The following is long. I am not anti CGC. I still enjoy what this company does, but I had to write the following based off my own experiences. This makes me question if a simple mistake can't be caught then how can they be trusted to grade my most cherished objects. Mind you the following is not a sought after comic, it's a book I purchased a long time ago. Any and all comments are welcomed by members and CGC employees. Thank you.

Part I: The mistakes CGC makes

What is quality control? It seems invoices take a step back when they go from "graded" to "grading/quality control". This small nitpick is a simple observation. If they flipped the terminology around, I wouldn't have paid attention. Three of the invoices I turned over to CGC at the Baltimore Comic Con in early September made its way to "order status" on my registry page rather quickly. Two were fast tracked while the third is still under the "received" stage. The first two are two book invoices. One was for the universal label while the second was under CGC's signature series.

I watched amused knowing they made a mistake and yet I did nothing to change the outcome. I could have called to alert them of the Faux pas but opted against it. The reason, well I wanted something to write about and if it happens to me it happens to others. I have found people will praise CGC, but equally they will despise them. Why hate a third party company that makes no money with the comic books but only charge a modicum sum to grade the comic books we send in. We do ask for it don't we. That is only my opinion, although why a collector might hate CGC could be mistakes like the following, please bear with me.

I don't get how a grade is debated between CGC between graders. I picture a formula with what is and isn't allowed to be I each grade, not a best of three. Between two different comic shops I can understand how one might disagree with another. In fact that was the premise behind a third party grading company which spawned CGC. This way a collector didn't have to haggle over the condition of the book, only the price.

Part II: A flaw is a flaw.

A folded page, a nicked corner, a rusty stable, or a even a Lucky Charms marshmallow stain can decrease the condition of a comic book. A shift of newly purchased books thought to be secured in a bag could cause a spectacular looking book drop from a hopeful 9.8 to a disgraced 9.6. There are many times I purchased a flawless book at Fat Jack's Comicrypt that were somehow damaged by my impatience to read one or two of them on the way home.

I understand not counting a defect if the flaw is a manufacturing error, after all if every book has the same defect there is an impossibility inherited that perfection could be attained, which draws the question, can a book with a manufacturing defect achieve a gem mint grade? However we can get into that another day. This time around I want to talk about a simple mistake that should have been caught.

A long process of storytelling follows if not necessarily in story form.

Part III: Bouncing through Baltimore

Bagofleas and I merrily trekked throughout the Baltimore convention center getting our beloved New Mutants books among others for signings for CGC's Signature Series. We are hoping upon hope that the books we turned in will retain the 9.8 they previously were. I do understand that mishandling a book could happen allowing a 9.8 to drop to a 9.6, and even a 9.4 which previously happened to me. This is also why I started to handle my own books the best I can.

Unfortunately circumstances occurred that our best bet would be to turn these beauties over to Mike for Sal Buscema's signature. CGC set it up and our original fear was not being able to get Sal Buscema's autograph was surpassed once we found out the Simonson's were sick and possibly not able to attend. We both trusted Mike to take care of our books implicitly, especially since he is in charge of the signature series designation. This added an additional ten dollars per book.

The books I turned over for Sal 's scrawl were spread across four different invoices. Two made their way to CCS for pressing. I decided to have them go that route just in case after all a 9.8 isn't always necessarily a 9.8. The second grouping was through CGC which includes the speed of a slow boat to China, which subsequently reminds me of a Superman comic book. The last invoice contained two books that Sal signed from my own personal collection which contained two issues.

Part IV: Two issues

My issue 15 now has Chris Claremont, Stan Lee, Bob McLeod, Louise Simonson (Jones) and Sal Buscema's signatures across the cover. Issue 16 has two, Sal being one of them. I put these 4.5's through the fast track service because I want them home and sure enough they have made their way through the grading process pretty quickly, too quickly I might add. Especially the verification process. As everyone knows the first part of the process is the "received,verified" stage. My two issues only took a day to change from "received" to "verified". This allows me to see the books listed with minor information. However, this minor but important data includes title, issue # and date.

CGC has marked that verified means the following:

Verification is a detailed check that the title, publisher, and issue number of the comics match the information on the submission form.

This should be very important and easy. How difficult could it be to make sure the book listed is the book in hand? Another important factor CGC describes for their quality control process.

The quality control process is when graded and encapsulated comics are re-examined by a grader to make certain that their labels are correct for both the grade and its accompanying descriptive information. He also inspects each comic for any major flaws on its holder.

I'm sure these two books were easy to grade. All the nicks and flaws make these the pinnacle of my collection, but before I knew it, the invoice went from the above aforementioned "verification" to "grading/quality control". Not bad for fast track. But there's one major problem. Quality control sucks at CGC. Of course that could go hand in hand with the verification process. How could someone misinterpret a book from 2010 and 1984, especially since the book was signed by the artist of the book from 1984, not 2010?

Saying CGC's quality process is harsh. After all their business is increasing and multiplying exponentially making their jobs tougher. Collectors like me and others keep them busy. I am not saying that CGC will never have my business again especially since I like what they do. I even admitted freely after I first heard about a grading company placing comic books in an insensitive plastic case was appalling. I would never be able to read these beautiful stories again. What right did they have?

Part V: Rectifying a problem

A decade after these thoughts and I have praised them and been overjoyed with the books I have acquired, but what is going on at CGC when an X-Men #137 was numbered #132, my New Mutants #4 was labeled with Spider-Man #1 on top, or my annual #4 was returned as a qualified green label at Wizard World Philadelphia with the witness a bare few feet away, and a purchase made cheaper because the auction had labeled a book what CGC labeled it allowing me to purchase a 9.8 copy of New Mutants Vol. 1 #17 and NOT Vol. 3 #17.

Of course I could be prematurely writing this because it is still days before the invoice will be marked shipped. I estimate that Friday I shall find out if they did mess up or if they caught it but my iss

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