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Over 1,000 pages long, the 34th edition of the
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide was released
last month. Long considered the "bible" of
serious comic book collectors, the book is more
than just a "price guide" or reference book.
Every year, the book seems to get a little thicker
and addresses more issues to the comic book hobby
at large.
Last year, market reports debated CGC graded books
and included price value on books from the age.
This year's edition includes two new key entries:
Price value on Big Little Books (BLBs) and
defining the present comic book "age" that we're
presently in.
The Big Little Book can be considered the "cousin"
of the comic book. They originally sold for a
dime and reprinted the art and stories from comic
strips. Eventually, new material was published as
a result of the success of the format.
Arnold T. Blumberg and J.C. Vaughn have now
defined the present comic book "age" we are in
now, as well as define the previous ages we were
in. This topic has long been debated by
collectors and fans and Blumberg and Vaughn not
only state and define ages, but they do back up
their research by listing specific comic book
titles and issue numbers, or catalysts, which
ushered in each specific age.
To wit, the Silver age taking place from 1956-1970
and the "catalyst" issues being Showcase #4 (1st
Silver-Age appearance of the Flash) and Fantastic
Four #1. No real surprises there. Now, the
Bronze Age takes us through 1970-1984. The
catalysts are Green Lantern #76 and Amazing
Spider-Man #121; relevant issues that dealt with
social issues and death. The Copper Age lasts
from 1984-1992 with the DC Comics' "Crisis on
Infinite Earths" and Marvel Comics' "Secret Wars"
-- the multi-part crossover issues. That leaves
us with the Modern Age that started in 1992 and
continues now through the present which started
with the debut of Image Comics.
The book retails for $25.00, but continues to set
the bar on trends, terms, values and grading.
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