Tony S

Yes they are. Lots of old, coverless books in the world....

Yes. Replacing the staples will get a conserved label/grade. You haven't asked. But in the library science field, the general consensus is that rusted staples will not cause any further damage nor get worse themselves if the book is stored properly. Temperature and humidity in the desired range. Fortunately for collectors, the "good" range is also temperature and humidity levels human beings are comfortable in. So if you heat your dwelling in the winter, cool it in the summer you books are good. If you walk around your house in the summer saying "Jeez, but it's hot and humid in here!", then your books are unhappy as well. Rusted staples might be getting worse. So personally, unless the staples are about to fall apart from rust I just leave them alone. Because we are talking about collectibles - and right now the market doesn't value qualified or conserved books as highly as blue label, universal. The other thing worth mentioning is that if the book is left raw Overstreet Comic Book Price and Grading Guides allows staple replacement with vintage staples up to NM (9.4) grades. Overstreet does not define such as "Restored" or "Conserved" OPG: "Any staple can be replaced on books up to Fine, but only vintage staples can be used on books from Very Fine to Near Mint"

CGC reholders books for $16 The issue is that the final cost ends up substantially more. There is $5 invoice fee There is return shipping. One book, with $100 of insurance - is $14 via UPS or FedEx. If the book is worth more, Registered mail is going to be $32 or more if the book is expensive. There is shipping the book to CGC. So if the book isn't expensive, the total costs get close to $50 for a single book reholdered. If the book warrants Registered Mail (for insurance) then you can add another $20. All this is why I wait until I have maybe five books that need reholdered before I send them in. The invoice fee, the shipping fees really hit hard a submission of one book. But spread out among five it isn't so bad.

Removing the staples will get a Qualified (Green Label) grade) CCS does restoration removal. You'll have to contact them for an estimate. They have a chart that gives some idea, but it also says screening is required. Comics: Restoration Removal Requires Screening Max. Value Current Turnaround Price (per book) Walkthru Unlimited 10 Business Days 2.5% FMV ($150 min) Express $3,000 10 Business Days $85 Standard $1,000 10 Business Days $60 Economy $400 74 Business Days Fast Track: 27 Business Days $40 Fast Track: $55 Value (Pre-1975) $200 74 Business Days Fast Track: 27 Business Days $25 Fast Track: $35 Modern (1975-Date) $200 74 Business Days Fast Track: 27 Business Days $12 Fast Track: $18 Comics: Screening Max. Value Current Turnaround Price (per book) Screening Unlimited 15 Business Days on top of requested tier turn time 1% FMV ($10 min, $50 Max)

Post office (USPS) is misinforming you. They certainly track the more expensive classes of mail and offer insurance. First Class International is a bit hard to nail down. It is the least expensive international shipping service. If you do the click and ship thing (buy postage online) it is tracked (you have to check the box, but it is free). No insurance is available. These packages cannot weigh over four pounds. The item(s) shipped cannot be declared to have a value over $400. Interestingly enough, you can register First Class international. The only international service where registered mail is available. Registering a package adds a great deal of security. But again, you have the $400 value / 4 pound limit. Just like a registered mail package here in the USA, you cannot do it online. You have to take the package to a USPS branch office. Maybe the USPS online information isn't accurate. Or MAYBE employees at branches do not know the rules. About eight years ago I sent a single slabbed comic to the UK - First Class international registered and insured for $5,000. Priority Mail International is tracked and can be insured for up to $650. You can also request a return receipt. Priority Mail Express International is tracked and can be insured for up to $650. You can also request a return receipt Global Express guaranteed is tracked and be insured for up to $2499.00. The bottom line is this: When shipping packages from the USA to other countries, there is NO INEXPENSIVE shipping options. And insurance for contents is limited.

CGC ships all international packages via FedEx. They don't offer USPS for international shipments. So USPS insurance isn't a consideration. I work with several clients in the UK, Denmark and Germany. Basically they cross their fingers. They ship books to the USA insured - say UPS or DHL. But CGC only uses FedEx for return shipping and the packages only have $100 worth of insurance. So far nothing bad has happened. But your concern is legitimate. You might try researching if if you can purchase private shipping insurance. But I suspect this is going to be difficult. You might look into an insurance policy in Spain that insures your collectibles. Perhaps it might cover lost or shipping damage. Or could be added as an option.

The two books were published the same month - 9/41 - by Harvey Comics. They are both digest (100 page) size. So occasionally - more like rarely - manufacturing defects like this can occur. Probably one print run stopped and the other started. And a few covers left over from the first print run. Or a few interiors left over when they switched covers. Quality control was more an idea than a reality when comic books cost 50 cents or less. Certainly when they were a dime. Some printing defects are very common and are undesirable to collectors. Spines not aligned, books poorly cut, staple(s) missing and registration (color in the right places) off. Other uncommon defects like the cover and interior mismatched or running out of one ink color are sometimes seen as kinda cool and collectible. Just depends on the book. A Captain America 1 that had been printed missing red ink didn't sell for any sort of premium. I think it went a bit on the low side. It's one of the all time great covers so who wants to pay extra for one that looks awful? So anyway, printing defects are generally common on old books and not worth any extra. But this would be a rather UNCOMMON printing defect and I would certainly keep it. Probably worth a small premium now, might be worth a larger premium later.

Boardies being a little snarky today.... The back cover of the book posted is both really busy (a lot of characters) and fairly dark in background. It is going to be really difficult to see the stain CGC mentions in the grading notes now that the book is encapsulated. But it is 99.99% certainly there. If you hold the book at various angles to a light source, you might be able to see a sort of surface roughness where the stain is at. Most likely it is very easy to see the stain from the inside of the back cover. But the book is slabbed. 7.5 is also consistent with how CGC grades stains. They are strict on stains and 7.5 is about the best grade you can get on a medium size stain. Encapsulating comic books will make some defects very difficult to see. But CGC isn't imagining things and it's extremely unlikely - though not 100% impossible - that your book got some other books grade and grading notes. Welcome to the boards...

Maybe 8 years ago I sold my restored major keys - Showcase 4, AF 15, Batman 225 and Showcase 22 - via ComicLink. These are all books that - even restored - appreciate in value decently. Not as much as unrestored. But have gone up in price. Just thought I'd mention that. The answer to your question needs another question first. Do you REALLY want to sell them? Or do you only want to sell them if you get what YOU FEEL they are worth? If you really want to sell, you don't need to ask. Put them in an auction. There are good reasons to use an auction house that specializes in comic books & comic art when selling big books. It takes a lot of risk and exposure off the seller. You also don't mention if the books are already professionally graded and encapsulated (CGC) Big books really need to be. They will sell easier, faster and usually for more money. They minimize returns (on say eBay) and eliminate returns from places like ComicLink, Comic Connect and Heritage. Sellers setting BIN prices for restored books typically try to follow some "rule" like one half of unrestored. But it doesn't actually work that way. It's a sliding scale. Low grade restored keys might bring almost two thirds of unrestored. High grade 20-25%. Very high grade - 9.4 and above - often only sell for 10% of what an unrestored copy would bring. AF 15 CGC 9.6 sold for 1.1 million dollars. A restored copy same grade $86,000. An unrestored 9.4 sold for $705,000. Restored $28,000. So it's hard to know what to actually price restored books at. Which again makes an auction appealing. If your issues are really "monster" keys, selling them via auction from one of the auction houses instead of eBay brings them to the attention of the maximum number of serious collectors.

I'm not quite so critical.... Let's discuss though. Marvel Super-Heroes 13 is the first appearance of Carol Danvers. NOT of Ms Marvel, not of Captain Marvel. Historically, the first appearance of a supporting character that later on goes on to be a popular super hero or super villain has NOT been the most expensive book. The most expensive book is normally their first appearance as a costumed character. Something that Marvel Super-Heroes has going for it is that it was published in 1968. When comic book collecting was in it's infancy. The first Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide was not published until 1970. Also, the book cost 25 cents when the regular price of comics was 12 cents. PROBABLY did not sell a huge number of copies. Ms Marvel 1 is the first appearance of Carol Danvers as the costumed super hero Ms Marvel. 1977. Comic fandom is now young, but established. Collectors ROUTINELY bought extra copies of Marvel and to a lesser degree DC first issues. But this book was a bit off putting to collectors at the time with it's feminist underpinnings. It's clear looking around that a book like Black Panther 1 - a Kirby book to boot - probably sold much better. So as first issue from 1977, this might not have generated a huge number as far as sales. Now as to the future. It's pretty clear Marvel/Disney intends to make Captain Marvel a big deal going forward. Whatever the next set of movies is going forward, this version of Captain Marvel is going to be a part of. Personally, I see nothing wrong with holding onto either or both of these books. The Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel is going to be prominent and important in future Marvel movies - including at least one sequel of her own. However, the quick and easy money has already been made. If you bought these cheap years ago and want to take a profit, now is probably a reasonable time. But I DO NOT see prices going down. They will hold steady, most likely have modest increases going forward. I see other Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel books with more upside. Captain Marvel 18 - where Carol Danvers obtains super powers - still appears over looked. And while I very, very much prefer "vintage" books as investments over moderns, I am pretty certain that Captain Marvel #1 from 2012 is way cheap. Carol Danvers made her debut as "Captain Marvel" in Avenging Spider-Man #9. That books sells for good money. But seriously. It came out just ONE WEEK before Captain Marvel #1. And there really isn't much to the story. Captain Marvel #1 is the beginning of Carol assuming the mantel of Captain Marvel. And it's cheap. Really, really cheap. The number of copies is similar. According to Comichron (they get their numbers from Diamond) Avenging Spider-Man 9 sold 39,000 copies, Captain Marvel #1 46,900. Both of these numbers are way, way less than the likely sales of MSH 13 or Ms. Marvel 1 (1977) So if one is looking to make money buying the current, in the movies Captain Marvel books, these new books seem to have potential. With the #1 of Captain Marvel the most potential, as it is very inexpensive at this time.

A few here could use some Church'in up. just sayin.....

Assuming you are being serious and obviously haven't googled Amy Grant... She is referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop". She's sold 30 million albums world wide (mostly Christian Music, though she made a couple of straight up pop music albums in the mid 1980's) and had the first Christian album that went Platinum. She has also authored several Christian books. So yeah... she might have a legitimate complaint - and complaint of harm done - by having her unauthorized appearance in a comic book featuring magic and the occult.

Yes...... you are really now making my and other's point. You don't tug on superman's capeYou don't spit into the windYou don't pull the mask off that old lone rangerAnd you don't mess around with Disney. Maybe it will go OK. Maybe it will go really bad. Fact is Disney has more $$ than a lot of countries. It's not going well for the (unlicensed, unauthorized artist) if Disney takes an interest. Amy Grant? "Apparently" religious? Was that a joke??

It's not a "separate issue". It's Disney -who owns the copyright and trademark to both Mickey Mouse and Darth Vader - deciding when they feel they should protect said IP rights. So what people have been saying here is that Disney doesn't seem to want to shut down artists at con's eking out a living selling sketches and prints of characters Disney owns to fans. Disney COULD sue those artists if they wanted. But are choosing not to. BUT>>> if one of those artists sued someone else for copying their work - work which actually features Disney owned characters, Disney might well decide they had to step in and make it clear ONLY DISNEY owns Darth Vader and any likeness. NO ONE ELSE is allowed to enforce any IP claims.

Three words Air Pirate Funnies.

Just because copyright holders don't try to chase after every violation does keep mean those things are not violations. The original....point of many of the discussions here is that the OP cannot possibly have a copyright on an image that features Darth Vader. And would probably be wise not to bring a great deal of attention to it. Least Disney's lawyers decide to weigh in.

You would be about the 10,000 person to post up something on the boards here - looking for support - and being disappointed by the replies and feedback. Welcome to the large and ever growing club. You really, really need to check out the links above posted by sckao. You don't have a for sure legal right to use Darth Vader's image. I was mistaken in my first comment on this to say you should act to protect your copyrighted work. You cannot possibly own a copyright on an image of Darth Vader. And Disney has a reputation of being an IP enforcer of the max degree. The consensus of those commenting here is probably correct. It might be unwise draw tons of attention to this.

Pictures would be needed to offer an opinion. But obviously with a tear and a crease it's not likely the book was a 9.4 without the moisture stain. I won't even comment on the pressing and using a humidor....

It's a kiosk in a mall. I don't even see a website for them, just the Mall of America listing for them. Spending money on an attorney to go after them isn't likely to recover even your attorney fees. Find an attorney that will - for a reasonable price - send Canvas Studio a "cease and desist" letter based on their selling prints of your art without compensation. Or do the letter yourself. That is the most important step at this moment. To establish you own the copyright on the image and act to protect it. You should CC Mall of America as well. They probably would be more interested in stopping any copyright violations than Canvas Studio, since they have much deeper pockets were someone to sue.

CGC doesn't put microchamber paper in new comics . The paper quality is higher than the newsprint used on vintage books, so they say it's not needed.

Hard to answer your question since it is probably not possible to establish 100% for certain a fake Stan Lee signature. Even the services that authentic signatures (after the fact) rarely say a signature is "fake". Instead they only say it cannot be verified. There are a number of AF 15's - including CGC graded - that have non - authenticated Stan Lee signatures. A CGC 6.0 signed in green ink has been on ComicLink a couple of times. Fake signature? IDK. For the most part - probably the overwhelming number - the absolute forgeries seem to be on cheap books. The scammer buys a book for a couple of bucks, fakes a Stan Lee signature and gets $60 for it on eBay. An easy $50 profit after fees. $2 has turned into $50. A 2500% return on investment. Few scammers are interested in spending $10,000+ dollars, faking a Stan Lee Signature and then getting $10,500 for the book. That is way to much $$ up front, way to little return on investment as far as percentage goes.

This has been going on for years now. The general opinion is too much ink, thin but glossy paper so the ink doesn't much absorb, just gets the paper wet then dries. Result: Wavy books. The good news is that unless really extreme, CGC mostly gives a pass to printing defects. When grading books they are more focused on defects that came AFTER the books are printed. You can and I have gotten 9.8's on books that are a little wavy. Washboard wavy? IDK. Never sent such in.

A great cover and from the Don Rosa collection as well. Definitely a keeper

There is ONE TRUTH that is near universally accepted about the professional (CGC) grading of comic books. CGC is admant that it is true. And this truth is central to the integrity of professional, 3rd party grading of comic books. If you accept this truth, it eliminates the idea of "favors" and "cover their butts". If you don't accept this truth, don't use professional grading services. What is the truth you ask? The Graders KNOW NOTHING about the books they are grading. They do not know whose books they are grading (so no favors for friends or big dealers) They do not know if the book was previously professionally graded, so they do not know what that grade in the past was. They don't know if CCS has pressed the book. They are grading without any possible prejudice for or against against the book. The ONLY thing the graders looking at the book know is if the restoration expert found any restoration. NOTHING else.

Guilt is like a bag of f***in' bricks. All ya gotta do is set it down. John Milton, The Devil's Advocate...... If you ever go to sell it, you are selling a CGC graded 9.8. However buys it is getting a CGC 9.8. Let go your guilt......