12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Overstreet Price Guide: The final word on comic books, July 4, 2009
This review is from: The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 39th Edition (Paperback)
The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide is always special and worth owning no matter what year it is. However, with the economy taking a turn for the worse last October, I felt that this years (and most likely next years) edition would be especially invaluable. While comics themselves may let you down from time to time, the Overstreet Guide never fails to deliver.
The ads in the Guide are also interesting. You can find just about anything related to the hobby of comic collecting in here. Whether you're looking for long boxes, original art, buying or selling, CGC information, Pedigree comics, the ads in the Guide offer just about anything and everything you need and are just fun to look at.
It is the final word on rarity, grading and value.
It's an excellent way to cross reference character appearances, and to find key issues to own. It tells which characters debuted in which issues and titles as well as who did the art on the covers and the interiors of that issue. It contains a guide to grading that is helpful to those new to the hobby as well as to those that have been collecting all their lives. It has a section on top sales for comic books for the year and what they sold for.
I found this years Overstreet Market Report to be particularly interesting as it goes into how the industry was affected by the collapsing economy. I'm sure next years edition will have even more interesting things to say about what effect the current economic situation will have on the comic book industry. The Market Report also has great insights on how things like Ebay, and internet sales have on the industry, on comic book stores and how sellers deal with back stock. I found this years Market Report very informative and entertaining to read.
It contains sections on Big Little Books and Promotional Comics. It covers comics for The Pioneer Age (1500s to 1828), The Victorian Age (1646 to 1900) The Platinum Age (1883 to 1938) and The Golden Age (1938) and beyond (Atomic Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Copper Age). It has a color gallery that shows rare and classic comic book covers, a section on Price Guide values (yes, in this hobby, even the guides to pricing comics have become collectable) as well as a Hall Of Fame section that showcases specific artists work. There are usually several articles of interest in the guide each year. This year there is an article on comic books and the movies, as well as an article on Batman in comic books. I think what speaks for this book more than anything is how you can just go to look up one thing and end up spending literally hours looking at it. There is a hardcover and soft cover edition as well as three different covers, two for the direct market, and one for the book stores.
I would have to give the Overstreet Guide 5 stars no matter what year it came out or what articles were in it or what the cover art was. Why? Because of the astonishing amount of painstaking research that goes into this each year. It is really amazing the amount of information that the Guide contains and it is definitely worth the price. At over 1100 pages, it leaves no stone unturned. Whether you've been collecting for decades, or if you're just getting into the hobby today, this is something worth owning. It's an invaluable source of information on comic books.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Invaluable!, February 19, 2010
This review is from: The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 39th Edition (Paperback)
The premiere price guide of the Comic Book industry remains an invaluable and indispensable tool for any collector. The first edition I ever bought was the 6th, waaaaaaaaaay back when. The gold standard of comic book pricing, a must-have for any serious comic book collector interested in valuing, pricing and selling comics.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Must have for every Collector!, July 17, 2010
This review is from: The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 39th Edition (Paperback)
This book is an awesome resource and has almost every listing you could ever need. Invaluable tool without a doubt. I only give it four stars instead of five because I do think a lot of comics are listed as being worth more than what they actually demand on the standard market (both through dealerships and online, etc.). Awesome book though and I couldn't collect without it!
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