HUNT VALLEY, Md. – On Wednesday, July 19, The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #53 arrived in comic book stores. The bible of serious comic book collectors, dealers, and historians since it was first published in 1970, the hardbound guide is released each July by Gemstone Publishing. Compiled by founder Robert M. Overstreet with contributions from an extensive roster of Overstreet Advisors, the Guide offers insight into the complex and exciting comic book market.

The Guide #53 celebrates the 60th anniversaries of The Avengers and the storied Justice League of America/Justice Society of America crossovers. It also includes a look at the influential advertising comics of the pioneering R.F. Outcault, creator of The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, and Death Dealer’s history in comics.

Iron Man, Thor, The Wasp, and Giant Man square off against Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk as celebrated artist Kevin Nowlan offers an imaginative new take on Jack Kirby’s classic image from The Avengers #3 for the Guide #53 Avengers cover.

With his horned helmet and obscured facial features, the axe-carrying, armor-clad warrior sits atop a horse and permanently looks ready for battle, evoking whole stories from a single image: Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer. Now artist Dan Lawlis has brought a powerful image of the Death Dealer to the Guide #53 Death Dealer cover.

The Avengers cover and the Death Dealer cover are both offered in hardcover ($44.95) and softcover ($34.95) format. The Avengers softcover edition is available in comic shops and book stores, while the Avengers hardcover and both Death Dealer versions are exclusive to comic shops.

Since the oversized, limited edition known as The Big, Big Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide returned with BBCBPG #42, it has sold out faster and faster each year. For BBCBPG #53, artist David Michael Beck breathed dynamic new life into the almost-forgotten Golden Age hero Black Out.

It’s important to reiterate that the Big, Big edition contains none of the articles or the ads found in the standard editions of the Guide. It contains only the pricing information and charts. With a cover price of $59.95, it was released at the same time as the standard size editions.

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