''The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (or ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'') is an annually published

comic book price guide Comic book price guides are generally monthly, quarterly, or yearly publications which detail the changes in the resale value of a comic over a period of time. Price guides are also important tools for collectors looking to sell their collection or ...

widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

grading and pricing in the hobby/industry. Many observers tie in the growth of the

direct market The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four major comic distributors: ** Lunar ...

distribution system and comic book specialty shops to the general acceptance of Overstreet's annual guide as a standardized inventory and pricing system. Begun in 1970 by Robert M. Overstreet as a guide for fellow fans of

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

and Silver Age comics, the ''Overstreet'' guide has expanded to cover virtually the entire history of the American comics publication as far back as the Victorian Age and

Platinum Age The history of American comics began in the 19th century in mass print media, in the era of sensationalist journalism, where newspaper comics served as further entertainment for mass readership.Williams, Paul and James Lyons (eds.), ''The Rise ...

. The annual edition also covers promotional comics (giveaways and advertising) and "big little books", while continually updating new publications and market reports that cover the prior year of market activity. Overstreet's annual guide to the comic book collecting hobby has itself become a collectible, and since the 1980s each edition of the ''Price Guide'' includes a page listing collector's values for older editions, with

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or o ...

editions, in particular, selling for a premium. Currently, the ''Price Guide'' is published in four formats: hardcover,

softcover A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

, a larger, ring-bound edition and an electronic edition, often with multiple covers for each version.

History

Robert M. Overstreet grew up as a comic book,

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

, and

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as sign ...

collector. In the 1960s, after abandoning a project to create an arrowhead price guide, Overstreet turned his attention to comics, which had no definitive guide."Who is Robert M. Overstreet?"
Arrowheads.com. Accessed Nov. 3, 2011. Comic back-issue prices had stabilized by the end of the 1960s,Thompson, Maggie
"November 1970: Mint Never Meant So Much Before"
"The 1900s: 10 biggest events from 100 years in comics", ''

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The publ ...

'' #1365 (Jan. 14, 2000). and,

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...

, who had recently published the ''Collector’s Guide to the First Heroic Age'', was considering creating a comic book price guide. He was contacted by Overstreet, who was doing the same thing. Bails' extensive notes, supplemented by Overstreet's study of dealer listings, "became a backbone to the ''Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide''".Ray Bottorff, Jr., quoted in "With a Little Help From His Friends...", ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #25 (June 2003), pp. 14-19. Under the auspices of Overstreet Publications, the first ''Comic Book Price Guide'' was published in November 1970. Priced at $5, saddle-stitched and published in a print run of 1000 (a second edition of 800 was released subsequently), the book included 218 pages of listings. Among other things, Overstreet's guide included inventory lists, and it instantly became an invaluable resource tool for comic book collectors and dealers. By 1976, the guide had achieved national distribution. An early decision was made by author to exclude the niche of

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority ...

, an adult-oriented expression of the genre that Mr. Overstreet had no interest in documenting, for reasons he has never made public, despite the book being promoted by its publisher as "the most complete listing of comics from the 1500s to the present".

Overstreet periodicals

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Overstreet also produced publications that would serve price updates regarding newer comics releases from the present, to selected titles dating from the Silver Age, including a price guide to current and valuable comics, as well as comic book and collector news, and interviews. There was also some editorial content from the publishers, and from polled bookstore owners. Various incarnations of the publication (which were published quarterly to bi-monthly, and eventually monthly) included ''Overstreet's Comic Book Price Update'', ''Overstreet's Comics Price Bulletin'', ''Overstreet Comic Book Monthly'', and ''Overstreet's Fan'', with this last incarnation showing a great deal of similarity to the successful comics news magazine '' Wizard: The Guide to Comics''. Overstreet also published twenty-one issues of ''Comic Book Marketplace'' between Mar./Apr. 1993 and January 1995. Ultimately, most titles were canceled, including ''Overstreet's Fan'' which ceased publication in 1997.

Sale to Gemstone

Overstreet sold the business to

Gemstone Publishing Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet. Gemstone published licen ...

in 1994, and continues to serve as author of the annual guides and associated publications. In July 2003, Gemstone attempted another monthly by publishing ''Overstreet's Comic Price Review'', which ran only for nineteen issues. They also published 3 volumes of the Overstreet Premium Ring Price Guide featuring values of thousands of collectible toy rings of all types, the most valuable of which is the

Supermen of America The Supermen of America is the name of two fictional superhero teams published by DC Comics. The original group first appeared in a special written by Stuart Immonen published in 1999, and a later mini-series written by Fabian Nicieza, which w ...

ring, which fetches around $100,000, depending on condition. Original art for volumes 2 and 3 by artist A. Kaviraj can be viewed at Austin's Ring Museum in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 52nd edition (2022-2023) of the ''Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' is scheduled to go on sale July 20, 2022.

Facsimile Edition

In connection with the publication's 50th anniversary, Gemstone is publishing a Facsimile Edition reprint of the first edition (1970), which was originally scheduled to be released April 8, 2020 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. There will be three editions: softcover (retail price $16.95), hardcover ($25.00, limited to 400 copies), and a signed and numbered hardcover ($50.00, signed by Robert Overstreet and limited to 100 copies).

Notes

External links

Publisher's official site
{{Comics information sources Comic book collecting Publications established in 1970