Stronguy

On 1/2/2024 at 4:23 PM, JRibble said:

Second question.  I've collected 30 cent and 35 cent variants for years.  I was wondering if any of these have the MJV in them.  I've done a google search and found no info.  Thanks all!

There are none known and there will likely never be.  Since MJIs were almost exclusively sold overseas (with the rare exception of some bases on the east coast) the price variant test market and the MJI distro market didn't overlap.  I hoped I might find some 30¢ variant MJIs in San Antonio but after looking for over a decade (and buying hundreds for 30¢ers) I never found one.

On 5/6/2023 at 11:41 PM, aszumilo said:

There is another 4th print that appears similar to the BOMC edition.  It, like the BOMC edition has no price or mature reader warning on the back.  It does not have the BOMC text on the inside cover.  There is no idea of where this book came from, so, if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

           

This is my book and as far as I know, it's the only one ever found.  I bought it off eBay from a guy in Canada thinking it was a BOMC edition.

On 4/18/2023 at 3:00 PM, october said:

comic that is sent into CGC, then to Heritage

If it's going to Heritage, just let them slab it for you.  They still get good ol' boy treatment.

FWIW, that book is notorious for having rusty staples.  Those without rust are hard to find.

On 4/11/2023 at 4:13 PM, AmbassadorSlip said:

So I get the blue label, but I'm looking at losing a point, maybe more? 

Right, but the damage that removing the CT reveals would have to be enough to knock it out of 7.0.  That's a lot of additional color breaks.

On 4/5/2023 at 11:42 PM, lowball said:

Personally I think the holes make them more interesting. How bad does something like that bring down a grade? (newbie here)

These books are all 6.0 and lower.  IMO, in those grades there's not a real impact, especially at 5.0 and below.

On 4/4/2023 at 9:11 AM, Montezuma said:

I was in a second hand store many years ago that had a lot of golden age comics with a wire running through the corner so they could hang them from the ceiling. Still cringe at the memory.

 

I've seen images of newsstands where they strung books/magazines up on a piece of string.  That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw these (after concluding it was not a bug hole) but I with the paper being slightly pushed out of the front and pulled out back, I think a finishing nail might be a better explanation.

On 4/3/2023 at 3:21 PM, Superman2006 said:

Maybe the newsstand or OO stuck a thumbtack through them to hang them on a wall?  Oops - nevermind, I didn't read your last sentence; it looks like you already thought of that (reading failure!)

It's definitely too large to be a thumbtack.  These are the size of a finishing nail and only in the left corner, thus my thought they might have been some sort of display.

I have a handful of early 50s DC that came from an OO collection.  I know the OO purchased them all from the same newsstand up to a certain point.  Every book from early 1950 thru mid-1952 has the same nail hole in the upper left corner.  Any idea what this would have come from?  One theory is these were display copies that were nailed up along the top/side of the newsstand.  Thoughts?

On 4/3/2023 at 9:26 AM, Hulksdaddy1 said:

Nice thing is that, if I recall correctly, professional CT involves no bleed through, so no chunks would have to be taken out. Just a scraping off.  Not really sure though.

That is correct.  The professional designation means the materials used can be reversed.  In this case, it was likely a paint that can be scraped away.

On 3/28/2023 at 4:31 PM, AmbassadorSlip said:

So, nobody knows of a pro restorer who can pull the color touch off using chemicals? I wasn't limiting myself to CCS as the only option.

The only pro of using CCS is, if they miss a spot of CT when they initially remove it, they will have to fix it.  If someone else does it, you could still get a PLOD and have to pay to have it reslabbed.

On 3/26/2023 at 8:00 AM, PeterPark said:

I have a marvel feature 4

Marvel Feature seems to be the most common.  I've seen several double covers of that issues over the years.

On 3/28/2023 at 3:11 PM, Qalyar said:

Wacky! I don't suppose that copy has any provenance that might offer a clue as to where it came from originally?

I bought it within the past year on eBay out of Canada.  That's all I know about it.  I have several BOMC copies and this is the oddball.

On 3/24/2023 at 6:28 PM, Qalyar said:

9th is arguably the hardest of the "numbered" printings, but the Book of the Month Club variant that looks like a 4th print from the front cover is a real ghost book.

Then there is the 4th print that looks like the BOMC edition (no text on the back cover) but it doesn't say BOMC in the indicia.  There is only 1 know copy of this one... and it's all mine!  Bwhahahahahaha!

On 3/12/2023 at 2:46 PM, Gaard said:

That word balloon looks much too big for the text.

It was a running joke with some of the OG board members.  The stat fell off before they shot the plate so it's kind of like Mad Libs.  Just insert whatever random exclamation you want.

On 3/9/2023 at 3:32 PM, eastriver400 said:

Thanks for your sleuthing by the way. Those black light photos were amazing. 

That was just me jacking around with the levels in Photoshop.  It works great for finding contrast differences.

That book looks great.  I'd definitely send it back in for another look.  Given some of the SNAFUs in the recent past, they could have been looking at notes from a completely different book.  It's a spoon shoot out there right now.

Replaced staples used to get you an automatic green label and a note.  There was no changing it to blue for a lower grade... I know, I asked.  But that was before the Conserved label.

Jump ahead several years and I submitted a Batman 5 that I had replaced a staple on (it was a rusty mess and I wanted to prevent any further damage).  It got a Conserved label with a note.

Since this was slabbed back in 2017, it might be worth seeing if they will give it a Conserved label.

Maybe here?

On 2/27/2023 at 7:47 AM, george54is said:

 Hello all, I am fairly new to this, and was wondering if I submit a comic with a marvel value stamp missing, would it get a green label, or would it get a blue label

Depending on the grade of the book otherwise, you might not get a green label at all.  If the book is lower grade, say 4.0, they will give it the blue label and deduct for the missing stamp.  You can also request a blue label to be given rather than a green.  With the stamp missing you can still get a 2.0.

A lot of time the stains are not entirely visible on the outside cover but really show up on the inside where the acid from the pages could have made it worse.

On 3/8/2023 at 4:06 PM, eastriver400 said:

if that was erased, would they call it a stain?

No, it would say something like "light writing on back cover"/

Upper right seems to be suspect as does the spot about 2" from the left.  There is also a price "125" that appears to have been partially erased.