I just read that Transformers comic at the weekend, it has a robot called Thundercrackers.
Tom | 01.24.05 - 9:37 am | #

I'm remembering that the Yummy Fur ban had more to do with the content. Overstreet doesn't list undergrounds, and the early Yummy Fur content (particularly Ed the Happy Clown) was very definitely underground in style and content.

I have no idea why Palookaville would be excluded, however, unless it's the fact that D&Q tends to keep things in print, so there isn't as much demand for inflated back issue prices.

You could always check MileHigh's prices for the Palookaville and Yummy Fur. if you cut them in half, you should be close to what Overstreet would have!!
jim kosmicki | Email | 01.24.05 - 11:19 am | #

Jim - I actually had a paragraph in the original version of this post that suggested that Yummy Fur may have been excluded due to its undergroundish nature (which led to an extended rant about listing undergrounds instead of "platinum-age" comics in Overstreet). But then, I figured, this post was long enough!
Mikester | Homepage | 01.24.05 - 11:26 am | #

reading through a run of Amazing Heroes only emphasizes to me what is still missing in comics -- a well-written, solidly researched magazine about comics that isn't afraid to like superheroes. I like TCJ and Comic Art as much as anyone, but art comics are NOT the sum total of comics worth writing about, just as "what's hot now from the big two" isn't either.

It has always annoyed me that Gary Groth has no qualms about supporting his company with porn(much of which is of extremely dubious value), but sees a pro-superhero magazine as beneath him.
Jim Kosmicki | Email | Homepage | 01.24.05 - 5:06 pm | #

Don't bother with Overstreet, use Krause's Standard Guide for anything since 1960. Overstreet has a strong superhero bias as it doesn't even list Zap #1. A book that has more copies printed than any Marvel or DC comic book of today. It is also more historically significant than 90% of what is in Overstreet. It costs more in the back issue market too.

Overstreet is great for Golden Age, but everything else is useless. Of course you have to watch out for his fake entries too.
Tim Stroup | Email | 01.24.05 - 5:42 pm | #

Tim - I'm not that down on Overstreet...I still think it's your best bet for pricing information on the comics it does list. I do agree that it's better off dealing with older books than newer, though I think it's fine through at least the 1970s. Newer material that's more active in the marketplace is usually ill-served by yearly guides (Krause included), but that's just the nature of the thing.

Wizard can be an okay gauge of what's "hot" and popular among the newer books, but those prices need to be tempered with our own sales experience and judgement of local conditions.

Plus, throw eBay into the mix (where comics either sell for next-to-nothing or for way above any guide's value) and you suddenly begin to feel for anyone trying to come up with a consistent price guide!
Mikester | Homepage | 01.24.05 - 6:33 pm | #

"Naturally occurring gears, levers and pulleys"???!?!?!
d_dee | Email | Homepage | 01.25.05 - 5:15 am | #

For what it's worth, Gary Groth is equally disdainful of Amazing Heroes and the porn. The reason he ditched AH isn't because he liked porn better, it's because porn comics sold like crazy and AH was tanking due to the rise of Wizard and other magazines shredded that market. They sold the name and the other publisher couldn't make it work, either.

Remember, Gary and Kim's other line at the time Eros came out was the Monster line, and if Meta-Cops had sold five times as many copies than Birdland and Leatherboy instead of the other way around they'd be doing those today.
Tom Spurgeon | Email | Homepage | 01.25.05 - 11:00 am | #

there was another publisher who tried to publish AH? where the hell was I? I was a huge AH fanboy, and I would have at least ordered the thing to give it a try.
Jim Kosmicki | Email | Homepage | 01.26.05 - 3:57 pm | #

Yeah, it was a pretty short-lived attempt...if memory serves, they tried to have a go at doing a general purpose mag, but when that didn't fly, they ended up just doing swimsuit specials. Trust me, you were better off missing it.
Mikester | Homepage | 01.26.05 - 8:17 pm | #

Transformers weren't naturally occurring creatures. They were created by a big ass computer, Vector Sigma, that was itself cerated by an nasty race of scientist/slavers called the Quintessons. werd.

Birdland was a freaky weird comic book, I can't figure out whether it was despite or because of the pornography.

And as to the TMNT immitators, well I bought some of those because the titles were just too hilarious to pass up. I mean come one, Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos? Or better yet, Geriatric Gangrene Ju-Jitsu Gerbils! Holy shit, that comic had ACTION. =P
Evilbeard | 01.27.05 - 10:25 am | #

I hate misspelling. =(
evilbeard | 01.27.05 - 10:27 am | #

Mike,

I won't disagree with you on prices in Overstreet, as for me they are irrelevant. I use the price guides mainly for information on the books. So I don't know about their price accuracy. I just have a problem with a price guide that tries to be an all encompasing reference guide and then ignores significant books like Zap and Ranma 1/2 #1. I would expect their prices on superhero books even up to the present are at least in a realistic range. It is just the non-superhero books that get the short end of the stick.

As for Wizard, I gave up on them verrrrry early on when they published inflated prices for books that had not yet been published. It wasn't just a line item, but a whole paragraph. It showed me they have an agenda and cannot be trusted.

You also mention the Platinum Age book coverage in Overstreet. I think your point about it relevancy is right on from a pricing point of view. But it is another other their ways to push the "reference guide" aspect of their publication. So why ignore Undergrounds? Heck there were fewer undergrounds published between 1965 and 1980 (about 1,100) than there are published each year in the direct market (about 5,000). How tough would it be to list those.

I think part of the problem is Geppi, the owner, and his morals. Undergrounds have nudity & sex in them and he already has a history of having problems with those types of books. You will not find many (any?) erotic comics listed in Overstreet either.

I do agree with you that coming up with any kind of accurate price guide is tough. I think with so many comics and ways of selling them, they need to specialize/limit themselves more. That's one of the reasons I like Krause's book. The first couple of decades of Overstreet were enormously important to the direct market, but it's time to change and become relevant again. I think it has lost that relevance except for Golden and maybe Silver Age superheroes.
Tim Stroup | Email | 01.27.05 - 6:02 pm | #