Leading up to The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #50 release on July 22, 2020, Gemstone Publishing will commemorate the milestone by diving into the publication’s rich history. Over the Guide’s five decades in print, thousands upon thousands of comic books have been priced, the market has been meticulously studied, and creators, characters, and publishing houses have been featured with detailed coverage. With the 50th edition comes time to revisit how comic values have steadily (sometimes astronomically) risen over the years and reflect on contributions made in crafting the Guide.
When Wonder Woman was introduced to comics in 1941, she became the benchmark by which superheroines would be measured. A member of DC’s trinity and a consummate leader in the Justice League, Princess Diana of Themyscira has shaped, though at times gradually, the portrayal of heroic women in comics.
Introduced in All Star Comics #8 by William Moulton Marston with the help of artist H.G. Peter, Wonder Woman saw her first featured story and cover appearance in Sensation Comics #1. Originally a 10¢ comic in ’42, when Robert M. Overstreet wrote The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #1 in 1970, a Near Mint copy of Sensation Comics #1 was selling for $50.
Diana gained a new following in the late ’70s when Lynda Carter stepped into the titular role for the Wonder Woman TV show, which inspired collectors to push the book’s value to $450 by ’79. A year later, Wonder Woman’s second appearance jumped to $600 and when the Guide #20 was published in 1990, it was up to $2,300. By 2000, Sensation Comics #1 was priced at $22,000 – nearly 10 times what it was a decade before.
When the 40th Guide came out in 2010, a Near Mint copy was up to $60,000 and it grew in value to $80,000 in Guide #46. After Gal Gadot’s scene stealing introduction in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, the following year Sensation Comics #1 accrued another $20,000, to be priced at $100,000 in Guide #47. Interest in this early Wonder Woman key has continued to grow and in 2019’s Guide #49, a Near Mint copy of this book was valued at $150,000.
