Get Marwood & I

When those labels start showing up on eBay...what will that do for the brand? This is the exact position I find myself in this morning. I have an AF15 set up on the system - my first ever submission - and it's going to cost me £1,215 to have it graded via the UK office if I decide to press send. That is a lot of money even with my grading contest credit reduction. Now I see that CGC have 'clarified' their terms and conditions. The timing of that action in itself speaks volumes as to how lucky I am and if my submission comes back with issues, as my luck suggests it will, the scope for successful, cost-free resolution appears to have narrowed somewhat for most ME scenarios and has been removed completely for Newton Rings (if I'm reading it all correctly). Even with all that has gone before, and my word hasn't there been a lot of it, I'm scratching my head here wondering how even CGC's management team can think this is an acceptable policy announcement. Has the time finally come for us to stop giving them the benefit of the doubt and accept that their business practices intentionally fall some way short of what would be considered acceptable in any other industry? Am I the only one here who feels that participation on this forum is fast becoming a nose-holding exercise? Why do we give CGC our time and patronage? Do they deserve it? Why do we submit and why do we keep this forum running through our participation, often posting freely the type of information that draws in new members and which others would likely charge for? In all other walks of life, if you disagree strongly with how a private company does its business you steer clear of them. There are good people in the CGC operation, but this is not a company that I feel I want to support anymore, if this latest announcement stands and is as it seems. Seven years I've been here and the first time I go to submit a comic they redefine Newton Rings as acceptable in all cases. That's quite comical given the poll I posted all those years ago. It almost feels like payback. So if my book comes back covered in them, I'm reading that I will have to pay to give CGC a second go at it but with no guarantee that the end product will be any better. Dear, oh dear. Werner - you hit the nail on the head: it is indeed incredible. Incredible and indefensible.

Hogar Nice. Our stamper here was either lucky or had a sense of humour. I like to think it was the latter

Found this image online from Spider-Man Comics Weekly #158 Gary:

....we've got a good little crowd in this thread here, haven't we. Night boys!

Anyway, I'm off for the night. If any of you get a chance, pop over to Gary's new thread - it's a corker:

Tell me about it. I must have wrote to Marvel 85 times in 85 different ways trying to get info on their 1999/2000 Price Variants. No one replies nowadays. In times past I'd likely have gotten 86 replies. And in general, when you do get a bite on something, no one bloody remembers anything!

Bloody things....

You're not even that now, Yoz. You're just a member. My member's poking out the top of my nappies there, can you see?

They told me that banner went through banner QC!

The other good thing about Charlton is that you can extract the urine mercilessly out of their covers. With deep affection, of course

Don't be silly Robot. What idiot would start a thread on that....

Find new friends I know, it's mad isn't it. Gold Key were the same. It makes plotting a nightmare too:

Cheers Eric. You can't expect people to respond all the time as not everyone likes everything. I try to acknowledge a job well done when I see it on the boards, even if the subject matter doesn't interest me personally, but it's not something you should get hung up on when you feel like you're posting in a vacuum. There are loads of threads I don't read here which I'm sure are great and which the authors wonder sometimes where everyone is. Though they are widely disliked, I do think Charlton have the most going on from a UK distribution perspective. So many phases, so many players and so many links to other publishers along the way. And they have the most complete jigsaw, if that makes sense, where every distribution 'phase' ends cleanly as the other begins (over 22 of them, from 1958 to 1986). My trouble is there is so much to say that I don't know where to start and I can't decide how best to present it. I actually had a twenty plus post new journal entry set up last year. The first 20 posts were quite lengthy, full of pictures and graphics, and barely got me past the first few phases. But I just didn't like it so I deleted it. It was days of work and I just deleted it. It's really hard sometimes to work out what you want to say, and in what order. And do you go straight and risk boring everyone, or try to liven it up a bit with some mucking about. Sigh, I'll get there one day. And I'll be watching for your 'like' when I do

Exactly. I bet half of our combined speculation places more emphasis on things that weren't even a consideration back then. Think about it. T&P used the Obliterator Stamp to ensure the right price was observed. And for sale stamps. If you pick up a book with a 10d and a shilling, which is the right price? Has it been reduced, or increased? Maybe the 10d is the Gold Star, and there was one prolific retailer who chanced his arm with a higher priced shilling stamp. Maybe every shilling stamp example came from the same shop. So many possibilities. Hence the need to pick your battles and I don't see the value in spending countless hours on the Gold Star thing. I think we know what we need to know on that now. You have a superlative grasp on research Rich, and show an uncommon level of intelligence in your thinking and writing. I've said before, you should be writing books not wasting time on a website that could be pulled at any point by the owners. And take this how it is meant - as a compliment - I wouldn't waste any time on subscriptions as there are no variants to find, nothing telling. Apply yourself to something more worthy of your considerable talents mate

I'm deeply immersed in Charlton still. I know no one gives a monkeys about Charlton - I know that from the deafening silence that accompanies every post I make about them - but when I finally get around to landing it I know you will like it Rich.

Indeed. The comics tell part of the story, and their part is factual. I like speculating but I'm mindful of how assumptions can take on a life of their own. If we don't know, we don't know and we should be clear on that.

It's hard to tell without the book in hand and it isn't the clearest image. These stamps can play tricks on you anyway - I have one which appears to sit behind a part of the cover art which is of course impossible. It's mad how some of them apply - or don't apply - to different inks.

Is your Cap #139 a typo Gary - this is in #138:

Absolutely fantastic Gary. Well done mate Reggie will be all over this when he logs on. He spotted the background stuff in the Andru thread, not me. F knows what I was looking at as a kid. I can spot a price variant on Mars now but I missed all these references growing up

Why wooden it?

He sounds certifiable

@zzutak, meet @Superman2006