Sauce Dog

So many views yet nobody wants to vote? Come on people, I want your opinions - this is the Internet after all, where those are thrown around willy nilly all day

This is something that has been bugging me for awhile but only recently got to the point I think something should be done - and I would love to see if any other GA collectors feel CGC needs to correct this issue, as I feel these books are a unique part of the story of how comics were printed. Currently Checking Copies are not recognized in any shape or form by CGC, however they have gone out of their way to recognize similar manufacturing copies such as the much used 'File Copy' designation and the less commonly seen 'Pay Copy'. So what exactly is a Checking Copy? Checking copies were never meant for sale or circulation, only for the manufacturing process as a form of quality control. Thus, the ones that still exist today most certainly were FILED AWAY by either the printer, publisher, or the advertisers themselves...which is why I think they should have always been recognized as File Copies at the very least. The only Checking Copies currently recognized in some way are those that come from a known pedigree, in fact if you look at many of the Crowley Copies you will see they are marked with giant Checking Copy stamps on the covers but CGC labels this pedigree not simply as Crowley Copy...but as a duel recognition of Crowley Copy/File Copy (which I think sets a good precedence on using the File Copy designation) So what say you all?

You just HAD to go and jinx it, didn't you? Now they are talking about reshooting Shazam 2 to replace Tawky Tawny with Tony the Tiger

Removal of the tape might result in a detached cover and lower grade regardless of if it gets cleaned and pressed as well. I would either leave it as is if a blue label is important to you OR I would invest in minor conservation (my preferred option) which would be able to remove ALL the tape (no sense doing work if you are going to leave some) and some tear seals on the cover wrap. I've used Phantom Restoration for such work before, always happy with the quality and grade bumps I got for such low end books like yours (I also had a CGC 1.8 with tape on it. After he removed it all, tear sealed/reinforced it, cleaned and pressed it regraded as a CGC 3.5. Also had him work on a 0.5 which managed to re-grade as a 2.0) https://www.instagram.com/phantomrestoration/

There is still over a YEAR until this move actually gets released...just boggles the mind trying to imagine how much more news is going to come out between now and then.

I think in this specific case it seems that based on IMDB ratings/age groupings it's Males ages 30-44 and Males 45+ https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/06/09/ms-marvel-review-bombed-into-being-the-mcus-lowest-scoring-show-on-imdb/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie&sh=381f4e5f5879

There are no bigger Blazing Skull fans than I, keeper of the only book with this cover in existence. We stan our fiery bone daddy.

Excellent step in the right direction with offering movie tie in books leading up to it. I do think they still should try to offer the equivalent of a 'free comic book day' type promotion comic directly at theatres for those going to the showings (as many will never buy the books before hand if this is their first introduction, but if you get something in their hands as they are leaving the theatre all pumped up they might be more inclined to find a comic shop later to read more).

I'm sure there was enough Apokolips tech remaining on earth for the Intergang to harvest and reverse engineer, pretty much only just a quick bit of dialogue to say where they got it all from and the audience will be on board (A la Spider-Man Homecoming with Vultures crew).

Wonder Woman #1. Shall keep adding to this if I ever come across someone who is selling pages/wraps for it. It's missing a few wraps but those are mainly other stories while the main first origin retelling story is only missing the 1st wrap (which basically means just missing its intro splash page and the story starts where I have it so the important bits are there)

Watching it a second time to make sure I wasn't crazy...but we're getting Mr.Terrific! That jacket can't be anyone else. Still can't place the 'bad guys' but I'm assuming it's Intergang based on the tech.

Finally watched the first episode and it is by far the better of the MCU episodic shows - a much better new character introduction than Moon Knight was. Loved the care that went into the stylization of the shots, even the incorporation of SMS into the environment. Much better pacing as well, so felt refreshing. No more or less 'for kids' than any of the Spider-Man or Ant-Man movies - so tone fits with the rest of the MCU still regardless of stylistic choices (if anything it bridges the gap between MCU style and Sony Spiderverse style) Not sure why people were confused on how she knew about Thanos and the events of the battle, as it was mentioned she learned most of it from Scott Lang's podcast after it was all said and done - and of all characters I'm sure he would be the one to happily go all fanboy while spilling the beans about every single last detail of what happened.

Yup, looking good and the most important character to me is still looking perfect

Too soon. Please refrain from mentioning 'plot armour' as some of us are still healing from being exposed to literal plot armour that made our brains clinically depressed.

Same. Also The Rocketeer, which after watching always makes me count my blessings that Iron Man was the first of the MCU and so still had a good deal of practical suits and shot on actual film - I shudder to think how it might had looked if he was a later addition and stuck to the standardized filming they now use (and the entire MCU was started by either Cap or some other random Marvel character)

As per PM

Not only getting the wrong book back, but also getting a restored one as well. That's some next level salt in the wounds

People on social media made fun of it overall since the beginning which kept it trending (it wasn't some great campaign, as even Moonknight Core takes credit for it after the fact), and the studio thought this indicated some sort of grassroots demand so they brought the movie back and it bombed again - but anyone with half a braincell at the studio should have understood irony and genz humour, and them being out of touch and not getting the joke was on them for thinking they could turn into another quick buck. This isn't a studio lesson to not trust social chatter. This is a lesson in reading and media literacy.

It brought in an average of $82 per theatre for this latest re-release (but that is obviously not in $USD but rather $MORBucks, each dollar of which is worth $1,000 against the US currency)

Update: Seems I got some conflicting info from CGC. I was provided a shipping label to send back my above Adventure Comics #55 after customer support agreed they missed the pedigree/file copy status. It was in grading/encapsulation for all of May and suddenly I got a notice that it was in my country and being delivered today (account status was only now just updated to 'shipped')...and I also got an email from CGC saying they are returning the book to me unchanged as they do not recognize 'Checking Copies' as File Copies. This honestly makes zero sense to me. They currently recognize Pay Copies (used after printing to as a record of payment) which are used after the manufacturing process and not sold to the public...likewise Checking Copies are used in the manufacturing process , never sold to the public (so they would only exist filed away at the printers, advertising agency, or publishers office) and are clearly marked as such on the cover and interior pages (to confirm ads and copy were printed correctly - you will see many checkmarks on these books as multiple people had to sign off on each ad, from the printers themselves to the editor and even the paying client who placed the ad) The Crowley pedigrees are all mostly checking copies too, and are labeled as the pedigree name + File Copy. Am I insane to think this is a very odd thing for CGC to draw a line in the sand for - completely disregarding one of the more interesting types of books which show the process of publishing during the Golden Age. They are always clearly marked, so there isn't any confusion what is a Checking Copy or isn't. Is there any one who can recommend how I can go about escalating this with CGC and getting it possibly clarified WHY this is a thing, or perhaps advocating for a change.

Further into the abyss we go.

What grudge? I like their company and buy from them often, but it objectively fails in so many regards when it comes to web accessibility. This isn't something unique to them, but to say there isn't a reason they need to update their site just because some users are fine with it hand waves away the fact they are literally offering a poor experience to over 50% of all internet users - imagine the amount of lost sales from that just because somebody had a poor experience using the site. It's an easy fix and requires little to no backend changes to their current system (where the BIG money spend would take place for such changes); all it takes is acknowledgment of the problem and then some small investment of time and money.

No, it isn't functional - or at least not by any good modern definition of the word. The site is 100% not mobile friendly, which means it is not a functional experience and I cannot even fathom the amount of lost traffic and conversions because of the poor user experience. You might like it because you are used to it and it works on your setup, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere close to being acceptable or even usable for the majority of web users. Even on the desktop, the experience is so antiquated it means any accessibility people expect from a website now is non-existent. I am saying this all as a web developer, UX/UI designer for over three decades. I love buying from em, but it is a messy experience that does more to turn away new users and is long overdue for a massive revamp to get it up to standards.

This...was a terrible watch. It felt like every single reference was forced, and more about Disney flexing what they now own rather than something organic and fun that might actually serve the story. This was a movie for people to point to things they know. Painfully clear why it was never intended to be shown in theatres.

Pokemon 2000 Adventure. Which is now considered 'lost game/media' and has a very long story surrounding it and the reason Nintendo decided to pull it offline after only a month (still achieved 1 million downloads though in that time). It holds the title of being the very first 3D Pokemon game (which is basically the reason Nintendo scrapped it). I was the only person at the development company who knew about Pokemon when the job came in - so I got to watch the new movie in advance and plan an entire game around it while keeping the dev team informed what Pokemon to use, what their powers/types etc (as well as working on textures)