Normally, if you want to buy a comic book, you will head out to your local comic book dealer, browse around for a comic book, pick one to your liking, and then pay cash to the guy at the register. This set-up is all good if you’re buying comic books to keep up with the latest adventures of your favorite super hero or super heroine.
However, there are some people who see comic books as an investment. Over years, your recent 2009 copy of “Mister/Miss Anonymous’ Adventures” may value up to a hundred dollars or more. In retrospect, you may have a collection of Superman comics pre-dating World War II that your grandpa left to you back when you were seven years old. God knows how much dough that will fetch you! Except for this situation, you don’t need divine intervention to help you realize the true value of your comic books in this day and age. All you’ll need is a trusty comic books price guide to help you gauge the true value of your comics
What are comic books price guides? These guides list down the varying prices of comics as they age through the years. You’ll find that some titles end up becoming forgotten and worthless over the years, while others skyrocket to reach hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars in auctions.
There are two kinds of guides: printed guides and digital guides. Printed guides are your traditional hand-held books that list the values of comic books by today’s standards. Examples of the traditional printed comic books price guides include the “Standard Catalog of Comic Books” and “The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.” Digital guides, on the other hand, are either software databases or websites devoted to providing updated price listings. This type of comic books price guide is typically more accessible and easier to navigate compared to its paper counterpart. However, it is important to get information from both digital and print sources if you want a reliable pricing on your comic book collection.
At first glance, it may seem that the most practical thing to do would be to stick the updated digital comic books price guides over the printed versions. However, you still need wide sources for you to judge the true value of a comic book collection. This is especially true if you’re following the trend of prices of a certain comic book. Prices don’t always go up with time: demand may slowly fall as well. You’ll need to keep track of prices over the years, and printed guides were there long before the internet was born. Looking back and comparing prices will then help you determine when the best time to sell or buy a collection would be.
Comic books price guides offer you the ability to check the true value of a comic book collection, and a combination of print and digital sources will help you make a more accurate estimate. Time it right, and you’ll be able to get the most value for a valued collection. Who says comic books are just for kids?