500Club

On 3/6/2022 at 9:45 AM, wombat said:

CGC won't do anything. They simply don't care. Things are pretty darn good for them right now. 

Yes, they will.  Blackstone didn’t acquire them to ‘do nothing’.  Blackstone’s objective will be to maximize revenue.  More signing events is a reflection of that.  So are the recent price increases.

I’m hoping they choose more manpower and equipment over steadily higher pricing. 

On 3/5/2022 at 6:51 PM, mysterymachine said:

Which is another reason not to buy equipment. If submissions are meeting expectations its not a concern.

More throughput means increased revenue. It also lessens the chances business is lost to a competitor.

On 3/4/2022 at 5:57 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I was told by the very nice CGC person that the bottleneck is not lack of human graders but lack of equipment -- specifically, the pressing equipment and the encapsulation equipment (what they call the "sonic sealers").

Now, if that's the case then I have to say it's a bit unforgivable.  They're making so much money, they should be able to afford the capital investment to increase their capacity.

Blackstone is a leading investment business.  I’m sure it’s obvious to them that a fixed cost capital upgrade will result in a higher revenue stream.  It makes me wonder if they are having supply chain woes trying to get the equipment.

On 3/1/2022 at 11:58 AM, Kripsys99 said:

I think there are fewer and fewer people collecting,

Over the last 30 years, yes.  Over the last couple of years, no.  LCSs are adding file customers in our area, and lapsed collectors are coming back into the hobby.  In addition, increased overseas buying is drawing books out of the market.

On 3/1/2022 at 7:54 AM, Bird said:

perhaps they don't care about modern and economy level books and want to make their coin on walk-through and standard, how would you dissuade submissions without outright stopping the service?

Maximizing revenue.  That’s the ultimate goal.  Hence the non stop signature events.

What I worry about is that they decide to raise prices every three to six months to lessen TATs.  That much demand for a service gives a business some pretty significant pricing power.

On 3/1/2022 at 10:25 AM, X_Phile said:

I think that's giving CGG way too much credit. 

I’m not so sure.  They were bought by Blackstone.  These guys are professional capital managers.

On 3/1/2022 at 11:30 AM, Shazbot said:

I read in a (much) older thread that they tend to come with a bit of curvature, but is this not a bit too curved?

The curvature won’t harm the comic.   I find it disturbs my OCD, though. 

I think the rarest signature variant is ‘legible’. 

On 2/28/2022 at 11:08 PM, JJ-4 said:

Did the reduction in value happen gradually over the course of many decades or was their a black Monday type selloff in the stamp world?

My impression has always been that the stamp collecting demographic was much older…?

On 2/28/2022 at 4:11 PM, zzutak said:

I'd prefer to base my opinion on scanner images of the entire page (with the page absolutely flat on the scanner bed).  That being said, it looks like this leaf was folded inward (about the red axis) and missed the final production trim.  It looks like a previous owned unfolded the dog-ear and then scissor-trimmed the untrimmed portion of this leaf's bottom and outside vertical edges.

When the book is back in hand, place a straightedge next to this leaf's outside vertical edge.  Check for a constant gap from top to bottom. 

Yup.   When pages accidentally get folded in before the cutting process, the part inside the book does not get cut.  When you unfold the page, the uncut part sticks out close to an inch.   The original owner probably trimmed it for convenience, or to fit it into a comic bag.

On 2/26/2022 at 3:38 PM, MAR1979 said:

Meguiars PlastX along with a soft cloth (as shown in pic) and some arm effort will remove many light to near medium scratches and light to medium scuffs.

And, if not…

On 2/24/2022 at 8:47 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

It costs me $20 to ship a single book with tracking 

Yup.  Canada Post. 

On 2/21/2022 at 6:19 PM, awakeintheashes said:

Yeah, with this high republic stuff the entire multimedia thing has been planned out by a select group of people and things have been done with a purpose.

So far most or all of the characters being introduced across books, comics, and video games is being done strategically and have so far crossed over pretty seamlessly. I’d think the same would go for the Acolyte and any other shows that come out of it. 

 

This.

HR was presented as a publishing initiative that was meant to give Disney IP to pull from for TV/movies.

On 2/20/2022 at 12:09 PM, PeterPark said:

In 1999? Lots more

Yup.   Still lots of 7-11s with comics at that time, along with other corner store chains, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and the like…

On 2/18/2022 at 9:31 AM, kimik said:

We will see what happens in the next arcs. I expect Marchion to eventually show in the main book, but right now they seem to be setting that up for the Sith.

The main book is done at 15, it looks like.   There’ll be a new HR number 1 for phase two. 

On 2/18/2022 at 4:28 AM, Nibirus said:

hope the grade is above 9.2 on a 49 year old comic to cover the cost.

49 year old book! 

…oh, wait… 1973… bronze … still a young ‘un 

On 2/17/2022 at 10:07 AM, Bird said:

I have it timed, lady who stocks books and I have been there at the same time last 2 weeks. No Marvel. I'll get them yet I will!

Stocker stalker. 

On 2/17/2022 at 1:41 PM, The Meta said:

Might do that if @500Clubhasn't cleaned him out already

Nope.  @kimik and I hit that book with our pre-order.

On 2/16/2022 at 5:41 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

On 2/16/2022 at 5:38 PM, 500Club said:

I did.

Talk to your accountant first.

That beer looks good…

On 2/10/2022 at 7:30 AM, Corona smith said:

As far as I know The new punisher logo is only for the storyline. It’s not a permanent change. 

No, it looks like this is a shift by Marvel, due to the skull logo having been misappropriated.  There’s a reason the Punisher has been off the publishing slate for a couple years.

The new logo may not be permanent, but I don’t think the skull is coming back any time soon.