Ghost Town

Thanks, Barton. There are a few that are really tough to get in 9.6+. 1. 36 2. 26, 66 4. 35 3 still have no 9.8s but enough 9.6s to be able to pick one up. Interesting. I've been trying to complete the run in lowly 9.6, and I haven't been able to pick up #35 and 66 yet. #38 and #65 have been elusive too.

Wow, Wes. Great stuff. Which books were the toughest to find?

Jeff is a great buyer and a pleasure to deal with. Thanks!

Good morning, good afternoon, and good night. What a book. I picked it up Wednesday at the show. It was graded Thursday. I think the book alone was worth the trip to Chicago. (Maybe.)

Good morning, good afternoon, and good night. What a book.

(This is mis-labeled. It's not a Winnipeg.)

I'm down to the last 17 books (out of 388) to complete the PF run. There are a number I'd like to upgrade, like this book just back from CGC:

That works. Nice!

The MTA #3 & 4 reprint FF #59 and #60. And those books probably hold up pretty well. The Avengers issues reprint Avengers #10, 12, 13, 14. I haven't read those in forever but I'd guess they would feel very primitive to anyone reading them today.

Nice books, Peter. It's interesting that there's no #6 in your mini run. That book has been the most elusive MTA for me. I have two copies at CGC right now. I'm crossing my fingers for a 9.4...

That's a great cover. It's interesting how much different inkers change the tone of Kane's work. But no matter who does the inking, it's usually immediately recognizable as Kane pencils.

Tons of great books there, Bob. You get all the nice Spidey #104s!

Great books, Danny. Two Gil Kane covers and one of them is a picture frame. You're coming back in style.

I had a DD #158 with a very similar looking Frank Miller signature.

I imagine it would go something like this: "Hey, Rookie, go grade that stack of 100 books. Then go get me a sandwich. And when you're back, we'll compare to my grades and I'll show you what a knucklehead you are." But in all seriousness, I would guess it's like you say: verbal instructions passed from one grader to the next. That, and looking at previously graded books.

I think publishing useful CGC guidelines would be an impossible task. There are just so many different combinations of defects, flaws, wear, and aging that any complete guidelines would take up a large chunk of the internet. I know people point to Overstreet's guidelines as an example. They are somewhat useful. But they are also woefully incomplete. I also can imagine the kind of lawyering that CGC would be subject to if they did publish any standards. "Mr. Litch, may I turn your attention to subsection 67c, paragraph k, wherein..." I guess I believe grading is more an art than a science. And art doesn't lend itself well to any type of rigid standards. So it is a mystic art, that only CGC staff have the capacity to comprehend I didn't say that. Or anything close to that. There are many people who can accurately predict CGC's grades with a fairly high degree of accuracy. If only CGC had the capacity to understand their grading standards, that wouldn't be the case.

I think publishing useful CGC guidelines would be an impossible task. There are just so many different combinations of defects, flaws, wear, and aging that any complete guidelines would take up a large chunk of the internet. I know people point to Overstreet's guidelines as an example. They are somewhat useful. But they are also woefully incomplete. I also can imagine the kind of lawyering that CGC would be subject to if they did publish any standards. "Mr. Litch, may I turn your attention to subsection 67c, paragraph k, wherein..." I guess I believe grading is more an art than a science. And art doesn't lend itself well to any type of rigid standards.

Wow. And wow.