Everyone should know CPR, right?

I know what you are thinking. What does breathing life back into a human being have to do with comics, right?

Well I am not talking about CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). I am talking about my new term for attempting to improve on the condition of an already graded comic.

CPR... Cracking, Pressing, Regrading.

This can be done when you have an old labeled CGC issue that you want to try to improve by giving it CPR and a new label. Or it can apply to a CGC copy that you want to get signed while applying CPR to help it retain its previous life or maybe even improve upon it.

Either way, CPR in the CGC sense is a way to breathe new life into your CGC copy of a valued issue. And there is no better feeling than knowing that you have not only saved the life of a comic, but brought it back as an OAK!

I have given CPR to multiple comics from my CGC collection over the last year with the four different cons I attended. In fact, I just got back my last invoice from Baltimore!

CPR does not apply to this invoice, since the three Bronze Age issues on it were raw to begin with. No cracking involved. But two of them are now OAKs! Here they are...

Special Marvel Edition #15 - SS 9.4 OW/W signed by Jim Starlin

Master of Kung Fu #17 - SS 9.6 OW/W signed by Jim Starlin

Marvel Two In One #3 - SS 9.8 OW signed by Sal Buscema

I am ecstatic about these grades! The SME 15 is a big Bronze Key issue, of course. The MOKF 17 is now the only SS copy in any grade for the issue! The MTIO 3 was better than the 9.6 I placed it at, and is now the single highest graded SS issue!

While I did not have to give full CPR to these three, I have done it to numerous copies over the last year, and created a number of OAKS in the process.

So now you know how to give CPR to your CGC comics. One day you may be able to save the life of one of your precious collectibles.

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