VintageComics

You can be a bit of a hard *spoon* sometimes. Did you ever find that quote or are you still calling RMA wrong based on just memory? Because I just looked at some old pictures of myself, and what I saw was not what I remembered. The memory is not very reliable even in legal testimony. This place is what you make of it. It's just bigger. There's plenty of serious comic people discussing comics.

There was a time when Arch actually hung around here. You'd be lucky to PM him and get a reply within a week now a days.

They finally used a proper Spider-man costume and you can't decide if it's cool or not?

That's the Jim I remember.

I think a novice cracking their books out has a very good chance at damaging their books while handling them. But I make a living from buying high grade books, handling them, shipping them and submitting them. I've handled, shipped and submitted literally 1000's of 9.8 copies. I know what a 9.8 looks like, and they don't end up all damaged and dinged up from the time I purchase them to the time I submit them. Some admittedly might, but for the most part? No.

Driveless cars will make the chat forum more engaging.

Are you really going to play that game? Because I'm a decent 'amateur' grader.

Holy blast from the past! First a resurrected Supa thread. Then a squidmo appearance. Now awe4one / Jim out of nowhere!

The difference between a professional and an amateur is that the professional gets paid for their work. How about when a book is resubmitted and it comes back in a lower grade with no new defects introduced? Where does that stand in your opinion?

You were fortunate. Imho, this last year has been the tightest CGC has ever been on Moderns - I do a ton of SS books where I crack out 9.8s and I've never experienced this many grade drops upon resubmission. I like tight grading as much as the next guy, but I feel they've moved the needle way too far in the other direction now. Much, much too far. My latest sub was 280 SS books. Got a fair number of 9.8s....but I SUB 9.8s...and the rest was all over the map. 9.4 80's, 9.0 70's. Things that didn't use to be a problem...like production corner chips, which are as common as anything in 1980's books...are now being taken into account. Also, printer's creases, which used to be taken into account wayyyy back in the early days, and then no longer taken into account (which is as it should be) are now apparently being taken into account. The issue is that I knew what CGC graded 9.8, and what they did not. Now, I'm back to second guessing, and looking for total perfection before submitting (and still not getting above 9.8, either.) I cannot waste my time submitting a Web of Spiderman #31 and getting a 9.4. That slab is worth much less than it cost to get done. That's not acceptable. Also, I'm getting grading notes like "top front cover rippling/warping, bottom front cover rippling/warping"...on books like Silver Surfer #44 (1991). Every single copy of that book has that issue, as do most Marvels of that time frame (which is partly why Marvel went to offset printing and abandoned newsprint in 1992, and DC did the same.) That's something that Shawn Caffrey knows, because he's done this for so long. It's not something that the "new graders" seem to know, and it seems to be having an effect on grades. CGC cannot change its standards at halftime. We shall see how this turns out. This I know, and this I hope everybody at CGC understands: if a book is in a 9.8 slab, and it hasn't been damaged in the process...and there are enough ultra, ultra, ultra anal SS guys who don't let anything happen to the book in the process...and it comes back in a 9.6 or 9.4 slab....it's not going to be conducive to business. It's high time for a "guaranteed grade" program...and it's certainly possible to implement, if the will is there. I could be wrong, but my personal theory (based on only observations and nothing to do with anything CGC has said) is that some (or many) of the new recruits may not be long time collectors so they view the books as paper artifacts rather than comics. So many defects that a long time collector would view as inconsequential and not even be on our radar as collectors and may not worth deducting much for (as CGC has done over the last decade and a half) may be viewed as a defect to the paper now and is deducted for more than previously. The new grader is typically also the 1st person to see the book (called the pregrader) and so they would not only be responsible for counting the pages and inspecting the book first, they would also list all the defects they see - hence the grading notes being much more extensive than they used to be. They would then assign a grade to the book and pass the book onto the next grader. The next grader now sees the book and the pregrader's notes. The pregrader would influence the 2ndary grader and the finalizer with their notes and their initial grade. Having different teams would explain different grading standards.

Because if a year later they go back to their usual 'middle of the road' grading (let's call it 'old school grading' under Borock/Haspel/Litch) then it's inconsistent for the market and also not good for the market.

A 9.8 can even have two very small flaws. A 9.8 is not a perfect book - it depends on the size of the flaws.

You were fortunate. Imho, this last year has been the tightest CGC has ever been on Moderns - I do a ton of SS books where I crack out 9.8s and I've never experienced this many grade drops upon resubmission. I like tight grading as much as the next guy, but I feel they've moved the needle way too far in the other direction now. +1 You exaggerating dealers!

No dmg while opening the slab? I'm worried about the consistency lately, to say the least. I've never said this in 12 years of submissions but they are brutal the last few weeks. They aren't being inconsistent however, they are being consistently brutal. Ditto on that. My tightly graded 9.8's getting 9.6's as well.

If it happened because of a death in the family I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to make amends for the past sales thread, just reach out to those people and give them the option to take the books that you never invoiced them for or to pass on them freely. That should help make peace on that front. As far as moving forward, just follow through with the entire sales thread to the end - meaning invoice and ship all books that are spoken/paid for. Seems like a simple matter to me.

It really was. Filled me with nostalgia seeing those names.

It's about Danny Dupcack / ComicKeys This place was a different universe back then. It really isn't. The Water Cooler seems just as insane sometimes. BTW... Dupcack is a LI guy. I am pretty sure our paths have crossed at one point or another on LI. Everyone out here is somewhat inbred in the collecting community and within less than six degrees of separation. Oh, it wasn't crazy bad. It was crazy good. Discussions used to have a lot more leeway than they do nowadays. Dupcack was just plain crazy, though. He once sent me a nasty, threatening email through eBay because I outbid him on an auction once. Back then you could see everything to identify bidders. Zaid went after him in a child support battle on his own dime a few years ago. Wonder what every became of it.

It's about Danny Dupcack / ComicKeys This place was a different universe back then.

I remember reading that thread when it was originally posted.

I put myself on ignore from time to time.

Maybe, but "multiple" is an odd way to phrase it rather than "both," or just "cover detached" or "cover reattached with tape." Might be using their terminology because books have anywhere from 1-3 staples.

belongs to VintageComics. Was offered on the boards. Yup. I talked to Knightsofold but he's happy with his cover for now. I am open (and motivated) to sell it if anyone is interested.

Or maybe you don't understand this generation and this character resonates with them. Have you looked at the current generation? Apologies to the current generation for insulting you, just a little bit. Exactly, my 10.5 year old picks up the house phone and answers "Juan's Butt Cleaning Service." He thinks he's really hilarious. He is the deadpool generation. (And he supposedly has an IQ just shy of 150, which I'm not buying, but those school test proctors are always right...) Yup. Our kids are all 13-20 and the majority of them are the same: random, off the wall, everything is hilarious and nothing is serious. And they're all very smart kids that get strong grades in school and have good social skills. Their humor has shark-jumped over anything I can relate to.

You make it sound like Marvel and Disney aren't pushing their movies. Deadpool is just hitting it's target market better than Marvel has been. The market is out there and they've managed to reach the viewers they wanted to hit.

Or maybe you don't understand this generation and this character resonates with them. Have you looked at the current generation? Apologies to the current generation for insulting you, just a little bit.