Rhymenoceros

Scheduled for grading 7/11 Grading/QC 8/2 Shipped 8/6

Weird, I swear that wasn't listed in the exhibitors when I checked... I must be losing it thanks !

Anybody know where Steranko may be in order to get a sig? I know he's doing a spotlight panel, but I can't seem to find where he might have a table or be signing any of the days.

Oh Hi Mark! Been a minute.

Scheduled for grading 7/11

New submission 25 modern, reg track CGC picked up at post office 7/8/19

Freudian slip??

The one that really stuck with me recently as being bad was called "Wiener-Dog" (2016). Seriously a terrible movie.

I got a decent deal on Ebay last night... So the market definitely crashed.

Only a kneaded eraser. No chemicals. I've done small sections before and submitted books but never this much on one book. Erasing isn't considered restoration and when done carefully can produce good results on mainly non printed areas.

Ahh, the dreaded PP

I know there is no "sure fire" answer to this question. I had a raw copy of a late 60's X-men book with a dirty cover and thought I'd try to chronicle the back cover dirt removal before and after. I'm no expert but with about 15 mins of work in non-restorative careful techniques, I was able to get a decent amount of the dirt off. Hoping to get an approximate idea of how much this might improve the grade on average. maybe .5 or 1.0 difference on a mid-grade book? I just took a quick photo of the work I did. I can always snap a photo of the front cover and put it in the PGM forum but wasn't sure where the best spot would be for this post. Thanks in advance for any valuable insight.

Lightbox type setup with multiple diffused light sources is definitely my advice to get the best images.

gotcha - I have never had CGC provide me with images so good to know. I'm sure it would take awhile to manually adjust levels. They may need to adjust their white balance and be sure to set it before each photo session if they are concerned about keeping colors consistent (might not be?). I'd be curious to see what their images looked like over the years and pay special attention to where the glares are on the photos. If I had a good enough sample size I might be able to provide more insight on how they've improved their system.

@RedGiant is this the actual "scan" file CGC gave you? I always thought they actually scanned them but I guess not. The corner edges are too jagged to not be photoshopped. I'm a graphic designer and use photoshop pretty much daily. The white areas on the outside of the slab are made up of PURE white, also pointing to an alteration. If I had to guess on their setup, I think CGC has a studio setup with a camera mounted to a frame, pointing down, with lots of indirect lighting to cut down on glare. They then take that photograph and put it into photoshop, likely using a re-used layer mask that is the size of the CGC case. They fill the rest of the area with white on the edges (already part of the mask). They then edit the levels while looking at the actual book to compare the actual book to the "scan" image - at least that's what I'd do to maintain fairly accurate consistency. If their camera is setup with a good white balance then they may be able to skip the last step.

Pretty sure it's just him for the most part, an app developer, and occasional others that chime in on new books/featured lists or cross promote sites otherwise.

If you're willing to put in the time to compile a list of all the legitimate errors you find, I'm sure he would appreciate the helpful info. Chances are with 14k books there are a couple.

Edit: oh, the top one ?? Hmm, all 5/84 on cgc labels. I'm sure this has been widely discussed on the forums ..

Ha! That's a good way to look at it. I agree for those of us who spent years learning and memorizing, it seems like an unearned leveling of the playing field so to speak.

To say 14,000 books are of paramount or crucial importance may be a stretch, if we are going by the true meaning of the word. If it's a term the hobby is using to denote ANY level of importance, that's another story.. I have (and am currently paying yearly for) the app. The free tools you get are good enough to keep track of a lot of "time tested keys". You pay for the notifications when something gets optioned, etc. Nice to not have to check a dozen websites to find out, however one could find many of the "alerts" via other news sources if you spent all day watching for them.

Key adjective 1: of paramount or crucial importance.

(I skimmed the thread so apologies if I missed someone mentioning this) :: One thing that is very difficult to comprehend about changing values is the part inflation plays - especially for higher dollar or sought after stuff. Sure there are cycles in what is hot and spec for optioned books etc., but even if you got a huge book for $5,000 in 1990... in today's money that is now roughly $10,000. So combine inflation with the market in general causing a rise in all prices and it's easy to see how things can get out of hand quickly. Plus, wages are stagnant right now in the US, but the cost of almost everything is increasing. This just makes everything feel more expensive.

A small ad on craigslist. The funny thing is comics didn't seem to be the "main thing" listed in the ad with only one box shown. I figured I might find a book or two. When I got there, it was mostly comics to my surprise. Never happens.

Yeah, not everything is a key but for $.50/ $1 I grabbed it. The old FFs are pretty beat but for $3 ea I couldn't pass it up. The Hughes were $1 ea. The noble causes is an Invincible preview I've seen online but never in person. Both variants.