What a great three Days.

I first met Paul Litch in Philadelphia. I set up an interview with him and Sean through a PR rep from CGC. I was writing for Comicbooked.com at the time and as my fellow writers were scrambling to get interviews with comic book super stars I was happy with getting to talk to the people that handled the grading aspect of comic books.

In the early part of the 1800's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania opened up Eastern State Penitentiary. At the time it was as state of the art as a prison could get. It was so successful that many prison around the world followed the design. Each convicted man was given their own cell and even their own small little court yard. In today's world the space is more akin to a cubicle at most office work spaces.

When prisoners were first corralled into the prison system they were given a number. Their name was not used. This was in the hopes of rehabilitating without anyone ever knowing you were in there after you were released. They hoped the enclosed space was enough to make the man penitent for his aggressions. When your time was up you would be released back into the world. Hopefully never to be back.

Comic books going through CGC are the same. A sentence of a finite amount of days are placed on the comic book. In essence the books are given a number. Their sins not yet registered. Their small cell (bag and board) has the most basic of information. The process is simple if not repetitive. And after being finished the anonymity is still preserved, the book after serving its sentence will leave and be able to go out into the free world a better comic book.

As for ESP, their first inmate was Charles Williams. He served two years for stealing. And my first comic book I got to look at, well that's a whole nother story.

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.