Should have called earlier.

Two of my invoices at CGC entered Grading/Quality Control status two weeks ago. I was beginning to grow weary of waiting on them to move into Shipped/Safe status and considering calling CGC about them.

Yesterday, Tnerb informed me that he had an invoice move from Graded to Quality Control to Shipped/Safe all in one day!! This convinced me to finally call. When I did, I found out that the reason for the delay was some sort of accounting issue. They immediately moved them along to Shipped/Safe status and the next day, they were in my hands.

Again, I will say that you should never underestimate the power of simply calling CGC and asking when something seems a little off.

These two invoices are for eleven raw issues that I submitted at Supercon in July for Universal labels. These issues were acquired by me through a variety of different sources. There was an equal variety of surprises to me on the results. So without further ado, here is how they came out...

Daredevil #159 - 8.5 WP

This issue is a copy from my original collection that me and my father put together, so the grade did not really matter. With that said however, I was completely taken aback by this grade! I had it at 9.6!!! I challenge anyone to look closely at it through the case and give it a grade under 9.4! Since this is one of the few issues I examined without looking through the pages, I have to assume that the inner pages must have been the reason for the reduced grade. I almost want to get the graders notes to see if this is the case. Hmmmm....

What If #1 - 9.4 WP

This comic is one of many given to me by Ronnylama for getting a number of his issues signed at Supercon. I cannot thank him enough for it!! I felt it had a shot at 9.6 but 9.4 was more reasonable, and it turns out I was right. This is a gorgeous copy with only a couple of very minor defects that I could spot. Being that this is the #1 issue of a series I am eventually wanting to have a complete set of graded, I gave it its shot at CGC immortality!! Thanks again, Ronnylama!!

Fallen Angels #1 - 9.8 WP

This was a surprise of the positive sort! I acquired all eight issues of this mini series off of a seller on eBay because the pics looked so good. When I received them, I was astonished at how good they looked in person. In fact, this issue and #3 were the only ones that I graded at 9.6. Pressing could help bump it up into the 9.8 range but I was conservative in my view and felt 9.6 was more likely. I am so glad to be proven wrong in this particular instance!!

Fallen Angels #2 and #7 - 9.8 WP

Two more copies from the same batch purchased off eBay. These were no surprise at all. I felt they would receive 9.8 and was not disappointed!! I love the darker cover of #7 (see pic below). Both of these are OAKs!! The first 9.8s on the census!

Fallen Angels #3 - 9.6 WP

As with the #1, I graded this at 9.6, but hoped a pressing would improve it. Oh well. It came from the same eBay batch and looked just about as good as all of the others.It is currently only the second graded copy of the issue out there. There IS one 9.8 copy. My copy of #4 from this same batch was signed by Val Mayerick at SDCC and ALSO got 9.6 unfortunately. The last three issues are currently being graded after signings at Baltimore.

Daredevil #170 - 9.6 WP

This is also from me and my dads original collection. I graded it at 9.6 and figured I would see if a pressing would improve it. It achieved what I originally thought, so I am fine with the result. Any comics from my original collection are graded for sentimentality rather than strictly high grades. They mean far more to me as a reminder of my father than as simple material items.

Daredevil #238 - 9.6 WP

Another gift from Ronnylama!! I submitted this copy at Supercon before I knew I would be attending Baltimore, otherwise I would have waited and had Sal Buscema sign it. Oh well. I DID get my original copy of #238 signed by Sal at Baltimore even though I did not feel that it was quite as good as this copy was. We will see how it turns out, but this is still a fantastic copy! I will be adding Ann Nocenti, Arthur Adams and Klaus Janson to my personal copy at ECCC for a total of four sigs!

Daredevil #305 - 9.8 WP

This copy is ALSO from my original collection. The only reason I submitted it for grading was because I KNEW it was at least a 9.8 with a real shot at achieving 9.9, so I gave it a chance. There was no way it was getting less than the grade it got!

Firestar #3 - 9.8 WP

ANOTHER gift from Ronnylama!! What a guy! I absolutely love this cover!! He sent me this one because it is a Sienkiewicz cover, and he and I are both fans and collectors of Sienkiewicz covers. This one turned out to be the grade I expected. Now I may consider getting either Art Adams or Bill to sign it at one of next years cons. We will see...

Machine Man #19 - 9.8 WP

This was the best surprise of the whole bunch! I purchased this Near Mint copy from Mile High comics almost five years ago. This is the rare, low print run last issue of the series. I bought it because I never owned a copy of it before and always wanted one for some reason. Later on, after I got hot and heavy into CGC comics, I looked it over thoroughly and determined that it was probably a 9.4 or 9.6 at best. That is not bad for this particular issue. Now that pressing is offered by CGC through CCS, I decided to have it pressed and just see what happened. I did not at all expect a grade higher than 9.6! So this was a very surprising result to me!!! Awesome!!

I will say that I should have waited for signature opportunities to come up for these before going ahead and submitting them, but even with that being the case, I am very happy overall with the results. This helps me even more with my personal grading abilities and helps me further a few of my sets towards completion.

I now have only one invoice left from Supercon. That one is for the X-Men #112 that I bought at the show and had George Perez and Bob Layton sign! I felt that with a pressing, it had a shot at 9.4 or 9.6 OW/W pages. I did not examine the inner pages too thoroughly, so we will see how it turns out. It entered Quality Control today, so it should not be very long now...

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