Mr. Zipper

Please sign me up.

I used to think this, but it's apparent the hobby just starts labeling more books as "keys." Dollar bin fodder for decades featuring the first appearance of the most inane characters no one cares about are now slabbing material. And the endless variant modern covers. A large percentage of CGC's submissions are books released in the past year. So... no... they won't run out.

Based on the staggering price increases and exponential expansion of TATs on non-express books at that other company, I think CGC should not follow that example! It's not working out well.

Good point. 10-15 years ago I used to routinely crack bronze age 8.0 and below because they were "under $50" books and slabs take up a lot of space. Many of those I cracked are now $500+ books.

Thanks for sharing this. Tonfulle-84 has sold hundreds, if not thousands, of suspect Stan Lee and Jack Kirby signatures over the years. He has a never ending supply of alleged Stan Lee and Jack Kirby signatures on dollar bin books. Just a look through his eBay offerings… With the sheer volume it’s seemingly impossible for these to be authentic signatures. His offerings routinely fail professional authentication. It’s astonishing that he’s still cranking these out year after year. And the victims who purchase these books… It almost never seems to strike them that they are getting the signatures for a small fraction of what authentic signatures would typically sell for. I have noticed he has upped his game recently and his Jack Kirby fakes have improved.He’s starting to do more on the inside cover and the signature itself, while still undoubtedly fake in my opinion, it’s a slightly more deceptive version than the crude fakes he sold previously.

I found this thumbing through long boxes at a LCS on Saturday. The comic was not advertised or priced as a signed book. Obviously it does not compare well to the modern day Perez signatures, but my gut told me it was an authentic early "non stylized" version of his signature. Online, I found a few examples of 70s era Perez signatures in portfolios (photos below). I think they compare well to my signed comic and I believe the comic signature is likely authentic. Does anyone have any similar early examples? .

Regarding OP book signature: Atypical size, stiff looking, lack of fluidity... appearance of stops and starts. It has issues. I can't say with 100% confidence it's bad, but I have significant doubts.

I believe this is glue that was added after printing, i.e., restoration.

Rotary sander.

This is one small step up from guys using clothes irons. The sheer volume of fly-by-night pressers out there is staggering, and the damage they are doing is incalculable. Just check out any of the Facebook Pressing Groups. There is some good knowledge there and reputable pressers, but also a ton of low information corner cutters looking to make a quick buck.

The way he manhandles the book, but at least he has gloves on. 10 minutes a book… so no cool down time. Books probably have flyaway corners among other issues.

Thank you Mike and CGC for hosting this. Congrats to @Superman2006 and @jbpez

Same here. Good luck!

Around 6.0

I don't know what people are not seeing, but the X-Men crease is about 1.5 inches long. You can't see it as well in the green area, but it goes up into the black area above "Cockrum." Measure it relative to the UPC box. 9.6s and 9.4s don't have creases that long. Here's the Howard the Duck that was referenced. This crease barely breaks color and is less than a half inch long.

I would not get these graded.

The key takeaway is that eye appeal matters and can weigh against small structural flaws. You can tell by the light reflection on the scan that the Strange Tales had high, deep gloss. This is where the "art" part of grading comes in. For the record, I had 9.0 on the ST and 9.2 on the X-Men. I was highly confident the ST would be 9.0 The only reason I gave the X-Men a 9.2 (I wanted to go 9.0) was that they usually don't do the same grade twice in the same round... so I pushed the X-Men to 9.2.

Bill - The difference is selling a handful of collectibles and used items a year is not my "night job." I am not a dealer. To me it's no different than trying to tax a garage sale. Petty and absurd overreach. The previous $20,000 threshold was a fair level that distinguished between occasional collector sales and dealers/resellers. Maybe even if they lowered it to $10,000. But to go from $20,000 to $600 is absurd.

Exactly. I already pay a ton of taxes on my day job and file a Schedule C for my LLC Business. I pay my fair share. Now I have to deal with headaches if I sell a small amount of collectibles I purchased 20 years ago and any other miscellaneous used items from my home. Very few people have kept proper records or receipts from every item they bought over the years. Gimme a break. It's a money grab to pay for all the ridiculous covid giveaways.

My best round yet with 3 points. I really thought that poke hole/tear on the top left of the X-Men would knock it down to 9.2.

You get to a point sometimes where it's just not worth the hassle. I would no more look to flip books to finance my hobby than I would change my own motor oil to save $15. The stuff I could be doing in my main gig in the same amount of time makes a lot more money than the money I would make as a part time flipper. When I was 25 it was different. Now my time is worth more than a few bucks.

Please add me. Thanks.

Not always. The internet lowered the barriers to entry and made it super easy for anyone to be a "dealer." In the past you actually had to know something about comics before becoming a dealer. There were bad dealers in the past, but now... my God. Half of the sellers have no idea what they are doing. Check out a Facebook selling group if you have strong stomach... you have "Facebook dealers" getting their submissions back from CGC and complaining that CGC left "extra pieces of plastic inside of their slab." They are referring to the spacer inserts!! They think PGX is the equivalent of the other two. They are pressing everything in sight with no practice or training. They literally know NOTHING about the hobby and the product they are selling. I wish these gold rush fools would move on already.

That would have been a one point round for me. If only it counted.

You say this jokingly... but given many thousands of submissions that sit there for nearly a year... it's almost certain submitters have died in the interim. Perhaps if they lived in an apartment and someone else has moved in, the new tenant will get an amazing surprise.