Comic Book Grades

All comic books, whether they are modern, or rare Golden Age, should be graded on the same scale. There are accepted industry standards outlined by the Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide as well as by CGC (Comics Guaranty Corporation).

The old school standard was based on a descriptive grade that ranged from Mint as the perfect comic book, all the way to Poor, as a comic that has significant defects and even pieces missing.

The numerical grading system in use today was started in the 1990’s. However, it really took off as a grade system for comic books with the advent of CGC.

When grading comics, using either the text or numerical grade should provide a clear description for the overall condition of any comic book.

Number Grade Symbol
10 Mint MT
9.9 Mint Minus MT-
9.8 Near Mint / Mint NM/MT
9.6 Near Mint Plus NM+
9.4 Near Mint NM
9.2 Near Mint Minus NM-
9.0 Very Fine / Near Mint VF/NM
8.5 Very Fine Plus VF+
8.0 Very Fine VF
7.5 Very Fine Minus VF-
7.0 Fine / Very Fine F/VF
6.5 Fine Plus F+
6.0 Fine F
5.5 Fine Minus F-
5.0 Very Good / Fine VG/F
4.5 Very Good Plus VG+
4.0 Very Good VG
3.5 Very Good Minus VG-
3.0 Good / Very Good G/VG
2.5 Good Plus G+
2.0 Good G
1.5 Fair / Good FR/G
1.0 Fair FR
0.5 Poor PR