Comic Book Pricing Comments

A Word on Comic book Pricing, is an article that I have posted to several Internet venues. I am also putting it here on my site for your reading enjoyment.

Dave Gieber

The going worth of individual comic books can range all over the board. Some issues have been know to bring in monetary value of six figures, while other issues aren't even worth the price you paid for them. Action Comics #1 (the introduction of Superman) in mint condition has been quoted at being worth $650,000. A pretty tidy piece of change. Then Weird Science, issue #13, in near mint condition can command a respectable price tag of $5,750. There are also multitudes of back issues purchased at a newsstand price of around 5 bucks, that are now worth even less than that.

So how does one go about determining the actual value of their individual collections? This is not an easy task or one to be taken lightly. Comic book worth is a highly perceived value and will vary quite greatly, depending on which opinion you choose to follow. By all means, if there is a reputable comic book dealer in your local area that you are comfortable dealing with, get his or her opinion. But in all my research so far, it seems that "The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide" is the bible of most active comic book collectors.

I have my copy in electronic format, reachable from my desktop. It is very handy. If you truly want to understand what your magazines are worth, the first thing you need to do is to determine the physical condition of each comic book. Is it raggady ass poor with pages missing and in need of a paper clip to hold it together or has it never been opened since purchased and appears to be in mint condition? Even brand new comic books may not make the comic book pricing grade of mint or perfect condition.

Overstreet gives a very detailed description of all the grades and sub-grades used in the 0.5 to 10.0 scale, generally acceptable by all comic book aficionados. If you follow his physical condition explanations and grading scale, you will get a pretty good feel for the conditions of your own collection.

The next step in your comic book pricing exercise is to then go through the myriad of pages to find your particular issues. Along with your now determined physical and grade conditions, you can find your issue's current assumed value.

This guide also has tips on collecting, preserving and storing your comic books. And it defines the various ages (Golden Age, Silver Age, etc.) that comic book history has moved through.

I guess if I had to mention a drawback to this guide, it would be the fact that there is soo much information to go through, it could take you quit a while to devour the whole book. Once you get well acquainted and comfortable with the guide though, you could consider yourself a comic book pricing expert in your own right and help your friends out with their collecting and pricing questions.

I do believe this guide to be an invaluable and inexpensive resource to have and I don't think you will be disappointed with it. You can visit Heritage Comics to learn more about the guide. While you are there, you may want to surf around Heritage's site. There are some very interesting subjects there. If you have never seen Heritage Comics' site before and you really enjoy it, just remember where you heard about it at (ha, ha). Of course if you would rather have a hard copy of the Overstreet Guide, I an sure your local comic book store would have a copy and I hope this little review has helped you with your comic book pricing questions.

And Now, Profit from Comic Book Movies!

Hot dog! I have now had the fine pleasure of getting to know a master of comic book pricing tatics. He has some amazing info on how to track comic books that have corresponding movies in the works and how to profit from them. Why let Hollywood movie moguls be the only intities profiting from Superhero movies? Sean shows you how to buy low and sell high. And what to buy and what not to as you follow a new movie. So if you want to have fun and make a few bucks go check out out Sean's "Comics, Movies and Cash" bundle. 'Nough said!

comic book pricing Top