Get Marwood & I

Afternoon I was looking through some old comics this week, clearing the decks of all the books that make their way into your collection as extras in bulk ebay sales and the like. A few had some good interior adverts which invoked some nice feelings of nostalgia. Here's a few - maybe others can post ones they have found / like First up, did anyone ever buy one of these? I had the Spidey one and I have to say it was one of the most exciting things I can remember. The suction cup dart never stuck to anything of course, but it was the closest my eight year old self ever got to web-slinging Thwipp! Not sure what this next one was all about, not being a DC boy back in the day. Their version of the Marvel Value Stamps? Jack O'Lantern - Hero of Ireland. What!?

Hello RyeGuy It's not a dumb question as such, but a difficult one to answer due to the variety of factors involved. You need to know a bit about comics in the first instance to be able to understand the pros and cons of restoration. It will largely depend on: The monetary value of a book - if it has no commercial value, and that is your interest, then there's no point in restoring it (take care here - a restored book usually commands a significantly lower resale price than an unrestored copy. Often, collectors prefer a tatty 'pure' book, to a nice looking restored one) Keeping it for yourself / future generations - if you want to preserve it for yourself or others, because you love it, even though its commercially of low value, then you can do that (a good resto can cost a bit though) If you have a book in mind, let us know what it is, or better still post a picture. The members here like as much information as possible, and an indication that you have done the basics of research yourself before they will be inclined to help. Here's a link to what CGC themselves have to say about the process. You can google everything else, or surf the boards looking for threads on the subject. Good luck https://www.cgccomics.com/resources/restoration/ An Overview of Comic Book Restoration Repairing comic books has been around in our hobby since the first comics were sold to the public. It is natural for people to want their books to look as new as possible or to remain intact so that they can continue to be read. Early in fandom history, simple and crude repairs were performed by the owner of the comic for these reasons. For example, a couple of pieces of tape were used to hold on the cover, a dab of Dad's wood glue was used to close a tear, some crayon made the cover look better, etc. As the hobby grew and comics became more expensive, the need to define and describe various repairs became apparent. Some repairs remained acceptable to collectors and were "grandfathered," such as tape. Most repairs, however, were defined as restoration. Restoration can be broken down into two main types: treatments intended to prolong the existence of the comic book and treatments done for aesthetics. Both types of restoration involve the introduction of non-original material to create or facilitate a desired effect. CGC defines restoration as treatments intended to return the comic book to a known or assumed state through the addition of non-original material. Examples of restoration include: COLOR TOUCH. Using pigment to hide color flecks, color flakes, and larger areas of missing color. Examples of pigments may include paint (acrylic, oil, watercolor, etc.), pencil crayon, pastel, pen, marker, white-out, etc. Color touch is sometimes called inpainting. PIECES ADDED (piece replacement). Added pieces to replace areas of missing paper. Piece replacement material can be non-original paper such as wood or cotton fiber papers, married from a donor comic book, or color-copied pieces. This process is sometimes called infilling. TEAR SEALS. Sealing a tear using an adhesive. An adhesive may be cellulose, chemical, or protein-based glues as well as anything that acts as an adhesive, such as saliva. SPINE SPLIT SEALS. Sealing a spine split using adhesive (adhesives are described above under "tear seals"). REINFORCEMENT. A process by which a weak or split page or cover is reinforced with adhesive and reinforcement paper. Reinforcement papers are commonly wood or cotton fiber papers. CLEANED (lightened). An aqueous process to lighten the paper color or remove soluble acids, often using chemical oxidation, solvents, or water. This process is sometimes called cleaned and pressed or C&P. Common chemicals used to lighten paper include benzene, acetone, xylene, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, chloramine-T, chlorine dioxide, sodium borohydrate, etc. RE-GLOSSED. Enhancing the cover gloss, typically through the application of canned re-glossing/art fixodent spray. Non-additive processes such as dry cleaning (non-aqueous removal of dirt, soot, or other non-original surface material), pressing (removal or reduction of bends and creases), and tape removal, are not considered restoration by CGC. In accordance with hobby standards, the addition of tape is not considered restoration but will always be noted on the CGC label. While we believe that tape should never be used on a comic book for any reason, our hobby has accepted that people used tape to keep comic books from falling apart. This measure was taken even before comics became collectibles. In the early days of fandom, some sellers stated that tape was not a defect and some collectors even accepted tape on mid grades. CGC will downgrade for tape, as we consider it a defect no matter why or when it was added. Restoration has become a controversial issue in the comic book hobby because it is not always disclosed by sellers, but can dramatically affect the value of a comic book. CGC protects against this by ALWAYS disclosing detected restoration. In some cases, restoration is not readily detectible to novices or individuals lacking expertise in restoration detection. Even experienced hobbyists miss restoration when grading comic books. For this reason, CGC has made the restoration check a mandatory component of the CGC certification process.. View the CGC Restoration Grading Scale

Me too. Leave her be. I'm at 7.0. And welcome to the party

Very nice! It looks great and alive, so I'm an eight point five

This book is an enemy of the Daleks! Though it presents better Dear Boy, I'm afraid I must settle on a 6.0

Cheers Bob. My aim is for each image in the files to be a full image of the full comic. I don't like them when they're cropped / you can't see the full book, or fuzzy. Cheers for trying Good one for the files example Bad one for the files example

I bet he could Dan But we here in Englandville do the day first, month second. So my letter is the 6th of January. He replied very quickly, bless him.

"There's been no sign of life for some time now Dave - I think the thread is gone" "Right...." "OK everyone. We've done what we can here. Time to call it a day. Time of death, 11:50"

Oh, there you are. I can't hardly remember what was going on in here now, truth be told. A leaky memory is a terrible thing isn't it A leaky mem, oh forget it. Poor old Steve is dead now, so here's the full un-redacted letter he sent me about the font variants I asked him about two years ago: This is the letter I sent him by the way, crude as you like (he sent it back with his reply): I can't remember if I've posted that already. I like that he homed in on the 9d copy. Foreign Country indeed. God rest his cranky soul. If it wasn't for him I may not be here now, pottering about with comics. When I'm gone, no one will give two hoots. He left his mark forever. Well, until we blow ourselves up that is, and then have to start all over again. As for the font research, I parked that while I concentrated on the pence indicia work (see Marvel pence thread). The two cross over, as the copies with font variations clash with pence issues, indicia types etc. I'm trying to work out how to present it all. There's definitely something there I think, but it will probably only appeal to TMAADLS. The other issue is that I tend to forget where I got to, if I stay away from it for too long. So it's like a rediscovery each time I revisit it. OK, I'm rambling, probably repeating myself, likely boring everyone and dying on the inside* Wish me luck *English humour

The Golden Keys shot up a bit recently, after a discovery of a batch hiding in plain sight. So we're up to 104 of them now: Is anybody interested but me? Doesn't look like it does it. Too busy off having fun, bowling somewhere probably.... Oh, look, that's just cheating isn't it! Drop the ball on his head Bugs. Then take him to the barbers

....or not There are 40 DC 'Ghosts' out there, did you know, haunting up the joint. I know this, because some bloke on ebay measured them: I try not to do that as a rule. They're not that common as pence copies, Ghosts, and the files have a few dodgy images that I hope to replace when someone gets around to loading a better copy up somewhere online. Or if I find one cheap on my travels. The chart remains static since the unfamous miscalculation calamity of 2018. 840 pence books, 40 of which are Ghosts: One pence copy I will never find of course is the 'Ghosts Special'. Too early you see. But here's a copy with a rather attractive 30p stamp on it, in glorious recognition of it's out of the ordinary size. Zoom in... So, it made it over. A 'distributed' copy, as others might call it. I call it a cents copy. You can tell I'm bored can't you.

Morning Here's another of those little bits of information that interest few and trouble less. Those in the know of the know all knowing knowledge know that Marvel indicias were placed on the inside covers up to and including November 1966. They also know that from December 1966, the indicia moved to the splash page. But those in the full knowing of the complete know all knowing knowledge know that this switch coincided with a more or less across the board two issue pence gap. Here's some pretty pictures: Indicia On the Inside Indicia On the Splash Pence Gap So, could these two events be connected? No. Probably not. And yes, I know I could have chosen two copies that are Nov/Dec dated, but the Kid was handy, alright?

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/117143-this-week-back-from-cgc/?do=findComment&comment=10544844

If she pulls any harder on the reins of the 'magic hobby horse' the Witch won't be the only one who'll be coming.

Come on. Ten years you've been anonymous Ken. Free your inner dragon!

Come on Ken.....do it.....

They appeal to a certain type of collector and, as they exist in much lower numbers than their non-insert counterparts, they tend to generate a premium when spotted on ebay. That was my experience anyway - especially when a particularly hard to find book came up that several collectors wanted. I got outbid quite a few times towards the end of my insert collecting days - and mostly by a friend who previously thought they were silly (until he held a few in his hands and the charm took over)

Mines got a Mark Jewelers insert in it

Bagpus! Clanger!

Well done on reaching 10k Jay I love inserts of all types, especially MJI's, and think it's right that they get this distinction. I understand why some disagree, but they are a separate entity in their own right and a completists dream. So this is good to hear. And you're right about awe4one - his work in this area helped me build my Spidey run. He deserves credit