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I'm going to post this here since this is Futurama comic specific question - seems like you all might be the people to ask...

I have a question about Futurama 23. I have 2 copies & am trying to figure out which (if any) to send in for a John Dimaggio signature: in 90% of the listings I've seen there is a discoloration in the cover above Bender's mouth:

One of my copies has this discoloration, the other, does not, and more closely matches the digital image (from bongocomics.com):

However there is a soft crease running down the center of my book that I'm not convinced will press out... : /

Does anyone know if the discoloration is a printing defect?  

If it is a defect & wouldn't affect the grade I'll probably send that one in rather than the crease one, but if it would count against the grade I may just pass altogether...any insights greatly appreciated - thx!

Wow that is a doozy of a Quality Control slip up...  I think the QC level has dropped in the last year - I just sent a book back for 2nd ME - the first was a large, obvious scrape almost running the length of the front of the case, after the first round of ME, the same book was sent back with a medium sized scratch right in the middle of the front of the case - fingers crossed 3rd times the charm...

I think if CGC would just take a breath during the QC process - either slow down, or hire (and train) more people , they would catch 95% of these issues, including a large cover fold like yours - but it seems they would rather skimp on the QC process and just bet that the customer won't notice...

This may already be in the know, but I backed an art book Kickstarter from David Mack & Alex Maleev - two of my favs:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloverpressart/the-marvel-art-of-david-mack-and-alex-maleev2-deluxe-books

There are 4 days left to support it, but I think they've reached like 10x their goal, so sounds like it'll be produced...

Thx @CGC Mike - appreciate the effort.

However I'd like to point out that part of the Signature Series Director's response is not actually correct:

> Firstly, I can direct them to our OSF (Online Submission Form) where they can find a dropdown menu displaying live events and the respective Facilitators' 

On load, the OSF page has a dropdown menu of facilitators - not events. Only after the facilitator is selected does the event dropdown populate.

As a user, this is really inconvenient, as I don't have any idea who the facilitators are, but I do know which event I want, so having to click through each dropdown menu option of facilitators to figure out which convention they're going to is cumbersome.

imo those dropdown should simply be flipped - you select the event, then you can see which facilitators are attending.

@Catwomancomics  pointed out that there is a list of Facilitators with contact info in Grading > Sig Series > [scroll, scroll...scroll] > Facilitators

Here's a direct link for anyone looking: https://www.cgccomics.com/signature-series/facilitators/

On 6/30/2023 at 6:50 AM, Catwomancomics said:

 the Signature Room should add a second sub forum for facilitator con schedules. If a facilitator has a booth or is sending a CAW to an event, it should be a requirement to post an announcement or update their schedule here on the boards.

great idea @Catwomancomics

I think the order form submission for facilitators could also be improved; as it is now, the only thing I really know is the name of the convention the artist I want is going to attend: that should be the first option drop down list. The 2nd drop down should have the facilitators that are attending the convention I selected in drop down #1. As it is now, I have to click through each facilitator option in the drop down to figure out which facilitator is going to which convention.

It would also be great to be able to have the contact info for the facilitator show up somewhere - the Dealer Locator https://www.cgccomics.com/comics-dealer-locator/ doesn't let you search by name, so you end up just googling the name of the facilitator and hope you come up with the right one.

On 6/28/2023 at 10:33 AM, ShaggyB said:

But it doesnt fix all things. Its not miracle restore to a book. Pressing doesnt fix color break as an example

Yeah, I get that anything color breaking is not going to be resolved by any presser, but 'light creasing' ? that seems like something you'd send a book in for pressing and expect it to get resolved...

Same - mine just went from 'Received at CCS' to 'Scheduled for Grading' after sitting for 3 months  - presumably that includes the pressing? I the submission has pressing listed, but one of my resubmitted books was shipped today after being pressed in virtually the same condition as I submitted it, so tbh I'm not convinced 'CCS Pressing' is doing very much if anything at all.

On 6/27/2023 at 1:15 PM, theCapraAegagrus said:

This has happened. Did you contact CGC?

Just in the last couple hours via the contact form - we'll see what they say...

Fwiw, I submitted an unopened/unread Wolverine #1 (89) to the Claremont signing a while back - I did not have it pressed (doh) and it came back as 7.5 with 'light creasing' 'light fingerprints' as notes - fine - lesson learned.

I resubmitted the book to CGC for Pressing/Grading as they are the only ones who allow cracks of SS slabs - it shipped today with a 8.0 grade and the exact same grader notes.

So: either CCS didn't bother to press the book, or their pressing processes are not good enough to remove 'light' issues. 

Looks like quite a few people will be there:

https://baltimorecomiccon.com/guests/

Bump - anyone facilitating? I see more prices up for signatures...

https://www.steelcitycon.com/schedule/#

On 6/17/2023 at 12:41 AM, DougC said:

there is an additional $5 fee and you should send in your own window bag/board with each book.

That is a serious pro tip - thanks - it never even occurred to me to put in a prepared window bag with the slab submission.

Maybe that’s why any direction I put on the slab itself doesn’t end up happening. 

Same - zero movement since 3/17

Are celebs doing autographs? I see prices for pictures but not for signatures… website seems not so great…

@CGC Mike I’ve reached out to customer support for clarification- thx

Hey @CGC Mike - so it looks like the Venom custom SS label is available, but for some reason, it’s not applied on all books - so are some specific books having the custom labels blocked…? That seems really weird - can you clarify why some books would be excluded from having the Venom custom label as an option?

That is a bummer.

Thanks again @CGC Mike

Thanks for asking @CGC Mike - I realize that CGC can’t move quickly with the custom labels due to licensing, but I thought it seemed more like an oversight since there already exists a Venom custom label that’s active for the regular submissions. 

Just noticed that venom is an option for regular submission custom labels, but not for signature series…?

seems odd.

@CGC Mike any chance we could get this added as an option?

It’s a shame - at the end of the day there are really only 2 grading services, and CGC is widely regarded as the ‘best.’ 

At a high level, as a customer, when I look for the best, not only do I look for reputation, but the quality of the service provided. If the market deems your service ‘the best,’ I expect the service to be untouchable - sure, there will be a few edge cases, but the end product produced by the service should be above and beyond expectation. If something does go wrong with the end product, the company should proactively work to resolve the issue; not dismiss it.

I’ve had several issues with slabs I’ve received recently - glaring Newton Rings, debris in the slabs. I’m not the only one - there are lots of pictures on social media of users who have issues with slabs - scrapes, large pieces of plastic inside the holder, etc.

CGC even has a ‘Grading/Quality Control’ status - if glaring issues like debris in slabs are going to be ignored, they might as well cut that step of the process and save a day or two in turn around time.

I do feel like CGC is being aggressive with the ‘not our problem’ policy, which is unfortunate, as it seems like the vast majority of the issues could be resolved with a simple replacement holder - would you stake your entire reputation on simply not willing to occasionally go the extra mile to keep your customers happy? Personally that would not be my business model. (Unless, of course, it’s happening a lot more than we’re seeing reported, and it would be prohibitively cost effective to have thousands of books returned for reholders - but that would imply that you have pretty low confidence in your QA team…)

It honestly doesn’t seem like much of an ask for CGC to live up to their reputation.

(And fwiw, overall: personally, I’m reasonably satisfied with CGC’s performance, but the updated policy is pretty clear statement that gives the CGC a greenlight to deliver a sub-standard product and provide the end customer with little to no recourse, and that I totally disagree with)

Thx @CGC Mike - I figured as much - thanks for the insight!

Is it possible to request custom labels..?

It'd be amazing to have a Scarlet Witch label for the upcoming Elisabeth Olsen signing...

Curious - I’ve heard that ‘manufacturing defects’ are not counted against a book when grading, but how do you or CGC know what is considered a defect - is there an official source?

I sent in a Scarlet Witch 1 Ivan Tao variant a while back that I thought was an easy 9.8 - no obviously noticeable defects - and it came back a 9.6 - which: fine - pretty close. But then I noticed that on mycomicshop.com, that issue is noted with a printing error:

Copies of this issue contain a printing defect in the form of spine wear

This seems like a likely culprit to the lower grade, so I’m curious if there is an official source for printing / manufacturing defects, and if so, how can you be sure that the defects are not contributing to the grade? (Also seems like if there is an official source, it’d be handy to check for defects before purchasing a raw copy to send into CGC…)

Is it possible that the defects are picked up and made public *after* a book has been submitted? (Like, if I resubmitted, and the defect is now known and disregarded as far as the grading, what’s the probability that the book would bump up to a 9.8?)

Seems like some good celebs / vo actors there (guess it is a little short notice...)

https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpophiladelphia/