Axe Elf

Back when I was just learnin' this trade (see my signature), I presented this copy of EERIE #2, which I think maps pretty straightforwardly to your book--both of them look pretty fine (and by that I mean literally sixish), until you get to that one, glaring, penetrating wound that drags it down a couple of grades. The consensus on mine was that the 4.0 it was advertised as was fair, if conservative. *I* personally would probly still call it at least a 4.5, if not a 5.0--but whatever you'd call it, that's about what I'd call your book as well.

I had been looking for a copy of this little beauty ever since the copy I originally had got wet and molded like 15 years ago, and it finally arrived about a month ago. Well, okay, I wasn't looking THAT long, but I had been WITHOUT it for that long. The search for a replacement copy probly took all of 15 minutes or so, but anyway, here she is... Seems like it would be about a 5.5 without somebody else's address stuck to the front of it. But for $15 + $5 shipping, it fills a pretty big hole for me--because of what's inside it. Right there, on pages 32-33, a big double-page spread advertisement for the Martin Marietta Corporation featuring me, my two other classmates from Downs (pop 1,000) who won the Kansas State Spelling Bee within 6 years in the 70s, and our spelling coach. I'm the one on the left, the baby of the group. For a 44 year old magazine, it looks pretty good to me!

The front cover is pretty nice, but I don't think you can get above a 5.5 with that piece missing. You said "the spot" is a piece missing, but I see what looks like a piece missing from the lower left edge of the back cover--AND then a spot above it. So if that's TWO pieces missing, it's probably a full grade lower.

I guess one perk of buying on eBay would be a quicker turnaround time... The SHUDDER site says to allow 3-8 weeks for delivery! My spider monkey and X-ray specs will probly be here sooner than that...

But really, how many full sets do you think one could sell? I mean sure, if they could sell like 20 full runs on eBay at $350 each they could make some coin, but at least until the end of May, anyone who wants a full run of CREEPS can get one straight from the warehouse for $100 less than the eBay price--so would they really be able to sell 20 full runs? They're not even guaranteeing pristine books, cautioning against random handling and shipping defects from the factory. And now they've been through one more middleman handling them. I dunno, I guess a lot of people are stupid... or maybe they're counting on doing more business once the warehouse closes... but if that were the case, you'd think they'd hold out and charge even MORE for full runs once the pipeline of back issues dried up. Just seems weird to me.

Already? CREEPS Full Run + Annuals (2 for sale) Costs $276 shipped from the SHUDDER website, probly costs them another $20 to ship to their eBay buyer ("free shipping"), sell for $350 minus about $50 in seller fees, and you're what, making $4 for every full run you sell? Good luck with that.

I don't really collect Vampirella, but I put in a $10 bid, just in case. Fingers crossed...

I don't have any skin in the game, really, because I don't really participate in auctions--but this does seem like a blatant conflict of interest, and I'm surprised it hasn't been legally censured by now. I play poker a lot, and I know that if a person is a licensed poker dealer in one state, they not only cannot play poker at the casino for which they work, they can't play poker in any other casino in the state. If they want to play, they have to go to a neighboring state. Seems like it should be the same for these businesses; if you want to buy something, you buy it from another auction house, not the one of which you are an employee. If you don't like not being able to buy from that house, then you go work somewhere else.

There's another one I've played with some at https://comicbookrealm.com/example-based-grading. As someone mentioned about the OP's site, it seems to basically just grade for the worst features, rather than taking the overall condition into consideration.

Yeah, I'm not really seeing much creasing either, at least in these pics. Maybe a little near the bottom staple in that last pic. Looks like maybe something was stamped on it between the "S" and the cape? Light soiling, corners blunted... I'd say it's 8.5; not sure it's good enough to be a Niner.

The chunk out of the back cover is obviously going to be the major factor driving this grade. The book looks pretty five-ish otherwise, but I can't imagine it grading higher than a 3.0 with that kind of a piece missing, plus the large vertical scratch/crease on the front cover.

I dunno, I'm fairly new to all this, and grading doesn't seem like such an arcane skill that a little on-the-job training couldn't produce a reasonably skilled grader with a couple weeks of practice. If you have five reasonably skilled graders look at a book and three of them say it's a 6.5 and one says 6.0 and one says 7.0, it's probably a 6.5. If one says it's a 2.5 and two say it's a 5.0 and two say it's a 7.5, then you pass it along to three of the more experienced graders and try to find consensus among them. I wouldn't think you'd need to have your most experienced graders looking at every single book, though, just the ones that have difficult issues to sort out. The vast majority of "triage" and grading the ones with few or straightforward defects seems like it could be done by initiates with some, if not thorough, training. Just in the "Buddy Can You Spare a Grade" thread, most of the amateurs here tend to agree, within a half-grade of each other most of the time. I learned grading standards about a month ago, and most of the time I tend to agree with grading assessments in that forum as well. If we can do it, CGC can do it! It's not like you should have to study with the Dalai Lama for decades to tell a 3.0 from a 7.0.

Good lord, I can literally see you taking the picture reflected in the cover. There's that slight defect at the base of the spine you noted, and one teeny weeny little abrasion just northwest of 10 o'clock on the back cover--and that's all I can see. The rest is like polished glass. I don't usually venture to grade the NM books, but dare I jump in and say 9.6?

That's pretty awesome. Just put a peppermint in every mailing, and "Well, it was near a mint when I mailed it..."

"Does anybody really know what grade it is?"

I'm not a "collector" or "investor" per se; the CREEPY and EERIE mags were just a part of my teen years, and I like to read them. I've made it a recent goal to get all of the EERIEs, and I will probably turn to the CREEPYs shortly, but I think I might take that little detour through the full run of CREEPS, not as an investment, but just to HAVE them. I'm almost 60 years old anyway, with diabetes and a heart condition; I won't live long enough to see anything appreciate in value much...

Knew the general Warren history, but never really followed Vampirella specifically. And now "Warrant" with CREEPS/SHUDDER? Thinking about getting the full run of CREEPS while I still can for like $256 from the website (through May 2022)... Sounds like more Warren-style bang for my buck than the Vampy run... or even Vampy #1.

If you do get it cleaned and pressed, I would be interested in seeing the results, since I have no idea how much that kind of process can help.

That too. I just noticed that one said Warren and one said Harris.

Ah, got it, the original is a Warren magazine, the "Commemorative Edition" is a Harris magazine. This is fascinating, that a knock-off would still be worth more than CREEPY #1.

Seeing a few of those, so I'm guessing the "Commemorative Edition" isn't the real #1. I wonder which one is in the set for sale...

So this would be an EBAY DEAL then? A CGC 9.2 for $375? https://www.ebay.com/itm/284670873379?hash=item4247b4cf23:g:r2MAAOSwR8Jh12Ex

Interesting. Well, like I said, glad I'm not collecting those, then. But yeah, that probly makes the full run worth more like $2000 then.

Is it though? I've seen a CGC slabbed 9.0 CREEPY #1 runs around $300--and that was the first issue of any kind from Warren. As I said, I haven't really been interested in Vampy's, but is her #1 really worth more than twice as much as CREEPY #1? And we're not talking about a certified, slabbed copy here; just some guy's idea of a "G/VG to VG-" probly. I've done zero research, so educate me if I'm wrong, but that seems really high for a knockaround copy. And if it IS worth that, then I'm glad my Warren cravings don't extend to Vampirella.

I'm more interested in CREEPY and EERIE, but I might be persuaded to snap up a collection of Vampy's at a reasonable price--but sheesh, their asking price is over $33 per book, and some of them are G/VG to VG-? And the rest are F to VF? No thanks. Maybe if they were all VF or better someone could start thinking about it, but that someone wouldn't be me. Same collection for $1500, I'd have some interest.