Ivy Press; $29.99 SC

Matt Nelson, who these days is best known as President and Primary Grader for CGC, has produced The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics, a lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced guide to understanding how CGC grades. As an attempt to demystify the process by which CGC assigns grades, it’s hard to imagine anyone in a better position to explain it to the comic collecting masses.

Nelson’s background is pure comics. He began collecting at 14. In the 1990s, he opened More Fun Comics with dealer Bill Ponseti, and within two years he became the then-youngest Overstreet Advisor. Not long after that, he opened his comic book restoration business, Classics Incorporated. After the debut of CGC in 2000, he expanded his restoration business to include both pressing and restoration removal services. In 2013, he sold Classics Incorporated to CGC, which renamed it Classic Collectible Services, with Nelson continuing as its President.

He became CGC’s Primary Grader in 2016, and the company’s President in 2021.

In addition to showcasing the various CGC labels used over the years, the book offers insights into how particular defects might affect the grade of a comic, which of course is why most folks would pick this book up. It also profiles the acknowledged pedigree collections, and much more. Experienced hands may very well want a copy of this book for reference, but newcomers submitting to CGC will find it enlightening.

– J.C. Vaughn