THE OFFICIAL OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE (19th edition) <i> by Robert Overstreet (Ballantine: $12.95, illustrated) </i>

Each edition of this guide makes Baby Boomers (and their parents) gnash their teeth a little harder and moan, “Why didn’t I save that?” a little more piteously. Small wonder: The comic books that parents and teachers routinely trashed have become valuable collectibles. A copy of the first issue of “Action Comics” (1938) now sells for between $4,600 and $30,000, depending on its condition; the 1954 “Archie’s Christmas Stocking” may bring $315; the first installment of “Justice League of America” (1960), $750. Essential reading for “panelologists,” as some comics fans style themselves, guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of anyone who threw away a copy of “Detective 27” (1939), which included the first appearance of Batman and is now worth more than $35,000.

BACHELORHOOD: Tales of the Metropolis by Phillip Lopate (Poseidon Press: $8.95)