Folks. It’s here. The first three books have been well received by comic collectors around North America.

You can tell if people use these oversized comic shelf reference books. They have long arms, unless they alternate left/right/left/... and they keep asking questions like "I read that the Diamond distribution was...and Capital City was....". Those folks are very committed comic book collectors, or just like looking as if they live in their parents basement.

Well, my arms are evenly balanced, and my kids play in my basement. So, here we go with the fourth edition of the Standard Catalog. It is big, this year, over 1600 pages, 165,000 comics, 2000 images, and mini-essays on selected titles. The pricing in this book reflects actual online results and retail store sales.

When it comes to CGC comics, the various gradings are included in the listings. For instance, the Metal Men #1 listing from May of 1963 gives values ranging from 4.5 to 9.0 with pricing averaged out over the listed number of auctions. A 9.0 copy, over 4 auctions has netted $752, with a high of $960. Very useful information that only computers has enabled collectors to gather. The only drawback is that it is geared towards CGC books, if you have not got onto that bandwagon yet, other price books may be the ones for you.

The cross references are useful in the sense that celebrity appearances are included in this book too. The listings also include, where possible, writer, artist, and story listings. This book can only get more effective as time goes on. It’s value and accuracy depend on the input from serious collectors.

If that describes you, then rush out and shell out $35 for this great resource. Not only is Brent is my fantastic editor, he has helped compile one heck of a book!

www.krause.com

Tim Lasiuta
Tumbleweed.

 

 

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