, Batman and the Hulk into the hottest leading men category
-Speaks to a loyal audience base -- regular attendance at annual ComicCon events is 80,000+
-Strong activity among the online auction crowd: 17,000 active comic book auctions on eBay daily
Comic book heroes are taking over the world. With box office hits like Spiderman, X-Men, the Batman series and Fantastic Four ushering in new comic book fans, and renewing interest among former collectors, comprehensive price guides are a must have. This book is the one guide readers will need, because it:
-Features 95,000 listings for classic and contemporary comics that allow collectors to quickly evaluate and price collections
-Contains special sections devoted to Golden Age, Color Comics, Black & White Comics and Underground Comics
-Offers reports about changes in the industry and outlines impacts to companies and collectors
Plus, 900+ vibrant color photos make comic book browsing fun.
Customer Reviews:
SIMPLY THE BEST COMIC PRICE GUIDE!.......2006-07-31
Comics Values Annual 2006 is Krause Publications, publishers of the long-running Comic Buyer's Guide. I've been a big fan of KP's comic price guides as a great alternative to the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. My main problem with Overstreet is the endless pages of ads you get in each new edition that grows longer each year. I don't need 150 pages of dealer ads and with eBay, who really needs these dealers anyway? I just want prices and information which is what Comics Values Annual 2006 delivers in a no-frills package.
This edition gives a brief overview of the industry, a grading guide, and features an interview with Ghost Rider artist Mark Texeira, before getting right to the guide and prices. The CV Annual is very different from the Overstreet in its layout, Rather than simply list each title alphabetically, this guide lists titles alphabetically by MAJOR publisher beginning with DC and then continuing with Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Classics Illustrated, and then tossing in miscellaneous Golden Age titles, Misc. B & W, titles, and misc. color titles from modern publishers like Valiant, Gold Key, Gladstone, Malibu, etc...Now this may not be to every collector's liking as we've been conditioned to one type of delivery, but I personally like it. I mean it's still a Marvel and DC world to most collectors, especially in regards to Silver and Golden Age books so why have to thumb through all the junk no one's interested in when Marvel and DC have their own sections.
The editors have obviously ordered the book by importance with the DC and Marvel sections first, followed by the miscellaneous Golden Age titles, followed by the Dark Horse and Image sections before the final misc. section with Classics Illustrated bringing up the rear. The other major difference is that the Comic Values Annual lists each issue (almost) separately, rather than just a span of issues. This allows the book to list important information for each issue such as the initials of a noted artist or writer, the story title, special character appearances, etc...
If I had to say the one huge advantage that the Comics Values Annual 2006 has over the Overstreet guide its that it is more user-friendly. The Guide lists only a NM value for each book but the grading guide in the back of the book easily allows you to figure out prices for any grade of comic. In all there are over 94,000 comics listed. Krause keeps putting out great comic book price guides and they have become my book of choice and I've been a collector for over thirty years!
Reviewed by Tim Janson
The Price Guide is in! The Price Guide is in!.......2006-05-25
Receiving my copy of this book is always a good day. The book has real (not articificially inflated) prices of actively-traded comics, as well as credible insights into the marketplace and readable interviews with industry pros. I highly recommend it.
The Perfessor
Book Description
The undisputed bible of the industry for thirty-five years — The Official® Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide — is the book no comic collector or investor can afford to be without. This 35th edition brings you more information than ever before, including:
LATEST PRICING INFORMATION
On comic books, GRAPHIC NOVELS, and Big Little Books.
MARKET TRENDS AND INSIDERS’ TIPS
The Overstreet Market Report on the comic book industry contains the hottest titles, the strongest demands, the most valuable issues, and the newest finds.
FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHS
More than 2,000 black and white photos — plus a color gallery of America’s favorite comics.
BUYING AND SELLING KNOW-HOW
Tips on grading, collecting, and restoration of comic books.
Customer Reviews:
STILL THE STANDARD BUT NOT WITHOUT ITS WEAKNESSES.......2006-01-20
It's been almost 30 years since I bought my first overstreet Guide way back in 1977 featuring a Porky Pig cover by legendary Dondald Duck artist Cark Barks. While the Overstreet Guide remains the gold standard for comic book price guides, it is now without it's weaknesses. It is certainly the most comprehensive guide listing books from the so-called platinum age to the present and this time including info on books dating back to the 1700's although calling these books "comic books" is a bit of a stretch.
But the question is "Is more necessarily better?" Do we really need to include 1700's era comics? Are there really that many collectors for Platinum age comics? Approaching 1000 pages now (my first in 1977 was less than half that page count) the book borders on being a bit unwieldy. The type face had been reduced down to the small print of a shady contract and the book is sandwhiched between almost unending pages of ads. The market reports which I once loved to read are now basically out of date by the time the book hits the shelves and in today's age of online buying and online auctions et eBay, the market reports have outlived their usefullness.
While I will still buy an Overstreet every couple of years just to have one, I'd love to see them break down their guides, perhaps having a separate guide for Gold, Silver, and modern day comics both to make it more manageable and to target collectors who may only deal in one of these eras.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
Simply the best!.......2005-09-25
This book is the industry standard for pricing comics. Additionally, it contains a good amount of info on grading, history, CGC and more.
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 35.......2005-09-20
This book was everything I thought it should be. Very informative and helpful when looking up old comic books.
Was volumous in information. Worth the purchase price.
Information Too Difficult to Find and Too Small Print to Read.......2005-09-07
This book contains a lot of information, however some of it is too difficult to locate and the print is so small that you have to use a magnafying glass to read it!! I have used it twice and threw it in a drawer. I would not recommend this book!!!
The Comic Book collector's Bible!.......2005-08-20
The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide is considered by many
as the bible, when it comes to collecting, grading and
pricing comic books. Robert M. Overstreet began the concept
in 1970 as a guide for fellow fans of Golden Age era
comics. The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide has since
expanded to cover the entire history of comics'
publications. It has grown to encompass a broader range of
information than later competitors such as the Comics
Buyer's Guide or ComicBase.
Although many price guides come and go, this long-standing
publication (which has been running for over 35 years) has
become one of the inextricable elements of comic collection
history. The Overstreet guide is a premier resource for
collectors and enthusiasts seeking information on anything
comic book related. It offers comic book collectors one of
the best pricing resources available.
Using the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, I checked out
one of my magazines. Depending on what grade or physical
condition I use, "The Amazing Spider-man", issue #252, is
worth $24 to $32 dollars. Not bad for having paid about a
quarter for it. I wouldn't have known this without the
guide. As I get my collection cataloged and using the guide
to estimate worth, I imagine my new collection will show a
value of a substantial amount more than my 50-dollar
investment.
One drawback I have discovered with my guide, is the
extensive nature of all the information. It takes some time
to browse through and get used to how to use it. But it has
become an invaluable tool as I continue to build by comic
book website "www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com". In
building this website, I have gained enough information and
knowledge to make a reasonable, rational evaluation of this
much-needed guide.
Books:
- The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #37 (Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide)
- The Official Price Guide to Collector Plates: Seventh Edition (Official Price Guide to Collector Plates)
- The Pinball Compendium: 1970-1981
- The Price Guide to Antique Silver
- The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
- The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
- The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less
- The Ultimate Barbie Doll Book: Identification and Price Guide
- To Kill a Mockingbird (Literature Made Easy)
- Ty Beanie Babies Summer 2000 Collector's Value Guide
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- The Samurai's Garden: A Novel
- Some of Me
- One Hundred Great Essays
- The 21 Lessons of Merlyn: A Study in Druid Magic and Lore
- Understanding Partnership Accounting
- The Hippocampal Region of the Domestic Pig: A Histochemical, Immunocytochemical, and Morphometrical
- Managing Bank Risk: An Introduction to Broad-Base Credit Engineering
- Millard On... Profitable Charting Techniques
- Guy Livingstone
History & Price Guides
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide, 3rd Edition (Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide)
The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 36th Edition (Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide)
Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide 2007: 1961 to Present (Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide)
Comics Values Annual 2007: The Comic Book Price Guide (Comics Values Annual)
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, Vol. 1
