namisgr

Maybe like this:

That brings back a lot of memories, as the Phil Seuling NYC show in '75 was my first big comic con. While I still have that program, it doesn't have the cool collection of autographs yours does - instead, I had creators sign comics of theirs that I brought with for the occasion or purchased at the show. I remember that none of them charged to autograph a book, and they universally seemed happy to do so, soaking in the joy expressed for their work by those who talked to them. Being a show in New York, where the publishers were based, there was a head-spinning number of creators at the show, all willing to sign pieces the fans brought: Kirby, Steranko, Stan, Neal Adams, Barry Smith, Wrightson, George Perez, Claremont, Sinnott, Giacoia, and on and on. I also had Bill Gaines sign my copy of Mad #100. Several of my books autographed at that show have been posted here before. Here's two of them that spent over 40 years as special pieces in my collection, now sold off along with the rest of my SA and magazine collections:

I don't think it's that much of a fall. Looking in the Heritage archives, they auctioned an 8.0 last June. It sported a 'CVA exceptional' sticker. Sold for $312,000.

Heritage will collect 20% (or whatever their going rate is now) from the buyer. I'd expect the seller to lose that juice, but not anything more. And with a book this valuable, the seller might also negotiate for a percentage of the buyer's fee. So I'm with you that something on the order of between 5 and 10% of the hammer price is likely. Being the only 9.8 in the CGC census, there's no telling what the book might fetch on Heritage, even though it sold last September on another auction site.

Music to musical Monkees

Monsters to Munsters

This ish is frequently miswrapped with the front cover going onto the back. Yours has really sweet cover alignment.

Actually, this thread would be where everyone else who's not you tries to post their opinions on Stan Lee's contributions to Marvel. And having been a comic book reader since the early '60s, mine are both well formed and informed about that era. As for 1978 and beyond, I had nothing to say about it. As for Kirby and Ditko, I had nothing to add about them, either, my opinion being concentrated on Stan's vital role in giving Marvel comics a unique and popular personality as it became the most popular comics publisher with young adults in the '60s and early '70s. That impact is still felt today, as among collectors over the past three decades it's been Marvel comics that have dominated the Silver Age collecting hobby, as the CGC census and time spent at any comic convention can attest. As for your opinion, it's well articulated elsewhere already through dozens if not hundreds of posts. That contradicts your mention of being suppressed from posting. Here, a place for other posters with differing opinions and the space to voice them would be respectful.

^ ^ While there were several hugely important creative forces working for Marvel, Stan Lee gave their comics line personality, fun, and appeal to young adults that DC didn't match, and that didn't exist prior to Stan's making it so. It came not just from the comic plots, stories and art, and characters that were the product of several creators, but also from Stan's unquestioned contributions of the content and tone of the dialog, the Bullpen and letters pages, and the Marvel-run fan clubs, as well as Stan's efforts as the public face interacting with college students, the press, and artists from other media. Finally, given that a longstanding thread is already devoted to denigrating Stan's influence and involvement in Marvel's success, it would be nice if this one weren't used for that very same and so repetitive purpose.

I don't think it's a stretch to consider that the more value slabbing and grading adds to the selling price of a comic, the more CGC can charge for the slabbing and grading service. The marketplace has established that the value of their service is much, much greater for the submitter of an Amazing Fantasy #15 (tens of thousands of dollars) than it is for the submitter of an Amazing Spiderman #126 (tens of dollars). LowGradeBronze and NickFurious have made this point already, and I agree with it. In comparison, I suspect that their higher insurance burden for more valuable books is just a relatively small contributor to deriving their tiered fees.

I know you're being facetious, Bill, but Mr. Eichenbaum wrote: We will not tolerate acts of fraud against our community, and we will not rest until justice is served. But it hinders rather than promotes the serving of justice to keep the collector and dealer community underinformed about the submission histories of the outsider swapping fraudster and the insider couple printing their own labels and also swapping and stealing.

It may look big, but it's not a full list of the submissions by the swap-out scammer.

Has there been release of anything conclusive that the in-house fraud was committed on no more than a maximum of 23 encapsulated books? Has there been release of the total number of comics the fraudster couple had encapsulated since they began employment? In other words, are we certain of the scope of the fraud, or is the potential for more slabs being involved being swept under the rug, so to speak?

Missing from the CEO letter regarding the two recent scams involving CGC is the commitment to help the comic collecting/dealing community identify additional possible instances of fraudulent grading. Specifically, the letter made no mention and the company has made no public effort to provide to the community a complete listing of the certification numbers of every encapsulated book submitted by the swap-out external fraudster or submitted by the in-house fraudster using their access to the facility to make their own bogus labels. CGC can do better for us.

The damage control is in full swing.

Early Blade appearances, from my original collection.

Love those issues, especially the ones with Frank Brunner art.

The Oregon Coast collection does not have a pedigree designation from CGC. But being a sweet, sought after original owner collection of high grade white paged bronze age comics, I believe the provenance does have significance.

Last one for now, my original copy and a favorite and underrated Ploog cover:

More Mike Ploog:

Some of the following issues with cool Ploog and John Buscema cover art, from my original collection: found the scan:

I still get logged off on occasion and have to sign back in for full board access.