Book Description

This volume display hundreds of full-color photos of comic book covers spanning from the earliest years of Comics' Golden Age (1938-45) through the dawn of its Silver Age in the mid-1950s. The first volume contains titles beginning with letters A-J. HC, 10x14, 452pg, FC ... Read more

Reviews (7)

ESSENTIAL
What a [great] set of volumes. I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff. These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics. The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper. And there's 10's of thousands of them! Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector! Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast. These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!

The Blind Collector
I've always bought comic books for the cover art.But with tens-of-thousands of comics out there, it was almost impossible to know which ones to search for.Of course, if I remembered a comic from when I was a kid that was a start, but what of the thousands I'd never seen?I was a blind collector.Gerber's books cover almost every comic book published till about 1965!20,000+ photographs...fantastic!Even if I couldn't buy them all, I could at least see what was out there.The only weakness is that some later issues of the longer running titles are omitted. I would liked to have seen them all, but can understand the desire to wrap things up.For the price of one good 1950's era comic you can view just about ever cover published...a very good deal.

A Great Resource for the Comic collector/fan
What a [great] set of volumes.I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff.These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics.The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper.And there's 10's of thousands of them!Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector!Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast.These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!

Covers 21700 of them.
What can you say about two books that have 21700 comic book covers beautifully printed on gloss paper?WOW! for a start. No one is going to better Ernst and Mary Gerber's five-year labor of love to complete this project.If you collect comics from 1935 thru 1965 you need these.I don't collect them but as a publication designer I have an interest in the visual aspects of popular culture so I got a set...despite the price!

Open either book anywhere and start looking and it soon becomes apparent that this is a very comprehensive collection, I kept coming across comics that ran for a few issues, sometimes only one issue. Each cover has up to twenty-five pieces of information, essential for collectors. Many show a cover of the only copy known to exist.The first sixteen pages of each book has text about collecting comics and their values.I liked the page in book two that isdevoted to ads that appeared on the back covers, strangely some collectors only go for these, if you do, go for a copy of 'Hey Skinny!' by Mike Beller and Jerry Leibowitz, surely the only book about the subject.

Author Gerber says on the jacket flap...''if you spend one minute examining each picture, eight hours per day, five days a week, it would require an astounding NINE weeks to complete the job.'' Nine weeks later have a rest and then go and buy the two volume 'Photo-Journal Guide to Marvel Comics' and start to look at a further 7700 covers!

A gorgeous compilation of 20th Century Art!
I was amazed at the scope of this book, every cover from 1935-1965, and the labor that must have gone into compiling and producing it.Its extremely well photographed, carefully indexed, and the quality of paperand binding is excellent.For serious comic book collectors, it's worthevery penny.A lifetime book. ... Read more

Book Description

This new edition captures the leading edge of the comics industry with pricing from 1961 to present. Independent releases and hard-to-find editions plus all the regulars are covered in detail. Buyers and collectors will love the more than 86,000 comics listed in up to three grades of condition and more than 258,000 current prices. That’s 3,500 more comics than the previous edition, with over 10,000 additional prices!

Extensively annotated and thoroughly updated, spotlights on comics give your collecting customers additional information on their favorite titles. An informative grading guide with photos rounds out the contents. A proven market master, the previous edition sold out in 6 months!

-Listings for 86,000 comics with 258,000 current prices.
-Prices and information for hard-to-find editions.
-Spotlight information on comics. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

they're close but not there yet..
i got last years edition of this and instantly fell for it like a ton of orange bricks, originally from yancy street (okay, i'm a comic geek but if you knew my reference you are too..NYAAAH!!). sadly this years has taken two steps back. the boxes to check off your comix are a lot smaller than last years edition and it seems like the typeface has shrunked too. i guess they have another years worth of comix to cram and thats where this twin priceguide/checklist idea cracks apart. i use this as a checklist, i'm a collector not some investor wannabe who bought loads of spiderman or x-men #1's to "retire" on..(snicker-snicker..you chumps got what you deserved..comics are for reading not to be traded like stock certificates)..another point is: who gives a crap about 100's of bad b&W 80's casualties of which this gives a lotta real estate to??....how about a checklist book with the majors and some of the bigger independants and thats it..they could still do this one if they wanted but i guarantee it wouldn't sell as well...

Awesome, awesome book!
I'm used to years of trying to use Wizard Magazine as a price guide (try being the operative word). I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a complete, current price guide and chose this one.

Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. 99.5% of the books I was looking for were in the guide. They list prices based on the condition of the book, not just a listing for Near Mint copy. It also gives a grading scale with pictures.

Overall, a great book. ... Read more

Book Description

Ever wondered what role the private detective played in comic books? Here's the first book on PIs in the comics! A history and appreciation of the tough guy, the deadly dame and the dog in the trenchcoat. Illustrated. ... Read more

Book Description

The Warren Companion is the ultimate compendium to the great comics of Warren Publishing, examining all the titles including Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, Blazing Combat, Help!, The Spirit, and many more! Including the most cross-indexed artist and writer listing, this tome also features a new painted cover by Alex Horley, reams of unpublished art, archival photos, examinations of Warren's competition, plus exhaustive details on Warren merchandise, conventions, top strips, most prolific contributors, foreign publications, and many other fascinating oddities! Also featuring new articles on Richard Corben, Frank Frazetta, Steve Ditko and others, and interviews with Bernie Wrightson, Jim Warren, Will Eisner, Neal Adams, Gene Colan and many more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Superb History
I was fascinated by Creepy magazine when it first came out in 1964. It was actually too scary for me. I was already a big fan of Famous Monsters of Filmland and it's ebullient editor, Forrest j Ackerman. Soon the names Frazetta, Williamson, Crandall, Morrow, Torres and Archie Goodwin would enter my artistic vocabulary as I became aware of the talent behind the greatest horror comic ever published. But the editor, one James Warren, remained an enigma. This book is the best collection of interviews of comic book creators I have ever read. Night after night, I couldn't put it down. The interviewer, Jon B. Cooke, is brilliant, his questions incisive, revealing, but never mean. Boy, that Warren was a genius, but often an eccentric bum! At least he cared. I've heard a lot of rumors over the years, and apparently the interviewer has heard the same ones, because he gently prods the real truth out of his unsuspecting subjects, exposing them for the driven, hardworking, pragmatic, vulnerable, prideful, neurotic (in Wally Wood's case, tragically so), but inspired artists they were. The account of the early years made me feel a part of the birth of Creepy and Eerie, and the ultimate downfall of Warren Publishing was a mind-blower. The whole story is told in the form of interviews, with priceless preliminary sketches and rare photos of the artists and writers. It was like re-examining an important part of my childhood from an adult perspective. Also contains a handy checklist of the contents of each issue of Famous Monsters, Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Most of all I admire the restraint and good judgement of interviewer Jon Cooke. ... Read more

Book Description

Fans of the Japanese cartoon art genre called manga, and of its sister genre anime—or manga-style films—will treasure this survey of an art form currently sweeping the world. The book is an illustrated history of Japanese comics, with separate chapters devoted to male and female heroes and villains, non-humanoid characters, and even manga depictions of historical and literary characters. Brief descriptive sketches of all characters accompany colorful illustrations of heroes and villains caught in moments of dramatic action. Key figures include Astro Boy, Akira, Lupin III, Pokemon, and many others. Just as fascinating are biographical sketches of several of the world's most successful manga artists including Motoko Kusanagi, as well as Astro Boy's creator Osamu Tezuka, and many others. As the first illustrated book to show and evaluate sucha wide range of manga characters, 500 Manga Heroes and Villains is an essential basic reference source for both manga fans and popular-culture historians. Approximately 200 memorable color illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good book
Good book, I'm the first one to write a summar ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The Ovverstreet Grading Guide is a good book, but.......
I agree with with other reviews on this book. What i would have liked to see from it was exactly haw many points do you take of for a certian defect.
For example, If i have a MINT 100 with a 1/4 inch corner crease on front cover, how many points would i take off, what if it was on the rear cover, would it be the same?
They give examples of books but don't realy tell you how they came up with the points for the book.

Informative but still greatly lacking....
Pictures are in black and white so cannot clearly determine what actual defects are. Does not leave you much more confident when you go to grade comics. They just show a black and white photo for each grade (from 100pt system). Book makes you feel like grading is SO subjective that no three collectors could ever agree exactly on a books condition. I would suggest the next version of this book use the 10 pt system and only use color pictures even if book is more expensive. It also does not tell me how to grade special cases like: NM book with ad cut out, NM book with page missing, etc. It would help to have a chapter to cover these sorts of things also, so reader gets good grading "coverage" of real-world issues. Should also better cover how internal pages affect grading (other than pages being supple or brown/tan). This book focuses only cover grading, so assumes internal pages are intact, no tears, etc. Book could also point to pictures on web site for those interested in even greater detail which requires more photos.

Useful but very limited
You will learn somewhat about grading comics from this book but it's usefulness is not as claimed. Almost the entire book consists of photos of comics and sample defects. But in almost all cases the defects are not visible or discernable in the photos! So why bother with over 250 pages of photos that are not good enough to see what they are supposed to be showing? They should have either used high quality photos that can be seen or just list the defects.

Also, in many cases they will point to a defect and say "see glossary". Then it won't be in the glossary! For instance, "bindery tear (see glossary)" and then there is no "bindery tear" or "tear, bindery" in the glossary.

One more thing: they claim to have a 100 point system for grading comics but then don't make it clear what the actual difference between close gradings are. For instance, the difference between 100 and 99 and 98 is not all together clear.

Like I said, you can learn a little about grading from this book but don't expect it to be a great grading book. Considering Overstreet's reputation I am amazed at how much improvement this book needs. ... Read more

Book Description

New! The Fantastic Four will be gracing silver screens this summer and just in time to catch the heat sure to be generated by this exposure is the Fantastic Four 2006 Calendar. Featuring 12 images from some of today's hottest artists, Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Human Torch and Invisible woman will all be featured. The Fantastic Four are already one of comics hottest properties with up to four monthly titles and their popularity will only increase this summer.

Book Description

A boxed set of the first two volumes, just in time for the holidays, designed by the Award-winning graphic novelist, Seth! Ships shrinkwrapped.

The first volume, The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952, covers the first two and a quarter years of the strip (October 1950 through December 1952), and will be of particular fascination to Peanuts aficionados worldwide: Although there have been literally hundreds of Peanuts books published, many of the strips from the series' first two or three years have never been collected before—in large part because they showed a young Schulz working out the kinks in his new strip and include some characterizations and designs that are quite different from the cast we're all familiar with (Among other things, three major cast members—Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus—initially show up as infants and only "grow" into their final "mature" selves as the months go by. Even Snoopy debuts as a puppy!).

The second volume, The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954, begins with Peanuts' third full year and a cast of eight: Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty, Violet, Schroeder, Lucy, the recently born Linus, and Snoopy. By the end of 1954, this will have expanded to nine. Linus still doesn't speak (except, on a few occasions, to himself, à la Snoopy), but Schulz begins laying the foundation for his emergence as the most complex and arguably most endearing character in the strip: garrulous and inquisitive, yet gentle and tolerant. And he evens acquires his "security blanket" in this volume! Meanwhile, Lucy, an infant just a year ago, has forcefully elbowed herself to the front of the cast, proudly wearing her banner as a troublemaker or, in Schulz's memorable phrase, "fuss-budget." The strong, specific relationships she sets up with each character further contributes to making her central to the strip. (She has earned her cover status on this volume.) This period's significant new character is Pig-Pen, who would remain one of the main cast members throughout the decade. And then there's Snoopy. To readers unfamiliar with the early days of the strip, Snoopy's appearances here will no doubt come as the biggest surprise. Although Snoopy has started talking/thinking to himself, he does no imitations (except for one brief shark impression), he doesn't sleep atop his doghouse (much less type or fly a Sopwith Camel), and has no fantasy life—in fact, he doesn't even walk upright! But as we know, he is merely biding his time, and his evolution continues its fascinating course within these pages.

Peanuts is the most successful comic strip in the history of the medium as well as one of the most acclaimed strips ever published. (In 1999, a jury of comics scholars and critics voted it the 2nd greatest comic strip of the 20th century—second only to George Herriman's Krazy Kat, a verdict Schulz himself cheerfully endorsed.) Charles Schulz's characters—Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and so many more—have become American icons. A United Media poll in 2002 found Peanuts to be one of the most recognizable cartoon properties in the world, recognized by 94 percent of the total U.S. consumer market and a close second only to Mickey Mouse (96 percent), and higher than other familiar cartoon properties like Spider-Man (75 percent) or the Simpsons (87 percent). In TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All-Time" list, Charlie Brown and Snoopy ranked #8. ... Read more

Book Description

From the late 1930s to the mid-1950s, DC Comics blazed a creative, innovative trail in popular culture, and the company has remained at the forefront of the comics industry ever since. In one milestone after another, DC Comics introduced the fantastic characters that became everyone's favorite super heroes: Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Shazam! This brilliantly illustrated volume features entirely new, large-format photography of the original comic books, showcasing the fabulous visual world of the DC comic-book heroes and artists.

Comics historian Les Daniels, graphic designer Chip Kidd, and photographer Geoff Spear have delved deep into the DC archives, to which they were granted unprecedented access, highlighting not only the classics that have become pop-culture icons but also lost gems like More Fun Comics and Comics Cavalcade. The 365 images, shot especially for this book, along with the impeccably researched text and informative introductory essays, ensure that this blast from the past will have a huge appeal for both comic-book devotees and newcomers. AUTHOR BIO: Les Daniels is the author of the official histories of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, as well as DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes and Abrams' Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Chip Kidd is an award-winning graphic designer and author of The Cheese Monkeys. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Time, Graphis, and Entertainment Weekly. Geoff Spear's award-winning photographs have appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, and Newsweek, and in numerous books on comics. ... Read more