Sauce Dog

One of the few books on my hunt list. I love collecting More Fun, specifically the Doctor Fate issues but this is one of the early issues I hope to find an absolute beater copy of this issue one day (ideally 0.5, even restored or incomplete is fine) - hopefully your questing will bring a few more to light I can get my grubby hands on

Comic pros lecturing the amateurs in this thread:

6.5/7.0 for me so long as that isn't any sort of stain on the inside front cover (I own a 7.5 that looks nicer than this one that I'm using as a reference)

It isn't CGC doing a money grab, it's them clamping down finally on something that has always been restoration - but now they either can detect it better, or the sheer amount of people trying to game the system this way has increased so they have to be extra vigilant due to the amount of amateurs utilizing the technique (often poorly). There isn't any debate about this - you've used peroxide treatment on paper. That is full stop restoration when it comes to comics (unless you can tell me the steps needed to take to make it fall in line with established best-practices in the paper conservation profession; steps that are not mentioned at all in popular pressing/treatment books or tutorials everyone seems to use, though CGC may still clock that as restored since by the sounds of it you are not disclosing any work done & materials used on a book when submitting to CGC like most other professionals may do)

Threads like this make me wish we could filter out any keyboard commandos who have a sub-100 post count...you know, as a treat

I do conservation/cleaning on books and I won't touch the UV method with a ten foot pole. If all of these guys who are doing that are getting their info from a certain popular how-to book, then they are missing a slew of important information and doing long term damage to the paper. These books are not going to preserve when slabbed and will deteriorate, regardless of how whiter & better looking they appear. If you are using Peroxide in any concentration, at any stage of your cleaning, and you haven't taken the time to read actual peer reviewed papers on the matter by real conservationists (in the actual field, not comic book dudes), then you should rethink some basic life decisions you are making (and also I wish you many more purple labels for your efforts)

Just bag and board it for now. At the very least wait until you can source a replacement back cover, as if you have at least part of the cover wrap you can qualify for a Universal 0.5 grade (For coverless keys like this I often mend an original back cover to a facsimile front cover and reattach to the book using the original staples)

Meh, I'm honestly surprised how generic this looks at this point (Sure, it's a teaser, but nothing jumping out at me as super interesting and getting me hyped for it).

No, that is clearly a Guyver.

Saw it again this weekend, but this time in IMAX. Looked amazing (the crane shot fight made for some great vertigo at that scale), but the sound suffered in the larger theatre space (specifically the bass levels. It was there, but nowhere near what it was at my first viewing in a regular sized theatre, and thus drastically impacted a few scenes in the films; most notably the Berlin club, as the bass builds great tension throughout the card game and then drops hard for the club fight). I think I enjoyed the movie more when the sound was done right - just felt like it hit harder.

Unfortunately it is too early to tell any good numbers, as the few golden age books with Conservation I've seen for sale don't have many good other Restored data points to compare them to for an accurate assessment (though I've jumped at buying a few Conserved books since the prices were great compared to Universal grades). Silver and Bronze ages do have a large amount of Restored books out there for excellent data points, but nobody is investing money to Conserve those books and selling em so we can get more data (I've only done a few SA conserved books myself on my own collection, and those I haven't offered for sale yet). I'm sure we will see more SA conserved books in the years to come, as getting even that 'blue' label is much more appealing then a Restored label if someone is trying to upgrade something like an AF15. edit: As an example, here is the GPA for TEC92 - one of the last books I jumped at buying which was Conserved. Pretty stark data points to go on and very out of date (I bought that book last year, so the higher price I happily paid isn't recorded on GPA), but what I do know is that Conserved was still a damn good deal - especially when you compare it to Promise Collection copy. I do think GPAs latest update will have a positive effect of Conserved prices now that they are indicated correctly in their price guides (I've been bugging them for awhile to update the color from Restored Purple to Conserved Grey), it is a minor change but I'm sure it will help peoples brains distance Conserved from Restored correctly going forward.

Depends on the wash that was used to clean. I wash covers all the time with non-invasive baths (cleaning only with the water and at most any additives are there to correct the PH levels which are well accepted in Conservation practices) and they don't get Restored (however I have seen those that did use a bleaching agent in the wash get flagged as such, and those are much easier to detect and are going to damage the paper long term if not done correctly)

That's honestly stretching it, same with when people take Winston's line literally without getting the themes in the movie explicitly mentioned. John has nothing to live for at this point as his entire arc was about Helen, it would be so pointless to keep it going (for a wild amount of reasons they made clear in all the films, and even the directors stated it clearly). This is why I wish it was even more explicit, as it was spelled out in the entire film series & cast members but still people want to think otherwise (which I get the desire for, but arc wise he is done)

I certainly hope they only mean in the form of flashback cameos at most (such as spin-off characters recalling past jobs with him) - as JW4 ended his arc perfectly, and having him brought back would cheapen the entire emotional weight of his character.

Same. Nothing will top how tight the first movie was, even though the action got bigger and better in the sequels. I feel the ideas of part 2 would have been better served being edited into a single film with part 3 (as 2 just needed to serve as the catalyst why he is back and also why the high table has it out for him), but at the same time had that happened I might very well have wished they made an entire movie to cover it (but either way I'm happy with all the films)

To be fair he didn't walk it off - he was left unconscious and broken, only to be scurried away by the Tick Tock Man following the orders of the Bowery King to save him (to be used as an instrument of revenge against the table). There is a decent amount of time between that passes between part 3 and the start of part 4.

Honestly, I would separate the centrefold wrap from the rest of the book and have the two slabbed separately. The people who would bid on this book are those either trying to complete an existing copy and only want the CF, or are those who are trying to get whatever copy of the book they can afford (and don't care about completeness anyways) - so might as well split it up now so you can do two sales for most likely more money overall.

Ah, I see the issue here. The problem is you're submitting what you think are 9.8 candidates...those get 9.4. Have to recalibrate! What you want to do is submit 9.9 candidates for 9.6, and gem-mint 10 candidates to get 9.8.

I'm happy to have been entrusted with this book by @O Doyle Rules so I could have a nice key to work on and later showcase my work. The goals with this book are to take it higher than the 0.5 grade it was originally given (fairly easy to do simply by correcting the spin split), obtain a Conserved label, and most importantly improve the overall appearance for display. After cracking the book from the slab I got a good close look at the defects. The cover split was fairly straight forward, however the edges of the cover wrap had become slightly brittle over time since it was originally graded (at least I assume the was the case, otherwise CGC would have noted it) so care would have to be taken while handling (and some flaking off of pieces should be expected). There is some staining on the interior pages, but they will be left as-is since the book is already low grade and the time to do every leaf is outside the scope of this project (and doesn't make sense for the grade of this book) The most visually striking defects however were the stains, which got their colour from the rusting found on the bottom staple that migrated with the water that hit the pages (and possibly from whatever other books it was stored with that also suffered from water/rust damage) - these stains were visible on either side of the wraps and were very pronounced. The book however has seen considerable visual improvement from a natural bath. Rust cannot typically be removed using natural methods easily, so I was assuming that more of the discolouration would linger after a wash - so these results are most welcome. The paper quality is now more supple, though as I expected some smaller pieces that were barely holding on did float off during the wash (nothing that will impact the grade given the current condition). I was very amused by the water of the bath, which turned dark urine yellow after only 10 seconds of immersion. It was hella gross/impressive and would require three changes of water to before I felt it fine to soak (during which I would see a flurry of black specs floating away from the pages - being smaller discoloured paper and rust particles - Like a small army of marching fleas) That completes stage one of this process. I'll most likely have a chance to mend the split cover within the next few days.

Yup. I'm not sure if it's just me, but are others finding it very easy to crack open slabs causing little-to-no damage to the case? I've been gaining more experience cracking em for clients, and I've noticed just prying them open from the top gives me a good chance of ending up with a slab someone could reuse and seal again with glue - the only tells maybe being a small hairline crack someplace that could be excused away by offering a discount to buyers so they can re-slab it. Found it a little concerning just how easy it seems.

My baby; above all favourite GA superhero, so I made sure to get it treated for the long term (was previously a 1.8)

@KryptoSpidey are any of these books Pedigrees?

Not all trimming is created equal, I've seen a few that clearly looked like a dull blade was used (or at least time was not kind to that edge) and caused some small pulling of the fibres at points - those can easily catch and pull over time resulting in damage. Uneven trimming as well can cause damage due to overhang. I've asked one leaf caster directly about it and he told me in his experience it resulted in Conserved labels.

I second this recommendation. Since you are only looking for leaf casting, not full restoration, this might make sense for this book considering how good it looks otherwise. There is a pretty big swing potential, so long as the investment cost for the casting works for you (and I would leaf cast all the pages, not just the cover) edit: to clarify, conservation makes sense in this case only if you don't have a crazy amount spent already on this issue. If you paid less than $4000 it makes sense, but if you paid more then the window of potential value gain gets much smaller. If you paid $8000 for this, then don't do it.

Pretty sure this is demonstrably not true. Leaf casting any missing material, be it from a ripped off chunk or trimmed edge, can result in a conserved label as it is repairing a structural issue (so long as there is no color touch being added afterwards). I've seen many purple label GA books shift to conserved labels in such a manner. edit: reached out to some of the restoration pros I know - confirmed that leaf casting a trimmed book will result in a Conserved label. It doesn't matter the intent or how the original pieces were removed (ripped off by accident / panels clipped out by a kid / or edges trimmed by a scammer), all that matters is it is now fixed and would be labeled as pieces added (or something to that effect, give or take some details depending on who is filling out the notes that day)