The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide [Paperback]

Robert M Overstreet (Author), Arnold T. Blumberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2003

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!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert M. Overstreet is the unchallenged expert in the comic book industry. He established the standard in 1970 with the first comic book price guide and continues to lead all other competition. Bob was born and lived in Cleveland, Tennessee until 1994. He currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Arnold T. Blumberg is a prolific comic book and sci-fi entertainment journalist. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: House of Collectibles; 2nd edition (January 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609810529
• ISBN-13: 978-0609810521
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > History & Price Guides

More About the Author

Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg is the author/co-author of Zombiemania, The Big BIG LITTLE BOOK Book, and the Howe's Transcendental Toybox series of Doctor Who merchandise guides. He has designed books like It Lives Again! and The Target Book, written fiction for the Doctor Who: Short Trips series, and contributes to AssignmentX.com and IGN.com. He teaches courses in zombies in popular media (Univ. of Baltimore) and comic book literature (UMBC). Through his firm, ATB Publishing, Arnold is available to consult on a wide range of pop culture topics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So close to being great, but ends up merely average., October 7, 2003

By 

Duncan C. White (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide (Paperback)

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?

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Best BUT..., April 30, 2004

By 

Linda C. Chamberlain "Disc Jockey" (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide (Paperback)

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.'

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable tool for collectors and vendors!, June 9, 2003

By 

Paul Galletley (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide (Paperback)

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.