Sauce Dog

That is very true and I should also add NONE of my books have ever been pressed by CCS (which I have heard is utter trash)....all my signature series books have been done through Rich Henn, who does the pressing and is amazing at it

I regard all Canseco memorabilia as trash (regardless of its value due to being programmed at a young age by the ninja turtles movie)

Yup, do NOT invest any restoration into this book due to it being incomplete - nothing is going to help it now. Had it been complete I would also say it might not be worth it due to the stain going through the entire book (it would be too costly and time consuming to fix all of that)

I don't press most of my unsigned modern books and they still get 9.8, however when it comes to Signature Series I will always get them pressed (especially if I'm submitting an already slabbed 9.8 and don't want it to drop). You can't inspect the book after it has been handled and signed for these special signings, so this is more of a precaution than anything else (and even slabbed 9.8 books might be soft 9.8s...and need every little bit of help to stay that way when re-graded)

It will always boggle my mind that books like this can get 0.5 while an otherwise perfect and complete coverless book does not.

If Store Stamps ever got a green label this one would have the greenest of the most green emerald green labels

I'm a simple man with simple needs, so when I get the chance to have more Hourman I'm opening my wallet without question.

umm wait...did I miss a post or two, or are all of you not focusing on this absolute beast of a page being auctioned!! (yes it ain't golden age, but basically all HA stuff seems to fit in this thread obviously) https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/walt-simonson-1st-issue-special-9-dr-fate-splash-page-1-original-art-dc-1975-/a/7343-91197.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

Post pictures. I got my Tales of Suspense #39 off ebay in the 90s for $100 and it was grade by CGC as 0.5. It is currently out for full restoration with Hero Restoration, as for me it made financial sense (but in your case might not be, we need more information). FF#1 Universal 0.5 last sale was $8400. A graded 6.0 copy with extensive B4 restoration, which was also trimmed, sold in August for $15,000 (which was high, as some higher restored grades have sold for less such as a 7.0 for $12k, really depends on the amount of work you are wanting to do on it). So I feel there could potentially be a some meat on that bone for you to work with. edit: this auction will be done in a day, and should give you a good idea on where heavily restored copies of this book will price at. https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superhero/fantastic-four-1-marvel-1961-cgc-apparent-fn-vf-70-moderate-a-3-off-white-pages/a/7283-96215.s

Okay, which one of you big spenders bought this...and utterly demolished my max bid of $2k

Touting a movie as a 'cookie-cutter' experience should not excuse any issues with the film however (the Transformers franchise is an excellent example of this; they all were cookie-cutter but the quality between them was vastly different - though they did try something 'new' with VFX and design). This says more about the perceived quality of CBMs than it does really anything else if we are prepared to just be happy with seeing new characters on screen without anything else really done beyond what has been pumped out for decades. Being a Cookie-Cutter movie/--script/CGI isn't a bad thing, but still needs to feel like it was done competently - which I feel BA had too many stumbling blocks in this regard for me to simply brush them off as just being 'just another CBM'. I do think people will enjoy it more streaming it at home (and not paying threater prices for), hence my prior recommendation to do so.

Standards between us are subjective, so while you might find BA exceeded other CBM recently I would say it didn't. Dialogue was extremely poor and often repetitive, editing was worse to the point of distracting and break immersion (it had some very egregious moments when characters were just talking with each other but included excessive cuts between them. This is one of the most obvious ones, and not making basic sight line editing mistakes is the bare minimum for me). I also have come to expect proper act structure with exposition that builds towards the end, which BA fumbled (editing and act structure I mention because those are the two most common complaints across all the different CB forums I'm on, so I'm not just being nit-picky here). Standards to me also asking what we should expect from good action (if a CBM is mainly going for being an action movie, it should do strive to do that the best it can). We've seen countless movies with decent action, and many more that innovated action to keep things exciting and interesting, which I don't feel BA did at all. Was it fun to see some characters onscreen, sure, but was the fighting choreography interesting to me - for the most part, no (too much reliance on slow motion for me). It felt like BA was less invested in doing something new and was more reliant on these characters simply exciting us from being on screen for the first time (and it was exciting to see Doctor Fate finally - but he should not be a crutch the movie leans on to get our interest peaked) VFX/CGI was fine for the most part so how that meets or exceeds ones standards is also subjective (though it had some pretty bad CGI in the final '4th' act of the movie and some very odd head-on-body compositions), so if one is putting more stock in that category I could see how BA exceeds other CBM movies recently.

I claimed no such thing, maybe I should be more clear for those in the back: I was saying we both had different preferences that led to both of us seeing it differently, he thought it wasn't excessive while I did :P

You didn't notice too much, but I did. It's just a preference we both have, and once again wasn't a major fault of the movie that majorly impacted my enjoyment (though I would have been more excited if they had better interesting fight choreography, as it was it wasn't anything new or exciting to me). It was mentioned because the argument you were putting forward typically is used to convey some sort of elitism held by those criticizing CBM films, as if they cannot enjoy these movies due to some bias for other 'higher' forms of film -so I say that to qualify any possible misconstrued intent read into the comment, cause it's the internet and we all know how well that goes when conveying intent within comments . When I say 'Expecting more' I don't mean wanting and expecting a 'deeper'/'hidden messages' etc I mean basic standards for the most basic of filmmaking we often take for granted (can still be a basic summer blockbuster with no depth of plot and still have decent editing and dialogue that doesn't make one cringe or break immersion). I'm not 'expecting more' if I expect the wheels on a cheap car to NOT fly off while I'm driving

It does have too much slow motion though, but that isn't a fault with the stuff that I found issue with as mentioned above - just a stylistic choice that was overused (felt fine in the first action sequence when he awakens, but after that felt like they were all just voguing; move to new spot, pose! move to new spot, pose! ah, peak fight choreography!). It's not about preferring to watch other documentaries or styles of films, it's about wanting to watch good stuff that doesn't feel repetitive. No reason to paint people who have criticisms about CBMs as being pretentious people who are looking for high art (not saying you are doing that, but the critique sounds like it), makes it sound like one needs to abandon all standards and throw out ones brains to have a hope of actually enjoying a CBM (when we should be expecting more from them at this point - like every other movie genre that has gone through growing pains)

I love both those situations though in my CBMs yet found BA leaned 'bad' (I was indifferent coming out of it, but after thinking about it and rewatching some of it I'm now leaning towards 4/10 rather than 5/10), which was due to the actual editing and -script/dialogue (and soundtrack for the most part). A movie can be basic and simple OR complex and rich with meaning and still fail (or succeed) on the merits of its actual construction and technical aspects. Just because a CBM gives me my fix of smashing and seeing characters I like (which BA delivered on both fronts) does not mean it gets a pass on actual quality film making and won't impact my enjoyment. I could see myself liking BA much more if it got a tighter edit and new mix. I think it is less about what people want out of their CBMs, and more of what their personal standards are for ANY summer popcorn flick.

Honestly, just wait for it to be available to stream for free. There are worse things out there, but there are also way more better things that deserve actual monetary support.

Just in case people need it: The original URL might have changed and no longer goes directly to the resource you can use to look up your birthday book: http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/newsstand.php

Add your birthday comics to the main mega thread on this

Pressing doesn't look like it's going to do much here, but what would potentially help is getting a pro to remove those tide lines on the top front cover.

The main problem with CGC 'restored labels' is that was the only catch all label right from the start. They lumped in all CONSERVATION done on a book with the restoration term. People would be disappointed with undisclosed restoration on their books, especially trimming, which brought lots of stigma to the purple label, and since CGC didn't really try to follow industry standards at the start to educate or differentiate between work done (at least not in a meaningful, clear visual way) that stigma got applied to any books with proper light conservation done to them. As I understand it Restoration is a subset of Conservation, and like was mentioned earlier are appreciated differently across hobbies. Poster collectors for example seem fine with work done on their old posters since they are meant for visual display first a foremost. It is better now that there is a CONSERVED label, but the damage has been done and will take years before people in this hobby start to really understand the difference between the work done (we will get there, but I feel CGC hindered the clear understanding of any distinction due to how they handled labels initially)

I got lots of tape here, and I just pulled the spoon out of Hawkeye's leg. Seems the adhesive over that area really bonded with the paper and could not separate from it like everything else underneath the rest of the tape. Not a big deal, as I only paid $30 for this copy a few months back specifically to use as a test subject for my conservation skills (seeing all that tape made me drool) Ah well, you win some you loose some - at least it is now conserved and won't continue to yellow and get brittle under all that tape.

Looks very good and I'm super happy they have included much more scenes and talk of Helen, as the emotional weight from that is the core of the series but slid into the background for the sequels (it was still there, but not as much as I feel was needed). I do hope he dies at the end of this, as that is the perfect ending for him (I certainly hope they don't cope out and keep him around for cameos and future franchise involvement; either as running the high table, or going back into solitude. Dude needs to die and find peace, allowing everyone else around him to properly grieve - something that he was denied)

The thing I don't get is why doesn't CGC offer generic/public domain custom labels for specific things on the label that they don't have to pay to license - seems like a no-brainer to create a few in-house custom labels that they retain full profits from. For example, why not offer a special Seduction Of The Innocent (SOTI) label we could get on any of our PCH/Crime books that are associated with that event?

That isn't it at all (as there have been Batman and a Harley Quinn custom labels for special events)...it's just money. DC is happy to license out its imagery to countless products out there, the only thing stopping CGC from doing the same is agreeing to their terms/costs (which I think might be cost prohibitive on such small scale limited run of labels for CGC)