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Comic book price guide

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Comic book price guides are generally monthly or yearly publications which detail the changes in the resale value of a comic over a period of time. Each collector will have his or her own preferece regarding which authority to follow, but popular and respected guides currently include The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide, The Comics Buyer's Guide Standard Catalogue of Comics, and Human Computing’s ComicBase, an inventory/databasing software program.

Although many price guides come and go, long–standing publications such as Overstreet (which has been running for over 35 years) or the Standard Catalogue of Comics, have long since become inextricable elements of comic collection history. These guides, in addition to software databases such as ComicBase, the Big Comic Book DataBase or the online, non–profit Grand Comics Database are the premier resources for collectors and enthusiasts seeking information on anything from storylines to writers and artists to the original cover price of a comic. The latter two, in particular, offer users the ability to quickly search for characters by appearances and deaths.

Price guides are also important tools for collectors looking to sell their collection or determine their collection’s worth for insurance purposes. With the advent of online auctioning services like eBay, however, price guides such as The Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide and Wizard Magazine have since seen dramatic decline in their sales because their price listings were not reflective of the actual sale prices of comics.

Terminology

Title is the name of a comic book series. Action Comics is a title. Within this title, there have been over 700 issues.

Issue is a single installment of a title, usually with its own number. Examples are Action Comics #23 or The Amazing Spider-Man #42.

Grading is the term used to indicate the process of evaluating the condition and consequent value of a comic book. A detailed explanation of how to determine a comic book’s condition based on the established grades is generally included in a comic book pricing guide. These terms are as follows:

Mint (commonly abbreviated as MT or M)
Near Mint (commonly abbreviated as NM)
Very Fine (commonly abbreviated as VF)
Fine (commonly abbreviated as FN, in particular to differentiate it from Fair)
Very Good (commonly abbreviated as VG)
Good (commonly abbreviated as GD or G)
Fair (commonly abbreviated as FA, so as to differentiate from Fine)
Poor (commonly abbreviated as P)
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