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By N2H
The new Overstreet’s here! The new Overstreet’s here!
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
No, I’m not sounding an alarm like Paul Revere. It’s more an homage to Steve Martin in The Jerk – sort of a The Nerd version. Anyways, Spring is here and that brings new hope, new beginnings, the Phillies, and, of course, the new Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide!
Being a retired math teacher, you know I’ve always been into numbers, and boy does the Overstreet have numbers! To most, it’s the Bible of the industry, now in its 39th edition. Granted there are a few other sources for prices out there. Wizard naturally comes to mind, but its usefulness has really diminished in the last few years with the size of the price guide section shrinking to just a few pages. I have been suspect of them anyway for quite some time.
Overstreet Alternatives?
A little aside: Years ago, I would receive surveys from Wizard to fill out and return by a deadline so that my input could be included in the next edition. Originally, I felt somewhat honored as not all retailers were asked to participate and I took it as a recognition of the reputation that Captain Blue Hen Comics had earned. The survey would ask for what I charged for specific back issues. But, it also asked for what I was going to charge for issues that either had JUST arrived and, in some cases, issues that weren’t even due to arrive until after I was to return the survey. Typically, these were the next parts of a currently “hot” story arc in for example, Batman. Of course, I put the cover price. This pattern continued and I saw that Wizard would list a comic that had just arrived at an already inflated price. How? 
There was no way they could have compiled actual true sales data and had it in the guide in order to go to press and be distributed unless… people were just “scalping in advance.” Wizard would also tell us in advance what comics were going to be listed as “Hot!” (I dislike that term). This was like an insider trading situation. Then one month, I returned my survey with a long letter explaining my concerns that they weren’t reporting what was happening, but trying to influence the market. Yes, its nice to think of the market to be vital and growing, but I believed that they were pushing it as a potential investment, instead of entertainment. I noted that they had mud on their face when a few times they reported the market value of books as being more than cover price when due to delays, they hadn’t even been shipped! One example was two months in a row! Wizard never responded to my concerns, instead, they removed me from their list. Now, don’t get me wrong. Wizard is a fun mag with a number of interesting articles, interviews, and such and should be viewed as the current best fanzine for comics today. Unfortunately, though, it is the only one standing strong after the battle of the monthly comic price guides with Comics Value Monthly, Fan, & Comic Buyers Guide. The Comic Buyers Guide (CBG) does produce a monthly fanzine still, but our sales of it are quite weak. It also puts out a very comprehensive annual prices guide, but again, most people aren’t even aware of it.
So that leaves us using the Overstreet P.G. when setting our prices for back issues. One nice aspect is that it offers prices for 6 different (G-VG-F-VF-Ef-NM) conditions. Wizard is only used in those instances where a relatively new issue “catches fire” – something that would not be reflected in an annual such as the Overstreet.
Investing in Comics by the Numbers
Over the years, we are constantly asked what is “hot” by people who want to speculate/invest in comics. And our answer has always been the same: we don’t give investment advice, but sell collectibles and entertainment. The only advice I could ever suggest with any decree of confidence would be to buy older comics – silver and golden age – in top condition. The return may not be dramatic, but they always seem to go up. However, one caution is that they are not an easy item to liquidate. I decided to crunch a few numbers, comparing some select issues in the new 2009 edition with last year’s.
An easy project was to check the changes in the top ten Golden Age comics and the top ten Silver Age comics. Both of these lists have not changed since last year, although some had more movement, price-wise, than others. Overstreet does this comparison for you if you’re interested in the “NM” values. I decided to also compare those prices for Good – G.
Now back in 1970, when the Overstreet first appeared, ALL comics were given an arbitrary 1-2-3 ratio for their values based on whether the comic was in Good, Fine, or Mint condition. Of course, “Mint” is extremely rare and has been replaced by Near Mint – a 9.2 on a scale of 10. As the years went by, that ratio was changed in an attempt to reflect the fact that top grades were more than 3 times as difficult to find as ‘good” specimens, especially the older comics. For a while, we had the again arbitrary, but consistent, 1-3-7 ratio for G-F-NM. Currently, we have a consistent 1-2-3 ratio for ALL comics, regardless of age for the lowest three grades listed – good, very good, fine, but then there are changes. For example, if a comic lists for $1 in good, it will be $2 in very good, $3 in fine, but Near Mint might be anywhere from $6 to $11. However, when one checks that ratio for some of the big ticket items, the ratio soars. Action Comics #1, the Holy Grail of comics in 1970. was $100 in good, $300 in Mint. The 2009 edition still has it as #1, but now a copy in good lists for $45,000 and in Near Mint it’s $750,000, a 1:16.7 ratio!! (and if one actually had one in NM, I’m sure it would bring more than Overstreet’s guess!). The biggest ratio though is owned by The Incredible Hulk! Something I have heard for years, and as an avid seeker of Hulk #1’s, have obeserved personally, is that Hulk #1 is the toughest of the early Marvel’s to find in top condition. Overstreet has noted this by stating that a copy in Good is worth $1000, but one in NM goes for $40,000, even non-math people know that’s a 1:40 ratio!
Condition Matters
Now what about my advice on buying top grade golden and silver age comics? If one were able to get a hold of one copy of each of the top 10 golden age comics, namely Action #1, Detective #27, Marvel Comics #1, Superman #1, All American #16, Batman #1,Captain America #1, Flash #1, More Fun #52, and Adventure Comics #40, all in Near Mint, your investment would have a guide value of $2,985,000 according to the 2008 edition. This year, those same books have a listed value of $3,285,000. That’s a 10% increase, probably better than most 401K’s did last year. The two leaders in this category were: All American #16 (1st Green lantern) at +18% and Batman #1 at +16%
Now suppose your budget wouldn’t cover the NM price and you purchased copies all in Good? Cost: $164,375 (Note: the ratio for these 10 as a group in 2008 for Good:NM was 1:18.2) In 2009, this group of 10 is valued at $178,750, an increase of 9%. Superman #1 led all of the lower grade gainers with a 19% increase, followed by Batman #1 at 16% (same as NM).
Let’s do the same for the top ten silver age comics: Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #1, Showcase #4, Amazing Spider-Man #1, Hulk #1, X-Men #1, Journey Into Mystery #83, Showcase #8, Tales of Suspense #39, Flash #105. Your total for the group in NM was $285,000 in 2008, $336,00 in 2009 – an increase of 18%! The biggest gaines were FF#1 (27%) and Hulk #1 (25%)
Now lets compare them if they were in just Good condition; 2008 value was $9,749 and now they’re $11,270 for an overall average increase of 16% A good copy of FF#1 jumped a whopping 36%, while a good copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 climbed 30% – not too shabby for weaker copies! They were offset though by Hulk #1, Showcase #8, & JIM #83 not moving at all in good. The ratio for G:NM in 2008 was 1:29.23, in 2009, it stretched at little to 1:29.81.
Does this bare out the gut feeling I’ve had all these years? Mostly, but I had some surprises. First, we have to realize that this is a rather small and select group to base conclusions on, but I believe that the trend is probably consistent. Obviously, silver age comics are moving faster than the golden age and appear to be the better investment. That could be attributable to several factors: 1) Having been around longer, the golden age comics have settled in more. 2) Being more affordable and obtainable, the silver age market has more action, which helps spur movement upward.3) The age of the collector who is familiar with and probably more interested in the golden age comic is getting up there. These people would have interest in all aged comics probably, but the demand is greater for the silver age. I expected the comics in lower condition to rise at a slower rate than the NM issues, but the gap was no where near as wide as I thought it would be (G-9% to NM-10% for GA, G-16% to NM-18% for SA). Even so, I stand by my advice to buy in top shape if investing – it’s still the best bet. I was not surprised to see the ratio between Good and NM for the golden age to be significantly less than that for the silver age group. That has to be a factor of availability.
Whew, 1560 words and what’s the moral of the story? (first of all, if you just went back and counted all of these words, you need a life!) We just picked up a couple of nice collections recently. They were all priced using values from last year’s guide as is true of all of the other back issues in the shop. They haven’t been updated, YET. Get it? YET!
And a big Thank You for hanging in there if you’ve read this whole thing. Any thoughts?
Wow, that’s one of the most interesting articles I’ve read about comic prices. If only my Dark Avengers issues could grow at the rate of the Silver Age issues.
Personally, I don’t like Wizard because it’s become a big ad for Marvel and DC to promote the “Hot new book” coming out. And all their pricing for back issues has always been suspect. Also, their predictions for the pricing of future and even speculating at jumps in older issues more often than not turned out to be wrong. There’s plenty of other places I could get comic prices online without needing to buy a magazine. It’s just a big hype machine for the Big 2. Plus, I’ve always been sour on them since they got me with their April fools joke about the scary cereal guys one year. I wanted a Frankenberry comic so bad… Anyway,I’ll take Overstreet over Wizard any day. Speaking of which, I need to get me one of those.