Get Marwood & I

In longways UK weekly format, yes: I must have owned at least five of the US version over the years - here's my last two copies (long gone now): I had a 9.4WP slab too. The preposterousness of a May/Ock marriage never seemed to trouble me, either as a kid or later as an adult. It was, and still is to me, charming. Which is what comics used to be, back in the day. A bit throwaway, but charming nonetheless.

Ticked another one off the 'Gold Star' distribution list in the week:

I love all the little notes you find here and there on OA

You wouldn't have thought it possible to improve on the original but somehow I managed it

My research into Charlton, cross-referenced to DC, leads me to believe that this is just an unbranded T&P stamp Albert. The transition from the branded T&P 7p stamp to the branded 8p stamp included the use of unbranded stamps and stickers during the early months of 1974. It's an interesting distribution period overall, leading up to the 4th Marvel UKPV hiatus.

You could ask, but then they'd have to do it for everyone. We'd end up with "Property of Dave the milkman" and "Property of tall Barry". That kind of thing.

I can't see him on the list: https://www.cgccomics.com/resources/pedigree/ Nice book though

"Neigh! It's a bit lively here today Barry, isn't it. Explosions, guns, shouting. It's absolutely manic" "Neigh! Never mind all that Dave, look at the f size of that horse in the clouds!"

I saw these three whilst rooting around in Mega City Comics yesterday - two Charltons and a Dell: No inserts.

Someone drew in Spidey's chest logo on that copy

Has she got a sister?

I got 6 points too this round and also - inexplicably, looking at it now in the slab - graded the Batman #210 far too high. In fact, it was my worst book of the competition, accounting for 3 of my overall 21 points. I got 4 bulls and 12 books one grade off - 12 points across 16 books. The other 4 books cost me 9 points. Oddly, they were the 'easier' ones. I enjoy these contests, and try to do as much as I can to support them, but I think you need two things to stand any chance of getting a prize: judgment, and luck. We don't hold these books in hand. Grading from images means you can't see inside, the surface wear that light shows, whether covers are attached, spines are split, whether creases are tears, etc. So the best you can hope for is to have enough grading sense and experience to get within a grade or two of CGC's final in hand grade (which itself may have been the average of three different graders assessments). Skill and experience will get you to that point, then it's all down to luck. How many times have you watched a football match when one side had 30 shots on goal and missed every one - hitting the bar, just wide, deflection, a pigeon got in the way - and the opposition had one shot wide, but which deflected in for a goal. It's why the phrase "We weren't supposed to win today" exists. Any one of my 12 'one grade off books' could have been a bull. In fact, if I had got a bullseye on every book, I'd have won. Heh heh. As others have said, this competition would be greatly enhanced by a member donation prize thread and I hope someone US based will offer to set that up next time. I've always made solid contributions to them, and that is where all the real fun lies as everyone gets to share in the camaraderie and has something to look forward to. That's just a suggestion for improving things though, and entirely separate to the well deserved recognition of all the hard work put in by Mike and those behind the scenes to keep the current winner takes all format on the road. Anyway, good luck to those near the top, as they now anxiously wait to see if they're in the running to win some financial assistance with their next submission @Yorick Yoz, unless you scored 1 or 0 that round, you owe me a grand mate. We did say a grand, didn't we?

Heh heh, it's not that important to me, really.

Some of the grades in the competition do leave me scratching my head a bit but on this occasion I can actually see how these two would grade out the same structurally. They just stand out when put side to side due to the significant difference in eye appeal. But CGC don't grade eye appeal, do they. Do they...?

I like the way your mind works, littledoom....

A lot of effort goes into running these contests Dude, and CGC stump up $850 four times a year to show how they value the forum and it's members. Even Matt Nelson gets involved, picking books and helping with the spreadsheets. The member run contests were great, especially the donation threads, but Mike has a heavy workload and just can't manage the tracking and distribution of a prize thread too. As he says, anyone could volunteer to run one. I considered it, but being in the UK would make it difficult as I'm asleep when most participants are just getting going. There's nothing stopping anyone running their own contests, and a few members have. They're all enjoyable in my opinion. The alternative is nothing, so better to be supportive I think.

Glossy pictures of hot chicks in their underwear trumped the first appearance of Ra's Al Ghul

No worries, thanks Dale. It was a fun prospect while it lasted

Mike thought he'd unplugged the fan heater, but it turns out....

You can't have one. Nelson needs the money.

That's right Paul. Ken, sorry.

That's what I like about you, Mike. Your attention to detail

Indeed. Five bulls @TC33! That's got to be a contest record, surely. Well done. I'm quite happy with my score of 15 so far - one grade off per book average. Not bad considering most CGC graders would likely be in that ballpark, comparatively. @Yorick unless my eyes are deceiving me, I'm still beating you. It was £500 we agreed on, wasn't it? Unless I fall off a cliff in R4 that is. If that happens, this is just board banter