Bronty

Yeah, Crusty wasn't exactly careful with his wording was he? He does not make it clear what parts of his 'story' are statements of fact and which are 'allegations from his sources.' Although I'm not a lawyer, it seems to me that he's made several statements of fact which Metropolis could handily dispute. ...and Crusty's own statement that Metropolis' alleged misdeeds give the hobby (and obviously Metropolis) a "HUGE" black eye would only serve to prove that Metropolis has suffered damages... oops! Of course, the above assumes that Metropolis' assertions are correct. I don't know and don't care to assert whose side of the story may or may not be correct. (aren't disclaimers grand?) Anyone besides myself and JLA_all_the_way see the irony in Crusty being sued? Yee hah!

Fair enough, and that's probably what's happening. This should make your book and others like it an exception rather than the rule. I guess I just found it surprising, being an accountant, from an internal record-keeping point of view that CGC has chosen to do that. But then accountants don't design systems do they? Are you still planning on going through your slabbed books and checking anyway? My slabbed books probably aren't worth considering as I don't own that many and they wouldn't therefore make for much of a representative sample; however, I understand you own quite a few slabs? Dan

wtf. That's very strange. I wonder if your book was on an invoice # that was previously voided and is now being used?? After all, I have to believe that the invoice #s are sequential! It would just be too assinine in regards to their internal record keeping to have non-sequential #s.

Was it sent economy? The invoice # will correspond more readily to the date of submission/ invoice generation than the date of final receipt by the customer. If it was sent economy than the invoice # could have been generated a fair while ago. We should still potentially be able to see some macro trends, though. I have a book that was graded in the first thousand invoices currently in for regrading (express). I'll let you guys know what happens with the regrade. Dan

James, I would think this should be reasonably accurate but the one possible flaw with this method is that it does not account for spurts in submission numbers. I.e. it assumes a constant rate of submissions. I think we would be best off matching known invoice #s to known dates received. Dan

Does seem strange, why would guys with that kind of cash bother over a $20 item?

Good post, crusty. Thanks for the info...

Saga of the Swamp Thing 21 - what a wicked book!

Trust me, I wouldn't intentionally give odin credit... I'm not scared of the cgc triad!!

Heh he -- what about circa 1967 (your birth year?) as being the start of the Odin88 Aardvark88 gamma bomb btw, what's with the "88" after everything? Chinese good luck? Dan PS the b&w explosion rocked - I still collect those books. I think the Albedo 2 that Greggy mocked is a 9.4; now I just need to upgrade my TMNT #1

You're the crack-smokin' pimp!! Seriously though, the way I see things is that there is one age from the late 60s to the mid 70s, another from the mid 70s to late 80s, another from the late 80s to present. That would put GSX 1 at the beginning of the mid 70s to late 80s age, whatever we want to call that!!

Although you are the friendly neighborhood chinaman, I cannot agree with you. I agree wholeheartedly with most of CI's comments. Supapimp, what I would suggest that if GSX 1 is the start of any age, it is the start of the MODERN age. Think about that. The Byrne X-mens that were a result of GSX 1 have way more in common with Thor 337 than with Tomb of Dracula 1. And Thor 337 is categorically not a Bronze age book! By GSX 1, the experimentation with different genres had ended and Marvel and DC had stabilized and returned to a more straightforward hero book. The bronze age is 70-74, if you want to call it a brief age that ends at 74/75 I have no problem with that, that's probably accurate. Books did have a very different flavour in 70-74 than in 75-79 so it was a short lived age. GSX 1 is the start of the modern age!!!

Don't pay 10x guide for a superheroine teamup!! Without nudity!!!

Hey Alan, I'll PM you about the FF1. Maybe we can work something out sometime (don't know if I can swing it right now, I'm pretty tapped out!!). And as for your trade offer, is right! There's no way I'd give you that many Kickers, Inc.! Try again!! Cheers, Dan

Never seen the movie but the paperboy to which you refer sounds like an enterprising young man!

He he!! Too true, I was a little young to afford an FF #1 back then... No way am I getting rid of my Hulk 181, even though it's only 8.5, but I have been thinking about selling a couple of books to buy an FF 1. We'll see. I hate to ask how many you've owned over the years? Do you have one now? Cheers, Dan

Too true, but that "NM" of 15 years ago is being strictly graded today as a vf-.... Grading standards have really notched up, and I have to say I love it. Much less person_without_enough_empathying about grade... Of course, $1500 for even a vf- FF1 looks pretty dandy now doesn't it!!!