The Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide

Genre non fiction Author Robert M Overstreet, Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg Publisher House of Collectibles External Links Official House of Cards Website

I believe there are two different types of readers who will find the third edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide interesting, and both types are nerds. The first type is someone who seriously collect comics and will be using this book as a guide to determine what condition a collectible comic is in, and therefore how much to pay. The second type is someone who do not actually collect comics for value but is interested in the history of comics, as well as fascinated by the meticulous attention to detail that comic traders possess. I'm not denigrating either type of person - I would even count myself amongst the latter group. Though I do not, and have never, collected comics as valuable commodities, and actually disagree with that approach to comics, I still found the Overstreet Grading Guide oddly fascinating. There is certainly some enjoyment simply from the vast number of comic book covers that the book displays to illustrate their grading. These covers from the Golden Age are not frequently seen and, even though this isn't really their purpose, it is enjoyable to look at the covers that were a part of the original boom of comic books some sixty or seventy years ago. However, the covers (over two hundred of them) are not the only reason this book was an enjoyable read.

The Overstreet Grading Guide presents a number of textual chapters in the beginning of the book that addresses various elements of the comics world that are relevant to comic collecting. Perhaps the most compelling chapter is "Comic Book Ages: Defining Eras" where Blumberg and J.C. Vaughn discuss the evolution of comic books, which is intriguing in itself, but they also approach this history from the influence of the Comics Code. Their point is that different historical changes in comic books are at least partially due to the changing restrictions comics publishers had (i.e. the rise of superhero comics in the Golden Age started with the code because publishers couldn't publish the gory horror comics that had been so successful prior to the Comic Code. Likewise, when comics became more serious and socially aware in the 1970s, it was possible because of the easing of the Comic Code's authority). Similar in many ways to the effects of the Hays Code in early Hollywood, the Comic Code has a definitive impact on comics, and it is intelligent of the Overstreet board to offer some perspective in the midst of the Grading Guide.

Another of the introductory chapters that is important deals with the Certified Guaranty Company (or CGC). This is a large group that independently evaluates submitted collectibles on a 10-point scale. Though the company only began grading comic book in 2000, it is already the benchmark of grading comics for buying/selling. This is obviously a huge paradigm shift for comic collectible. No longer does a buyer have to rely on the word of a seller or an eye inspection. The comic is now independently graded. This makes online and mail order collecting much more tenable because one can trust its condition. The Overstreet guide takes the reader through the evaluation process at CGC, ending when the comic has been graded and hermetically sealing in its protective plastic case.

This last step perhaps exemplifies why I disagree with comics collecting for value. Stripped of the possibility as readable stories and art, I believe comics essentially lose ALL value. To approach comics solely based on future collectible value seems to run counter to the work done to make these comics interesting or enjoyable. In his novel "Fortress of Solitude," Jonathan Lethem has a young character who collects comics in the 1970s buy two copies of every new issue that comes out - one to read and one to immediately box away for the permanent collection. And there are some unintentionally humorous sections of the Overstreet Grading Guide that chronicle the excessive care, bordering on OCD, that a true collector must give in handling a comic so as to not to damage it even slightly, thereby lessening its value. It would be simply easier, as Lethem writes, to never read it.

Obviously, most comic collectors really are former fans that do actually obsessively care about comics. And The Overstreet Grading Guide is essentially a book geared only for them. As such, it would prove very useful. The Guide does an excellent job of explaining the different issues that can aversely affect a comic's grade - from page brightness to tape residue to creased spines. It also shows in great detail the extraordinarily slight degrees that separate grades on the 10-point scale. The only minor criticism I have of this book, as a resource for collectors, is that all of the pages are set up from the grade standpoint rather than individual flaws. It would seem useful for a collector to have a number of quick-reference tables of flaws and what the corresponding grade would be, since there still are comics not independently graded that possess flaws to evaluate for collectors. I should also point out that this is only a Grading Guide. This book does not deal with comics' specific monetary value at all. That is a separate book, The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

As a resource, the Overstreet Grading Guide will prove highly useful for novice and experienced comics. However, even as unintended sociological insight, this is a surprisingly interesting read for comic enthusiasts who may not ascribe to the collector mentality.