Ok, so the flight is to Seattle, with a stop over in San Francisco.

I don't sleep well when I'm excited. I'm sitting in my seat somewhere over the mid-west and trying to nap a bit. I don't want to land in Seattle and sleep the rest of the day, especially when the doctor limited my coffee consumption. I have at least 19 books for signatures and grading, three of which I'm expecting to drop from their universal 9.8 status. So why do I do it? What's the allure to getting the signatures on a comic book if there is so much at risk?

The majority of the comic books I get signed are low in points. The ten percent increase they give me is not nearly enough incentive, it's not like it's an Amazing Spider-Man 129 in a 9.6, which would garnish a hefty point increase with the percentage. Besides, I already did that one last year. Nope, the ones I'm cracking either give me a three or four point increase on the registry. This no where near compensates for the risk I'm taking. And if the books do drop, will they be available to purchase again?

There are 277 sets in the under rated New Mutants set. Some of the issues in this set have only two copies in 9.8, where I have one and bagofleas has the other. The risk could be dire if the attempt to get the best set is thwarted by a simple reduction in grade. RonnyLama risks a lot in his attempt to gain some of the same signatures, but on books of a larger scale. Last year he sent me three books to get signed by Stan Lee, one of them being an iron Man #1 in a 9.6. The financial drop alone is devastating. I believe I heard a horror story of a 9.4 Incredible Hulk #181 being manhandled by Herb Trimpe causing a drop in grade and value.

And yet I still crack a slab. My issue of thirty four looks iffy. So iffy, in fact that I didn't crack it. I'm bringing it with me and will crack it when I get to Seattle. A group decision between RonnyLama, Shivabali, Lee K., and Surfer 99 will determine if I place the risk to be nominal. And whether it drops or not the comic book becomes part of a story. And that's why I crack some of the slabs, because without doing so I never would have met the first three of the four I mentioned.

I don't crack the slabs for value as much as I do just to have the creator sign the book. But I also crack them for the story. This may be an unintentional result from Steve Borock making sure the slabs were able to be cracked; to not only be able to read the story, but to add to it.

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb

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