Tony S

+1. This post sums it up pretty well. There is still a sticky in comics general concerning the scammer that was slipping (micro) trimmed books past CGC years ago. I find trimming incredibly difficult to detect myself. I've seen books I thought were obviously trimmed in blue labels and books that look fine in purple. With older books, a lot funky cutting sometimes occurred at the printing stage. Kav offered pretty good advice way back on page 2 or 3. You get something like this and don't think it's right, the best thing to do is probably do not say a word, wait a month and resub. I feel for the OP. Would be very frustrating.

My economy FT from the same day is sitting verified as well. I guess they missed the 20 days turnaround.. Still sitting at verified.... My value submissions from 12/30 have been sitting at graded for six weeks now. I was kind of excited when they got graded reasonably quickly. But now it's past day 59 and they still sit at graded.

Oh great tip! Just checked it out. Definitely makes sense. Thanks. No worries! It is really useful to have, and for free there is no reason not to get one. In the box from the CGC form pictured below just fill out the bottom section about the self-insured FedEx account and FedEx will ship the books and bill your credit card. I like the fact that I know exactly what it costs to ship, rather than paying CGC (or anyone else, for that matter) a flat rate to ship. Piece of cake! The FedEx account is a great idea. I use it. But it's important to pay attention to the words "self insured FedEx account". CGC will not declare a value on these shipments. Undeclared, FedEx's liability is a max of $100. Shipped this way, your books are traveling with $100 in insurance. Losses are rare. But as the saying goes, if the odds are one in a million that doesn't mean much if you are the one. So if you have your books returned this way, it would be wise to have arranged that self insurance they speak of. If you already have insurance on your collection, or if you are a dealer and have insurance for your inventory - check and see if you have cartage insurance already. If you do find out the terms and limits. I - and many others - use Collectibles Insurance Services (collectinsure.com)

If you are still counting votes - FADED. Up on the wall, exposed to sunlight for a good long while. I believe it would grade in the VG range.

+1 These two books shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath. On the one hand, you have a timeless, iconic character that's in the same league as Batman and Superman in terms of pop cultural awareness, and impact on the entire hobby, in a million dollar book in a comparable grade (9.6), regardless of how many "under copies" of it exist on the census. And on the other, you have a fad book that has been over valued for a very long time, featuring novelty characters from the '80s that should have gone out along with Garbage Pail Kids. But hey, if you like your Turtles, more power to you. No contest there at all. AF 15 all the way baby. (thumbs u -J. In the 80's Spider-man was a fad. TMNT #1 is the AF 15 of the Copper-Age. It ain't going down anytime soon. "Copper Age"..... the most reviled age of comic books. What's your point? -J. That is what Golden Age generation said about the Silver age generation of books. My point is don't be such a tool bag. I'm a copper age Gen X'er and I can be unbiased and say how bad that age of book is, and be objective about it without being a tool bag. If the Turtles is the best of the CA, then all that does is tell you how horrible it really is. -J. To say TMNT #1 is a fad book is uneducated thing to say. I think a lot of what people buy I wouldn't, but the comic book hobby is big enough to convey different tastes in collecting. Yes I prefer the SA and BA, but that doesn't mean the Copper-Age was vile dude. Some of the most important characters and story-lines came out of the copper age. Some of the worst, cheapest, most mass produced dreck also came out of CA. That's why it is almost universally loathed. Spiderman came out of and ultimately came to lead the pack of all the characters created in the Marvel Comics SA Renaissance, redefined what the "super hero" was, and the entire genre, and is the number 3 character ever created. Yeah, "Ninja Turtles" are fun and all, and the book started with a low print run, but it's a niche comic, regardless of how many movies and toys spin off it. If it had a typical CA print run, I severely doubt the book would sell for what it does now. Not even close. It would likely be more in the NM 98, MAYBE ASM 300 range. -J. You could take this post, change to BA and publish it in 1985. Because that is exactly what most collectors thought then. Turned out not to be the case. There are winners and losers in every era of comic publishing. I think copper age and what comes to mind is a period of time where a bunch of really talented writers stepped in and stepped up. Spider-Man and Batman have forever been my two favorite character - except for that four year stint that Alan Moore did Swamp Thing. I'm not sure what your point is about the print run. If pigs had wings we'd all carry umbrellas open when walking around. They don't, so we are safe from massive quantities of pig pooh dropping on us. TMNT has the print run that it does. It's small, very small, for a key book.

for 30-smoething year olds TMNT does hold a special little place in our hearts, and considing the rarity of the book, and the further rarity in that high a grade yes, having something that rare, but still with significant popularity (though I will cede that Spidey has FAR more popularity) and desirability that was a cornerstone to the Copper age (which many of us grew up in). the collector/investor in me wants the AF15 the 13 year old in me still wants a TMNT1 and if there was no risk, why not enjoy indulging that 13 year old voice every now and then? Well said! Very Well Said! I know others have said similar things, but I think TMNT 1 in 9.6 could easily hold it's own or surpass AF 15 in 4.0 in value. Like AF 15, TMNT 1 isn't a comic - it is a franchise. Four movies, toys, games, cartoons, merchandise out the wazoo. Counterfeits and the fact it is black & white held back the value for a long time. But CGC can weed out the counterfeits and black and white comic books - at least the really good ones - have established themselves as legitimate collectibles. Based on GPA sales, the person getting the AF15 came out ahead - today - by maybe a grand.

Their response, as I remember (it may be in the CG thread), was that these indentations have always been there. But, as noted, they seem to have been much worse last year leading to speculation that they had received a bad batch of inner wells. With luck, they have now used up that batch and we are back to the previous situation of intermittent, small indentations. It is disappointing that they never gave a full explanation. You can speculate that to have admitted that they were indeed dealing with a bad batch of inner wells would have left them liable to a very costly situation with many people returning books to be reslabbed. Having worked a few years in the plastics industry, I am fairly certain this does not relate to a "bad batch" of inner holders. Barex is sold in rolls as a film of vary thicknesses. Barex was selected as the inner holder material both for it relatively inert properties AND it's easy of sealing. Mylar is more archival and inert, but melts at a much higher temperature. CGC is encapsulating the books in the inner holder themselves using bulk film off commercial size rolls. This allows them to custom make the inner holder for different size and thickness of books to fit in any of their standard size holders. If it was truly a contracted provider supply them with unsightly inner holders, they would send them back in a heartbeat. They don't send them back because the puddling is happening during their sealing process, when heat (direct heat or sonic) is applied. The problem is most certainly CGC's, at the encapsulation stage. It's been a long time since I worked in plastics - and packaging was not my specialty. But there are steps they should be - probably have - taken to figure this out. They must be buying tons of Barex, so they should be talking to the manufacturer because they will know every last in and out in packaging with their material. So too should they be looking at the encapsulation machinery, working with whoever manufactures it. Have temps slipped up? Are the guides not holding everything just perfect? Do you have new operators? Puddling as it's being spoke of here is virtually unknown from years ago. There are slabs with some indentations, but they run along the edge - just what you'd expect from heating the plastic to melt it and seal it.

I have asked that question before too. I did not get an answer. Doesn't really look like Brady Galore (DJBrady4u) either. Maybe if Brady grew long hair and an beard... I suppose people can gain (a lot) of weight, grow their hair long and not update their FB page, IDK.

Five books shipped from CGC 1/13/14. One with significant puddling. Four with little or none. As I noted with my 1/8/14 post, moderns seem less likely to have this.

I have used a sealed plastic tub (something you can get a Walmart for less than 10 bucks) Put a few (smelly) comics in the tub along with a small bowl of baking soda off to the side (not on the books). Put the lid on. Store it somewhere out of the way that no one will kick the sealed container or otherwise disturb it. In a few days the odor will be much better.

What's the deal with that? No resto check on moderns? Made me laugh! I just wish my inventory had more slab worth modern's and less inexpensive Silver/Bronze! Hopefully they will get more caught up now that there are fewer shows coming up.

Modern FT shipped exactly 10 days after receipt. Economy FT at graded on day 27

Well, somebody sure is. I was going to say, "That may or may not be true. The 10k paid for a WD 1 CGC 9.9 may have been for an investment, but may have been for a personal collection as well." But I checked GPA, and the WD 1 CGC 9.9 that sold for $10.1k on 11/14/12 sold for $15k on 11/4/13. http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Walking-Dead-1-CGC-not-9-6-9-8-but-9-9-MINT-/251357811409 I agree that investing 10k in any modern is most likely fool hardy. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which that makes sense for future profit. It seems there would be much more downside risk that upside. However, that same sentence has been uttered over and over again about WD #1 and keeps being proved wrong. I remember a few weeks ago there were two on eBay that were going for well under 10,000 - one was a Best Offer auction with a BIN at $7,500 I think and the other was something like $6850 at BIN. I think the $10,000 days should be over (until next fall, anyway, when the next season starts, it could resurge again). Now if a 10.0 ever hits... Or maybe when the rest of Season 4 starts again. A 10.0 I agree…homes are overrated I wonder what a 10.0 would fetch in the middle of the hype? If 9.9's brought in 10,000+…any speculations? I don't know what a 10 would bring. But it might not be a good thing for the owners of the 16 copies at 9.9.

to sum the entire thread: several people have complained, called, and expressed discontent. CGCs response: it's part of the process. no recommendation for changing their process that about wraps it up with a little back and forth arguments here and there about whose right/wrong Seems as if, though, the problem had gotten worse last year. I was wondering whether anyone who has received slabs lately had any thoughts on whether the prevalence of the problem had changed. Checked my last two submissions. Out of 28 books, 14 with significant puddling, 14 without. I don't know if anyone else has observed this, but NONE of my moderns (7 books) had puddling. I also looked over all my old label books - a total of 13. None had puddling as pictured and commonly discussed here. Three had the similar issue where the "indentation" is much larger, fainter and along the outer edge of the book.Instead of a distinct circle or blob, on those three it's more like a fainter rectangle It's clearly a quality control issue that has become worse. And quality control is the right term. Because appearance is a QC concern.

Walking Dead #1 is a great comic book to use as a barometer against other key comic books. It has a print run a little over 7,000, but still that is considered a lot of copies to some. So if 7,000 copies is considered a lot, then what does that say for most 1970s,1980s and 1990s keys that have print runs over 200,000? Makes you think not only about investing in Walking Dead, but also makes you think about investing in post 1970 comics as well. Well, actually super high grade (9.6 or better, maybe even 9.4 or better) post 1970's comics have been not such great investments. In 9.4, for sure 9.2 or less, they have held up pretty well. But people buying 9.6/9.8 books like GL 76 or GS X-Men 1 in 2004 have seen their books drop substantially in value. Mostly - I think - those books turned out to not be so scarce as initially thought. Comics have always been a bit atypical as hobbies go regarding scarcity versus demand. The most valuable items are typically not rare. Rare items aren't necessarily valuable. The character's popularity is the biggest driver. Then supply kicks in. The print run of early WD's may not have been large. But an whole lot of them are for sale and a whole lot have been slabbed. If your 7000 print run is correct, 25% of the print run has been slabbed by CGC and 21% of the print run has been slabbed 9.4 or better. One important thing to consider is the collector factor. Sure, maybe Conan 1 sold 200,000 copies. But only about 200 more have been sent to CGC than Walking Dead 1. Incredible Hulk 141 (1st Doc Sampson) probably sold 200,000 + copies too. But only 350 copies have been graded. So how many of these 70's and 80's books are still around today? Fact is, probably very few WD comics have been thrown out in the trash or dropped in a recycling bin. You can't say that about comics published 35-45 years ago. Again, I don't see the key Walking Dead books collapsing in price. I just don't see much chance of future price increases and think it unlikely that they can even hold current prices over the next five years. Hopefully I'll still be around to see which way it goes

This is what I meant by downward pricing pressure. I do not think there will be a "pop". I think prices are going to slowly move downward. I too do not see #1's in NM+ grades being $300. I think there are too many people that would like to own a copy that would step up at 25% less, more still at 50% less than today's prices.. But I also think there is simply a LARGE supply of the books in NM or better grades and that to maintain the current prices requires a LOT of people willing to pay today's prices. If you purchase at today's prices, do so as a collector that wants the book now. The likelihood of further increases in prices is remote. The money has already been made by those there first.

I don't think it is so much haters as people trying to put a realistic perspective on the folks touting the book is only going up in price and throwing out big numbers for where it is going. If you take an unbiased view of the show and the comic both are okay, not great, not innovative, but okay. Yep. Too many people buying the book only for the purposes of making money. In those situations there will be an inevitable correction in the market when the show is no longer popular (1 year, 5 years, who cares years). Pop. I don't know about "Pop", but I don't see how the title resists some downward pricing pressure. A lot of copies out there, more and more NM+ copies coming out in CGC holders every week. 1778 graded copies so far and 1703 are 9.0 or better. Over 1500 are 9.4 or better and almost 550 9.8's. That is a lot of books, it takes a lot of demand to sustain these prices. There is already a little bit of a downward trend. Not a lot, but a little - and this while the show is extremely popular. More viewers than ever. You also see some serious "flattening" of the curve or price spread, with very little difference in price between 9.0-9.6. Which suggests a market in some state of flux. Again, I don't know about a pop - but some air coming out of this balloon seems inevitable.

CGC's turn around times seem to be all over the map. Modern FT received 12/4 shipped 12/24 - in 14 business days when the website currently shows 20. So good. Modern FT are supposed to be 10 so they appear to be getting caught up. But the books I sent in on 12/4 also included an invoice for Standard. !5 day TAT. Those are still sitting at verified - at day 15. The logic escapes me. Standard is 2x the cost of Modern FT. Why would you let this service tier slip?

Mint you beat me to it! But I'll add that I think safes at home - just to store comics - are mostly a waste of time and money. It's cheaper to just insure your books. Plus if you have comics that are valuable enough to want to put in a safe you'll want insurance anyway. On my policy having a safe wasn't going to save me but a few bucks a year on the premium. Storing the most valuable books in a safety deposit box saved more - but the savings were not as much as the safety deposit boxes would cost. If you have a gun safe anyway, locking up the best of the best is tempting. Just pay attention to all the concerns noted here. BTW, someone mentioned keeping the safe "dry as a bone". If that was meant literally, that's not the best choice either. Ideal humidity levels are not universally agreed on, but it's generally accepted anything below 30% isn't good for paper. The current thinking is that consistency is also important and that temperature and humidity need to stay in a narrow range. + or - five degrees for temps and 3% on humidity.

Ha, Ha. Wes Craven made some cult classic horror films (Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and Nightmare on Elm Street come immediately to mind) Swamp Thing doesn't quite measure up. I remember seeing it at the Drive In. The movie actually starts off well enough, not withstanding Swamp Thing never looks like anything but a guy in some sort of rubber suit. But after a reasonably decent movie for the first hour or so, it all goes to at the end. However, the movie does have Adrienne Barbeau in it. Which makes up for a lot.

Good Luck. The pictures of Ryan Elliot that have been posted up of him supposedly buying books look nothing like his Facebook page pictures. Neither do the pictures look like Brady Gaylor (DJBrady4u) I assume that some people posting know one or both of them. But the pictures posted of book purchases look like neither of them. The pictures I've seen posted up of the book purchases are either to far away or the picture some heavy, bearded guy. Maybe it's a disguise? The thought crossed my mind.

Good Luck. The pictures of Ryan Elliot that have been posted up of him supposedly buying books look nothing like his Facebook page pictures. Neither do the pictures look like Brady Gaylor (DJBrady4u) I assume that some people posting know one or both of them. But the pictures posted of book purchases look like neither of them. The pictures I've seen posted up of the book purchases are either to far away or the picture some heavy, bearded guy.

The one thing that concerns me is that the sheet of microchamber paper looks like it might be smaller than what CGC uses. (I hope they used two sheets and not just one!) I've unslabbed many a book, including PGX books. Their sheets of microchamber paper are a little smaller. They also typically put them inside the first wrap, rather than inside the cover. They do use two sheets. I have no idea if the slightly smaller size makes any difference or not. The purpose of microchamber paper is to absorb gasses released as the paper ages. Logic suggests a smaller size might not be effective for as long a period of time. But then how long microchamber paper is good for is a grey area that is much debated.

I cannot understand why eBay even allows private auctions/feedback. It is as though they encourage shill bidding. They get paid from his won auctions, don't they? -slym I do believe you have explained it well and completely....

I cannot understand why eBay even allows private auctions/feedback. It is as though they encourage shill bidding.