newshane

Makes no difference to me, but from an aesthetic standpoint, I think I actually prefer the direct editions. Who wants a barcode on the front cover of a comic? I'd agree with Buzzetta's assertion that newsstand editions are harder to find in top condition for obvious reasons. I also agree that it's a niche market for total completists with heavy OCD tendencies. I'm in no way saying that's a bad thing, by the way. While the "rarity" element has probably been played up by a few dealers for extra dough, I haven't really seen it make a true difference in the price of a comic.

Wow! I've submitted 14 moderns--1 9.9, 11 9.8's, 2 9.6's. Guess I got lucky. had your 9.9 spent a decade in a box? I'd certainly have to agree that storage and handling make all the difference in these situations. My boxes weren't the time machines I expected. I know we're dealing with "moderns" here, so presumably it should be easier to find mint copies. But these "moderns" are 18 years-old. I know that makes those of us in our early 30s feel old as #$&@, but a fact is a fact. I'd say the very best candidates for 9.9s of that age are books that were hand-selected by comic dealers and placed directly from the box into a long-term private collection. One of the many lessons I learned? A sealed distributor's box from the early 90s is not the best place to keep books over the long-term, especially if they shuffle hands a few times. SPINE-RUB OF DEATH! I congratulate anyone who submits a 9.9 on their own! It really is an accomplishment. Furthermore, don't doubt the very existence of mint books - they are out there! I'd advise everyone to at least personally examine a 9.9 slab at some point. It really helps put things into perspective.

Sometimes it's all about the journey instead of the destination. I learned an awful lot through conducting this experiment and the bottom line is that I enjoyed the process, even if it didn't result in a happy ending. I will definitely no longer be searching through stacks of comics in search of a mint comic. I've learned to be very, very happy with 9.8 books...especially if they are over five or six years old. I've also learned that mint books are sold at an exorbitant price for a reason - they are simply next to possible to obtain on your own. I will be getting the graders' notes for these issues and I will post them here. I'm thinking they either hammered the spine rub or staple area. I knew a few of them weren't as nice as the others and I submitted them on purpose...hoping to establish a bottom baseline of 9.8. Unfortunately, I was off by a degree. Maybe they had just finished looking at a stack of pristine Grimm books...or Locke and Key? haha The thing I find most shocking is that all of the books passed the 9.8 pre-screen over at Classics Incorporated. That's why I was so shocked to hear about the 9.6 grades. I think it's also fair to expect a little bit of inconsistency in a subjective process such as the grading of comics. I think that a few of my books were every bit as "pretty" as some of the 9.9 slabs that I already own. I never expected to get multiple mint slabs, but I figured that at least one out of the seven I submitted would make the mark. The bottom line is that I wasted an enormous amount of time and resources searching for that mint book that I never found. While it was fun, it's just not economically feasible for me to try again. That money can be put to better use in my collection. I also learned that plenty can happen to a comic book over the years - even if they are never removed from the printer's box. They weren't that tightly packed in the box to begin with...I'd say all the poor handling and storage of these boxes over the years only contributed to the problem. I cringe when I think about those spines rubbing the edge of the box. Remember, some of the boxes were in great shape and others were not. My next challenge will be getting rid of the rest of these raws! I'm super happy so many people followed and enjoyed my journey! I hope to continue to improve my grading abilities and I'm excited to share and learn more about the craft! Thanks again! Stay tuned and we'll discuss the graders' notes once I actually get the slabs.

This would include looking over the whole book under high magnification under the best lighting conditions. Even then you are wrong 99.99 percent of the time. Indeed! You can read my thread on 9.9s over in the "spare a grade" forum for proof.

I'd like to thank everyone for following this thread and providing support. Unfortunately, I did not obtain a 9.9 from my first set of submissions. The results were a mix of 9.8s and 9.6s. I'm shocked at the two 9.6 grades I received because they both passed the pre-screens over at Classics Incorporated. I'm looking forward to seeing the graders' notes. Perhaps they were somehow damaged in transit? I am satisfied with the 9.8s because they will fill gaps in my registry. This entire process has given me a new respect for 9.9s. I'm not sure if I will ever manage to submit one from my own collection. I think I will stick to obtaining 9.9s which have already been slabbed. Thanks again! I'm just bummed that I couldn't deliver better news. Once again, if you know anyone with Spawn 9.9s for sale...please send them in my direction. They won't be sorry. I even offer a finder's fee for people who help set me up with the right deals. Just PM me anytime. I also have a TON of raws I need to get rid of... if anyone wants them! I also have Spawn 16 in CGC 9.8 if any of ya need that one.

I think it takes everything they have just to keep fast track on time. I called today and they said they were "deluged" a few weeks ago with modern submissions.

All seven books left Classic Incorporated on September 17. Arrived at CGC September 19. Modern Fast Track. I expect to hear something by the end of this week!

I could not agree more! (thumbs u Welcome to the boards! This place rocks!

Living Triunal is the most powerful being. The Incredible Hulk is is the strongest in regards to physical strength. I'm shocked there is an even a debate about these things. heh

Same here. If I can't afford to send them fast-tracked, then I won't send them at all. I don't mind waiting 20-40 business days....but 70+ is just ridiculous! I've decided lately that I hate my current job. Maybe CGC should hire me! Hey...every little bit counts!

My method, for what it's worth, is the following. Insert two pieces of microchamber paper...one behind the front cover and one in front of the back. Insert comic into Mylite2 Mylar sleeves from Gerber. Use fullback acid-free/buffered backing boards from the same company. Then I put the comics into corrugated plastic short boxes, which are by nature acid-free. These are available from bagsunlimited.com. The company is fantastic and sells all sorts of useful products! I highly suggest them!

No offense taken! This thread does involve the periodicals' manufacturing process, which clearly impacts the condition of the books we purchase through distributors, mail order, or the local comic book shop. The truth is that our books are handled many times before we even first set eyes upon them. Since most of us are clearly concerned about the condition of our comics (that's why most of us visit this forum, I'd imagine) , then I believe the manufacturing/shipping/handling processes are immediately relevant to our concerns.

The company in Montreal is called Universal Distribution, who are just a sub-distributor, as I believe they order their comics through Diamond as well. My old store in Montreal used to order through Universal, and a buddy was regularly able to pull gradeable books off the stands, even though everything was quickly bagged and boarded before it went out. Then again, early issues of Ultimate Spider-Man with the stiff covers were all impacted on the outer edges (two bumpers as they came off the press?), and there wasn't a gradeable copy to be found in my area. I don't know how much handling played a part in your blown corners as much as how they looked coming off the line. If you want to do some detective work, most comics and TPB's are printed by Quebecor in Montreal, but I don't know where they go from there. Presumably, they're packed directly into Diamond boxes and shipped out to Diamond distribution centres. THANK YOU for that awesome piece of information! This is precisely the sort of information I was hoping to acquire here. Throughout the entire process, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the way most books were shipped during that era. I find myself very curious in regards to the entire production/shipping process. In fact, I'd like to visit a comic book press/factory sometime. If anyone can arrange this, I promise to write a killer article! I used to work in the newspaper industry, but the press/handling process for that sort of print is far different, I would imagine. I remember visiting the newspaper press often back in my days as a journalist. It was an old-school "web" design. Wonder what the comic industry is using these days?

I'd like to thank everyone for rooting for me! I wanted to wait to update the thread, but I'm honestly pretty excited about two additional books that I shipped off earlier this week...excited enough that I think it's worth mentioning as I wait for results. They were simply fantastic looking specimens. I thought the last five books I submitted looked great, but the two I sent off this week outclassed them! I was skeptical at first, but I'm far more optimistic at this point. Are the comics in question perfect? No. Are they that much better than the typical 9.8? I'd estimate they are better than 3/4s of the 9.8s I've seen. I guess we'll see in about a month, hopefully. CGC modern track was good to me the last time I used it...and then you have to add the time they are spending at Classics Inc. The only thing that has me nervous about one of the books is that the staples are ever so slightly not in perfect alignment. They are tight and clean though. I've been examining all the 9.9 slabs currently in my collection and I was glad to see similar staple "misalignment" in at least one or two of them. I think it's going to be a close call, but I think I have a sweet shot at a minty fresh slab...MAYBE more? I found a neat little blue LED light that does a great job of illuminating corners. It's handy because I can move it around the comic with ease. Just another tool in the box. I'm a believer in using a bunch of different types of light at varying intensity. I stack three or four books at a time and do a direct comparison of the corner and spine. I narrow down from there. Make smaller and smaller stacks. That's my basic methodology, in addition to things I've previously mentioned in earlier posts. I'm sad to report that I can't offer any shots of comics or slabs, but here is a picture of one of the many lights I used. The blue tint to this light, and the LED intensity, makes it really easy to spot flaws. I love this thing! This will be the last post until I have a slab in my possession. Since they are to be submitted through the pressing company, I will not have access to the scores via the CGC website. I will have to wait for them to arrive boxed. :taptaptap:Agonizing? Perhaps. But it just adds to the excitement. I've received scores both ways and I actually prefer to wait for the actual comic to arrive instead of grabbing the score online. You guys will be the first to know! Maybe I'll have my GF videotape the opening...that way you can share the joy...or simply laugh your #%& off at me as I roll around the carpet...writhing in misery! Misery over 9.8s??? What kind of disease has overtaken me??

Thanks for your interest! I do think it's best if I didn't throw around an exact number. Please rest assured, however, that the figure is low enough to make the quest worthwhile. If I get multiple 9.9s from the same issue (I don't think this will happen) then it could even be profitable. I know a few collectors who would probably be extrememly interested in those particular issues and if I do get multiples from the same issue, they will be going on the market. If I do get 9.9s back, some of them will be unique in their position on the census and I will own some "monopolies" on grades for certain issues. However, profit and economy did not come into play in this decision. I don't collect Spawn for profit and I'm not seeking to flip these books. I am simply maniacal in my search for books of the highest quality. As a result, I'm willing to pay stupid money. Good thing I didn't have to...in this case. To answer your question - yes the value of a single 9.9 would cover the cost.

It doesn't LOOK like someone rummaged through the box for the best copy. It looks like someone opened up the box and simply removed the top few dozen copies. I think you'd be surprised to know that some of my best examples came from a box that had already been opened, so if someone did rummage through the box in search of the best copy...I think they failed. Keep in mind that this is left-over stock from a comic store. It's also interesting to note that I found the best copies near the middle of each box. Copies packed on the top and bottom appeared to be more succeptable to damage in transit or storage. The best books were also protected, in many instances, by the overlap caused when some of the books shifted around. The worst copies were near the top. These copies suffered from severe (relatively speaking) spine rub.

Went through the last box tonight and found a few additional candidates. I've called an end to my searching. All candidates have been pulled and packaged for future shipment. I've found a total of 12 candidates from seven boxes. Of the dozen I pulled, I feel very strongly about three or four. Most of the boxes were sealed and contained around 200 comics a piece. Some of the boxes had already been opened and were missing copies. As far as my experiment is concerned, I'd say there is a 0.3% chance of finding a mint book in a sealed box that has been moved around a few times in the last few decades. Keep in mind, I've only sent off five candidates thus far and none of them have yet been graded. Those books have, however, passed the 9.8 pre-screen over at Classics Incorporated. I now have another seven to send off. I will be thrilled if I get just one. I found two books just now that are absolutely gorgeous! The binding is perfect and spine-wear is almost non-existent. The staples, however, aren't exactly parallel and that gives me slight cause for concern. My strategy is simple - pick about a dozen or so from each box and then compare them to one another as things are "narrowed" down by increasing scrutiny. I check the coners first, then all the edges. I check the staples to make sure they are tight, well placed, and free of rust or gum. I look down the spine for signs of rubbing. I shine a tiny, intense flashlight on the cover. I hold at different angles to look for dimples, dirt, or other flaws. The process is rather disheartening - one tends to run across a number of books that are perfect in everyway, only to uncover some flaw - a spot left by the printer, a bowed staple, the tiniest crease along the far-edge. These liltte flaws make all the difference in the world! As I await grades from my first batch, I thought I'd post one more picture. Each box had a packing slip like the one in the picture. "These products have been carefully produced, examined, and packed by..."

Can we drop the discussions regarding the picture of the girl with the "unusual name" already? It has nothing to do with comics, from what I can tell. Let it die the death it deserves.

Glad I could keep you entertained MagnusX... isn't that a brand of condoms, btw?

I sent "Catwoman" some Spawn books for free. Figured her kids could use the books...afterall, I was a poor child growing up. My parents didn't have hundreds of dollars to spend on books, so the opportunity seemed worthwhile and sending them actually made me feel good. Looks like a scam? That makes me sad. Oh well...I did it for good kharma. I've been digging through piles of Spawns looking for 9.9s so I have my fingers crossed. I can use all the luck I could get! On other matters raised in the thread...I accidently requested a slab ownership transfer just last week. I entered in one wrong number, hit enter, realized what I had done...and I quickly contacted the owner with an apology. Never heard back from him though. I also have to wonder about people "stealing" serial numbers from unregistered books. That's why I immediately register mine once they arrive. BTW...does anyone know of an authentic comic book charity of some sort? I have a pile of stuff to give.

The short answer is that a local guy sold them to me. He bought out a local comic book store a few years ago and the boxes were surplus items. I'm sure plenty of stores (especially ones that went out of business) made the mistake of ordering too many of these books back in the day and it doesn't surprise me that a few boxes were left over. You can also say that I got lucky by remaining vigilant and checking my connections. I made a chart a few months ago tracking sales of the Spawn title. As you can clearly see, Spawn suffered a severe drop in sales after the movie bombed back in the late 90s. This, of course, actually makes it very difficult for a collector to find exceptional copies of books past issue 150. None of them are Gerber 7s or 8s of course, but substantially rarer and more difficult to find than the earlier issues everyone loves overcharging for. Chris, my point is this - there were hundreds of thousands of these things floating around in the early to mid 90s. While I'm sure many of them made it to the landfills or ended up being fine reader copies, I'm sure many more of them are still sitting around in boxes somewhere. Of course, poor storage conditions, such as the ones my books were subjected to, can make the proposition a heavy gamble. I even found a spider eggsac inside one of the boxes! The guy kept them in a "shed" supposedly. Some of the boxes kept very well, others were violated as the adhesive on the tape slowly wore off over the years. I also can't help but to think that some of the boxes were manhandled, based on the evidence gathered as I began to sort through them. There were two major distributors of comics in North America during the early 90s if I recall correctly. One was Diamond, the other was a company based out of Montreal, Canada. My boxes were from Canada. Maybe the Diamond boxes fared better? By the way, if I'm wrong about this - I welcome corrections from any veteran comic dealers. Thanks guys! -Shane

UPDATE: Of the five books I submitted for pressing and grading, all five passed the 9.8 pre-screen over at Classics Incorporated. Early next week (I believe), the books will be sent to CGC modern fast track. I really believe that only one of the five has an honest shot. I'll let you know when they arrive. I also have another box of raw comics to peruse. Unfortunately, my career and graduate school are eating up a great deal of my spare time. Either way I guess I'll be able to update this thread at least a few more times before seeing it float away to the archives. Wish me luck! - S P.S. I know the decision to have the first batch pressed is somewhat controversial, but I wanted to give these books every possible chance. I know it would be a better scientific study to see how they would do without the pressing, but I'll save science for the next batch. It's time to add more mint slabs to the collection.

Agreed.

Just saw the scans. That's got to be the ugliest 9.8 in CGC history.

So far, I have pulled a total of 10 books for submission. I have one box left, so that number may grow. I sent off 5 books this morning. This first small batch - the best 5 representations I could find of a specific issue - shall be pressed before submission to the CGC. I think only one book has an honest chance at a 9.9. I'm following the board's advice. Hopefully my worst book will somehow grade out at a 9.8. If that happens, they will have no choice but to give the other book a 9.9 - it's that far ahead of the other ones. It's important to note that I have NOT posted pics of this particular specimen. Of course there is a chance that they will nail the spine rub damage. But based on what I've heard in this thread, I might get a small pass since the distributors of the era were relatively brutal in regards to packaging (as you can see in my photographs). My experiment will certainly establish how the CGC, on a particular day at least, grades spine-rub damage from Modern Era books. The books I'm sending in are flawless - except for the spine-rub. So if my grade gets banged up badly, it's likely due to the spine-rub. I'll be seeking graders' notes in any case...hopefully they will be available this time. I should be able to provide grades by the first week of September, if Modern Fast Track can get back to me in 10 business days (I've had GREAT luck with Modern Fast Track so this is a possibility. I didn't want to go Modern...and keep everyone waiting for the next 3 months, ). Either way, I'll have at least a FEW things for sale soon if anyone is interested. haha! I just want ONE 9.9 out of this...to give the whole story a happy ending. I'm pretty pessimistic though. I have to be honest! You guys will be the next to know...right after me! If I find anything amazing from the final box, I will provide another update. PS - I didn't find ANY keepers from the issue 12 box (the all-black issue). Maybe a handful of 9.8s...but I've already got that issue slabbed.