Another con, another grading company.

I went to Tampa Bay Comic Con last year and it was great! I drove down early in the morning on Saturday and returned home after the show that afternoon.

This year, I initially planned to attend all three days of the show and make it be the last convention I go to for the year. But then CGC had to go and make Baltimore Comic Con an onsite show! So instead of all three days at Tampa, I'm doing the same as last year. I'm only doing Saturday at Tampa and all three days with my big brother in Baltimore!

So Tampa is this coming weekend and I've been busy trying to decide what to take with me. I have a ton of stuff I can get graded, but I'm going to have to limit myself so that I can do both shows.

I was going to get two of my Marvel Graphic Novels signed by Bernie Wrightson, but now I don't know if he will be there. He had a series of small strokes at the beginning of the month and while he is doing just fine, they haven't announced yet if he will be cancelling his appearance at Tampa. I may take them with me and decide while I am there.

I have a Howard the Duck #1 for Marv Wolfman and Frank Brunner to sign and since Mike Zeck and John Beatty will be making a very rare combined appearance at the same show, I will be getting my Secret Wars #1 and #8 done as well as my Captain America Annual #8!

I have some early Vigilante issues for Wolfman and Keith Pollard to both sign since they will both be there. I also have an original art page from New Mutants #39 that I will get Pollard to sign!

The items I'm hee-hawing on are the new release issues that I've been picking up lately. I have a number of Original Sin issues that I can get Julian Totino Tedesco to sign and maybe put up for sale, but I don't know if I can really make much off of them to make it worth it or not. I'm not as big into owning the new release stuff as the 90s and earlier, so I would probably just want to flip them.

Same goes for some other new stuff I've picked up lately, but again, I'm not sure if it's worth it or not. I'll decide before Wednesday.

Anyway, the other big news for Tampa is that CBCS is finally open for business and accepting memberships and submissions in Tampa! I will be submitting 7 books to them for grade screening and hopefully grading, to get a feel for their process. One of the books will even be with a sig and sketch!

So far, CBCS seems to have their act together. They offer pretty much everything that CGC does or will very soon. But they do have some pluses compared to CGC.

Free membership for submission privileges! (completely free!)

Guaranteed turnaround times of 15 days for modern at $15 each!

Grade screening with no book minimum!!

Free graders notes!

Also, they will be starting up their registry soon, which is the biggest key to their success in my opinion. They also have a chat board on the way and will offer yearly awards just like CGC! For those of you who were wondering about their labels, they DID make a few subtle changes from their previous sample, one of which is putting the title and number in larger print in the center of the label like CGC does. They will even put a small star next to the grade if the book has considerable eye appeal for the grade, sort of like what CVA does, but it's actually presented on the label, and apparently very hard to acquire!

They even give a percentage-off of your next submitted invoice if they don't meet their guaranteed turnaround times on your current one! It will be interesting to see how quickly they give CGC a run for their money. At the very least, maybe CGC will start altering some of their fees and online software to keep up. Competition benefits us collectors! It will be interesting to see how much people will pay for CBCS books compared to CGC books over time.

So I will get my 7 books done through them (hopefully) and then do another journal about my experience with them to let everyone know how it is, especially how their casings are in comparison to CGC's. It's neat to get in on the ground level with a new company like this! Should be fun!

Get well soon, Bernie!!!

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