Axe Elf

Is there an industry-standard difference between a yearbook and an annual, or is the difference only the difference in the word that is printed on the front cover?

Cover is really nice, but the spine is a little worn. Your 7.0 estimate is probly in the ballpark, but you might be underselling it a bit. I don't think it's good enough for an 8.0, but a 7.5 wouldn't be out of line.

Ok, my turn. This is basically a question to help educate myself on the effect of a major defect in grading an otherwise pretty nice issue. I think this copy of the first widely-distributed issue of EERIE looks pretty nice--but it has two fairly major defects. I don't know if there was a shadow or what, but the pages look more off-whitish (like the right side) than yellowish (like the left side) in person. Anyway, and it probably looks worse in person than it does on the scan, but the first major defect is that there are a lot of horizontal scuff marks on the back cover, about 3/8" apart, most noticeable in the lower left quadrant of the back cover. But most damning would be the 1/4" tear that goes all the way through the right edge of the book about halfway down: I really don't know how to take that into account. The book looks pretty 5.5ish to me overall, maybe even a 6.0 without the tear and the scuffs), but how much does something like that affect the overall grade... maybe a 4.5 to 5.0? Parenthetically, the seller graded it as a 4.0 VG, but that seems pretty harsh--I just don't know how much that tear affects things. You don't really "see" the tear looking straight on at the front cover, but the fact that it IS torn all the way through the book can't be good. Any thoughts/education would be appreciated.

Yeah, it really WANTS an 8.0 VF grade; I could see it getting a 7.5 VF- though, if the grader is particularly put off by the number of small horizontal stress lines near the spine on the front cover--but most of the 7.5 examples I see online look worse than this.

It does bring up a point of interest to a newbie such as myself. I have wondered at what point it becomes financially profitable to go to all the trouble of cleaning/pressing, certifying, slabbing, etc., and at what point the formal process becomes untenable from a cost perspective. I know it depends on the condition and demand for the comic, of course, but maybe @zzutak could offer ME some guidance on what those costs run? That would give me an idea of the value/cost ratio of "processing" comics. You could even PM me if you don't want to hijack the thread, or direct me to a thread where this topic might have already been discussed...? Oh, and a grade for @WPGJet; I'd say a 2.5 G+ to 3.0 G/VG.

Pretty rough... 1.8 G- ?

Looks like pretty extensive staining on the back cover. I'm not sure how much that plays, but 4.5 VG+ comes to mind.

The front cover is really nice and would probably approach an 8.0 by itself, in my meaningless opinion, but those bends at the top make the back cover look more 6.5ish. I would agree with the overall 7.0 to 7.5, depending on whether you want to be optimistic or conservative.

My overriding noob status is further depreciated by my lack of experience with the sublteties of Near Mint grades (9.0 and up), but this looks like a solid 8.5 to me.

I would also go with the 8.0, but my opinion means nothing.

Reiterating that I am a total newbie at this, I don't know that I could go 6.0--but then the super closeups maybe make the creasing around the spine look worse than it is. I would say at least a 5.0, but if my theory on the creasing is correct, it could go 5.5.

I actually contacted the guy to see how he arrived at that price (this was yesterday): axeelf: $600? The last six copies of this issue sold on Ebay went for $99.95, $99.99, less than $55 (Best Offer accepted), $49.99, $100, and $59.99. What makes this item worth $500 more than each of those, some of which were in better condition than this? Is it autographed or something? cyberspacecomics dang! Those prices are incredible bargains. My last copy sold over a year ago for $250 shipped. If you see another one of those posted dirt cheap, I'd recommend buying them. axeelf: Well thanks, I plan to! But if there are six sales for $100 or less in the last two months, they can't be all that uncommon. And I have to ask again, if your last copy sold for $250 shipped, what makes this one worth another $349.99 before shipping? cyberspacecomics It's my last copy and I don't mind holding on to it until the market reaches my price point. axeelf: Ok... with the current inflation rate of 2.5%, that should happen in about 40 years. Good luck! cyberspacecomics You are aware that "good" collectibles outpace inflation, right? axeelf: So 30 years? cyberspacecomics BINGO! BTW, if your username is a reference to Harold Faltermeyer, I commend you. axeelf: lol... No, but I get that "Axel F" reference a lot. I've axually used this handle since I first signed on to AOL back in 1994, the AXE standing for "Animal X Enterprises" (a little hobby/business I had at the time) and my first wife's initials (ELF). It was supposed to be an account for both of us to use, but over time, "Axe Elf" became my universal online alter ego.Of course you can ask whatever price you see fit; I just saw your price as a major outlier and wondered if there was something special about the comic, like an autograph or something.Nice talking to you; I hope you find a buyer!

I have three, '70, '71 & '72. Are there any others?

Ok, I'll play. Note that I knew virtually nothing about grading comic books two weeks ago, so this is nothing more than me comparing this to some other pics I've seen online, but I would say 4.0 VG to 4.5 VG+. And that is my first attempt to grade someone else's comic!

This is a fascinating thread to me. So fascinating, I signed up for membership just to post in it. This will be my first post on this site. I found this thread because I was Googling for copies of EERIE #23 for sale, and the "EERIE 23 Club" was one of the results. I was Googling for copies of EERIE #23 for sale, because this issue is the last one I need to have the full run of all EERIE issues (well, except EERIE #1 of course, but nobody has EERIE #1). So it's kind of a coincidence that there's a club for owners of the one issue I don't have. I'm not really a collector, per se, I just loved CREEPY and EERIE magazines when I was a teenager, and probably bought 20-25 issues in the late 70s, early 80s. I just recently opened a box that had been in storage for like 13 years, and I still had 7 issues of EERIE and 7 issues of CREEPY in there. So I decided to try to get more... I started with EERIE, because the EERIEs I had were in better condition than the CREEPYs I had, and also the CREEPYs tended to be more anthologic, while EERIE tended to be more episodic--with the same characters/stories appearing in an arc over several issues--so it made more sense to go for the continuity of having every issue of EERIE first. So it took me a few weeks, but now I'm down to just #23 to find (assuming the Holy Grail of #1 is an impossible dream). It looks like the last six issues sold on eBay within the last couple of months, and went from $50-$100, so I'm hoping it won't set me back too much more than that to add the final piece of the puzzle--although the only one listed there now is asking $599, so... I'm not trying to get a NM copy to encapsulate forever or anything, just a 4.0-5.0 kind of a reader that will fill that last hole in the run. (If you have one you don't want any more...) So whaddya think, is that a reasonable goal? How many members of the EERIE Full Run Club are there? I would think among collectors, almost everyone has almost every issue of everything, but then... I'm not a collector, so I wouldn't know.