UncleAnwar

Awesome, thanks for the info guys!!

So I just bought a copy of GI Joe 1 (1982 series) on ebay. I've never owned this book before and it seems a little off to me. The pages are like thicker paper stock as is the cover? Definitely looks & feels different than any other marvel 80s book I've owned. Is that normal for this issue? I'm trying to make sure this isn't a reprint or anything. Also, I see normal proce box and diamond price box copies of this book going for about the same amount. I always thought the 80s diamond price books were reprints (like the early marvel star wars books). But maybe I'm wrong here. Thanks for any info anyone can give!

Awesome, I'll definitely look into that

Ever come across any gems at those farm auctions?? I've never had luck with auctions like that. The few times I've found comics they're always bid up way too high by one or two hunters like myself. Still fun going though.

So I'm going to be doing some travelling and am curious to get some member opinions on some of the best comic shops that our country has to offer. I only collect silver & bronze, so a large stock of back issues is a must. That is my main criteria since I don't collect anything modern. Out west is probably too far for me, but anything midwest, south, northeast is fair game. Any suggestions of places to check out?

Price drop bump... lowest I can go😯

Update...sold. no longer available. Thanks *PRICE DROP* Rules Payment via PayPal only (sorry no trades) Ship to North America only. Shipping is included. First claim wins No probies or HOSers. No returns since graded I normally sell most of my books via good ol Ebay, but the fees on high dollar books like this blow. I don't have a Kudos thread yet, but here's a link to my Ebay profile (19 yrs of 100% positive feedback selling mostly comics!). https://www.ebay.com/usr/mr.bosco I've also got a buddy who's a longtime member on these boards that can vouch for me of needed 😁 Anyway, the book is a CGC FF1 1.5 with ow/w pages. Presents well for the grade, no writing, no missing chunks, no big tears, no tape, etc. May be a good candidate for a press and clean? $5,000 shipped. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Yep makes sense. No serious flaws like tape/writing/detached/missing chunks/etc on mine. So hopefully I'll get more in the range I'm looking for. Thanks!

My question is this... do label notes play into GPA as a caveat at all? I'm assuming this is a no. I'm about to sell an FF1 blue label 1.5 which was trending a little over $5k i believe. Ive been holding out to get $5500. But I just saw a blue label 1.5 with extra staples go on Ebay for $4500. I'm guessing this may hurt my upcoming sale some, as a lot of buyers go off of recent completed sales as an indication of how much to pay. I just wonder how much something like extra staples affects something like that for other "clean" books of same grade?

Never been to C2E2, but I'm probably going this year. The biggest con I've been to is Baltimore and quite honestly it was a little meh. I'll say that I could care less about guests, cosplay, etc. I only go for one reason: to buy comics. I've had a lot of luck with smaller cons in my home state (Ohio) and gotten a ton of filler for runs and smaller bronze/silver keys as well. I was disappointed with the number of actual comic vendors, the amount of stock, and the prices at Baltimore's con last uear. Anyone who has been to both, am I in for a similar experience in Chicago? My fear is that it's more of a pop culture con and will be filled with more toy/memoribilia/etc vendors vs actual comic vendors. I know that buying online usually results in better prices, but there's something special about being there in person and digging through long boxes. Call me old school. Ive got some mostly non-key silver and bronze DD, Hulk, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense and WBN runs to finish off. I'll probably go regardless since I've got a free place to stay, but I'd like an unbiased review of the con so I can set my expectations going in!

First off, I am 99.9% sure this is trimmed, and 100% sure it has a couple spots of small color touch on the front cover. So I know it will come back with a purple label of some sort. That being said, I rarely get raw comics graded (I usually just buy already graded), so I'm not too good at grade guessing. This one looks pretty nice to me, but there is that small chunk out of the bottom of the spine, some pen writing on back cover, and a few small stains and whatnot. What kind of grade do you guys see this one getting?

Sweet. Thanks man

Hi, I have an FF12 that has a qualified green label saying "staples replaced". I did a quick board search and it looks like everyone on here always says replaced staples count as restoration? But I have proof that CGC graded it as qualified. Did CGC's stance change over time? Or is it one of those things that varies for some reason I'm not thinking of? Thanks!

Right, that's why i was saying that of course I would never expect them to give it a yellow label. No way should they get in the business of trying to verify unwitnessed signatures. But,if a book has the name "stan lee" signed on the cover I would prefer that cgc simply ignores the signature. I agree that it shouldn't count as a "signed book" (so no yellow label), but it also shouldn't be a detraction (green label). It should be neither a positive or a negative, it should just be a blue label. Obviously there's a limit there, if the signature is big enough, leaves indentations, etc then it should be bumped down but still receive a blue label. Just like they used to do in the past. I don't think I'm talking crazy here, because CGC themselves used to do exactly what I'm talking about. I just wish they'd go back to that vs the apparent new policy, that's all.

Ok thanks guys. It's a couple cover sigs btw. I get that CGC won't give it a yellow label of course, but seems kind of silly that an owner is almost being "punished" for having an unverified sig these days. An unverified sig to me should be a "neutral", ie a blue label with the "name written on cover" note, vs a detraction. A few years ago I bought a FF1 blue label book with an unverified sig actually, and it was very low grade (.5). So I'm not sure that the grade is necessarily the determining factor, I think that CGC just changed their stance on unverified sigs. Which is kind of unfair to collectors who have books that were signed before the signature process became as structured/monetized as it is today. It was very common in the 90s era (and prior) for Stan to sign books without CGC witnessing and grading. Of course that's much more rare now I believe. I'd much rather have a slightly lower grade blue label than a green. Maybe different collectors view it differently, but in my mind a green label isn't even worth having. I'd rather just have the book raw at that point. Thanks again!

In the past I've seen unverified sigs as blue labels with the note 'name written on cover'. Of course the grade was hit because of that, but they were still blue labels. But recently (last few years) I've noticed that unverified sigs are getting green label qualified grades. I searched and found older threads saying that an unverified sig could in fact get a lower grade blue label. To clear up the confusion I called CGC today and asked, and I was told that yes an unverified sig would in fact get a green qualified label. Which sucks because I've got some old silver age keys with sigs that I bought years ago that I wanted to have graded, but no way I'm doing it if they're getting green labels. Was I informed correctly today? My guess is yes. If so, when did this change?

Wow, great info, thanks for the Intel. If that was the case, how would cgc ever know that? Like if I sent this in for grading, there's no way (I assume) that cgc would know if they were intentionally added at printing due to an error, or if an owner married a cover later down the road (like the first replier said). I'm guessing it would have to get the "staples added" designation right?

At first I thought someone just added 2 staples to this book, but the more I look at it I'm not so sure. Only 2 staples puncture the cover. The other 2 just go thru the book. The 4 staples look similar in age /wear as far as I can tell? Anyone ever seen a defect like this? Or is it simply someone added unneeded staples at some point? Im guessing it's the latter, but thought I'd ask to be sure.

Curious as to the grade on this one. Nice looking front cover, but some spine issues, and a few tears etc. Note on the last pic there is a horizontal tear that's a little hard to spot in the middle of the back cover.

NICE! Thanks man!

Heading to Chicago in a few weeks to see some friends, so I'm curious if there are any local shops worth visiting. I'm only interested in bronze/silver back issues to fill out runs, don't care at all about the later stuff (copper/modern/etc). From my experience, decent back issue stock in local shops seems to be harder and harder to come by. And the few shops that have back issues overcharge so much that it's not even worth it. So I'm guessing it may be a waste of time, but thought I'd at least ask and see if there are any worth checking out.

Yeah I agree on the Avengers 1, it's a key just because it's the first teamup, but with no first appearances it's a notch or two below the other ones mentioned.

With the popularity of that book going thru the roof as of late...yeah that's going to be really really tough to find just a cover, especially from a seller that isn't asking a king's ransom for it. Good luck!

Got a debate going w my brother and was curious what other collectors think. We were talking about how FF1 is heating up so much lately and got on this 'would you rather' scenario. As a collector (not a flipper!) would you rather own a mid grade Fantastic Four 1... or all of these three in mid grade: TTA27/TOS39/Avengers 1?

Right I agree, but the fear of course is that he wouldn't take it back. Lots of 'reputable dealers' seem to become 'unreputable' once you want to take money out of their hands. But yeah you're right, it's a crapshoot either way. I called ebay to ask the hypothetical, and the rep claimed yes it would be 100% protected and refundable. But i have very little faith in the answers I get when calling their overseas call center, I feel like they just give their best guess to get you off the phone.