Philflound

The thing with lots of these 90s titles that have hard to find last issues are for those trying to complete series. With low print runs and like some people will agree, these were thrown in cheap sale boxes, trying to find high grades of some of these last issues will be tough. That is why many are commanding higher $$$. The thing with new comics and low print runs is that the majority of these comics will be saved instantly and if become hot like say Moon Girl $28, then even if they do have a 6-7k print run, 99% of those issues will remain high grade. You also have those who are looking for newsstand variants of these late issue comics. Those are even more impossible to find.

I agree with Tony on this. The more valuable a book, the more likely it will have notes. Especially if there are $100s or $1000s differences between say a 9.2 and a 9.4. Graders would definitely want to know why they didn't get that 9.4. 9.8 to 9.6 is most likely the difference of 1-2 stress lines vs 3-4 or possibly a tiny corner nick or something real small.

Don't bother restoring. That is chewed by rodents. Like others said, just buy another copy for the money you'd spend restoring it. I actually had a copy of either this or the one after missing the centerfold. Threw it in a box for future consideration of whatever.

Don't bother. Just find another copy. Usually a book in 0.5 worth grading would have to value $1k in my opinion in that condition, even coverless.

Show a pic.

That book should never have gotten out. The label indicates that the original entry for many of the Walking Dead comics had Image as the publisher. Later the publisher was changed to I think Image/Skybound, so all the original entries were plastered with the WRONG WRONG thing to let quality control know that someone input the book under the wrong publisher and that it should be changed. Guess someone didn't see it.

I don't think it factors in the grade, but it will be noted on the label as such. There are also those copies where Marvel forgot to put the code in the book altogether, which also would be noted on label.

Right middle front and left middle back covers will have smudges from fingers. Look closely at many examples you find and you'll probably see partial or whole fingerprints in the smudges.

Some people prefer to have a downgraded blue label vs a qualified green label. If the price sticker is small, it may not detract much. Sort of like a piece of tape. Depends on size and location too.

A book is only brittle if the pages literally continue to crumble the more you handle them. There are comics that will have say one corner of every page flake 1/4" and that is it. The rest of the book is solid. Those books are not brittle once you get past the part that will come off. There are some ads in the Overstreet guide for restoration, so you may want to check there.

Your books will not get bent up since they are sealed in a very sturdy hard plastic case. The only way you'll get damage is if the package is damaged and the case is cracked and even then your book still may not be damaged. If your comics look pretty much mint, you may want to go with the higher tier, but I can't say how many people think their books look NM and they end up a 7.0 - 8.0 at best. So unless a 9.8 sells for well over $1000, throw them in the modern if they are books 1975 or later and like Bob says, they'll possibly get bumped if they turn out to be 9.8s.

Always consider the defects. Something that has lots of bends would probably be a good candidate. Something with a lot of creases wouldn't be. You can't press tears. Also, anything brittle won't be considered or even if it's possibly brittle. If you comic has tears at the staple that looks to get detached, or detached staples already, most likely not going to be approved for pressing. Also consider the monetary reward. If you can make a few hundred or few thousand on a grade bump, spending the $15 or whatever for the pressing is well worth the risk, even in the end if you don't get the bump. Most likely your book will look nicer in the same grade and may sell faster. Going off 2 books from Justafan doesn't tell you anything. You need to hear from someone submitting 100 books and see how their success rate is.

Census shows 6 graded 2nd print editions. They would break them out like they did for the Batman #457. My apologies on misreading. I guess there are still no graded copies out there. I saw someone post which I thought was in this thread that they knew of only 1 copy in existence.

Not to go off the subject a little, but your best bet like was mentioned by James is the rarity. Check out the census on how many books of that particular issue has been graded, and look at how many restored copies there are. FF#1 is key but is extremely common. Over 2000 copies graded with just over 25% with restoration. Showcase #23: 270 copies with just 20 restored. 7.4%. So the Showcase is much rarer to come by, and paying a "premium" on a restored copy is not unreasonable.

A book that high should be qualified. OP doesn't mention whether or not he has a blue or green label. Just because you have a few spine dings that you think should be a 9.2 or 9.4 doesn't rule out other defects. Do you have grader notes? Possibly a small stain or crease somewhere on the cover? Several bends would definitely lower it to an 8.5. You said this was bagged? Dynamic Forces? Or was it polybagged? Polybag would most likely leave a vertical line.

The spine is probably the hardest of bends to remove. There is no guarantee they will come out. I think people who have taken their book apart and then pressed the spine have gotten slightly better results. But CCS does not take your book apart. Best candidates for pressing are the bends in the cover other than the spine. I think people expect automatically if there is no color break, their 9.6 will become a 9.8. Not so. I guess you can always get a cheesy quarter bin book that has stress lines that don't break color and see what results you can achieve by pressing it yourself.

I've been searching for a 2nd print newsstand Superman #50 since reading about it. I thought it was first mentioned in this thread when the Batman #457 2nd print newsstand was first mentioned at how rare it was. I now see there are 6 graded copies of the #50. Haven't seen any of these for sale though. Wondering how much these would go for. I saw someone offering like $300 for a 9.0 or better. With 9.4 #457 selling for like $2600, I can just imagine the Sup would sell just as high if not higher.

I think Stan is finally done signing altogether. He hasn't signed anything since Feb I think.

That is the glow in the dark variant. I used to have one. Probably don't anymore.

There are several copies of Spawn 1 that had problems with the black ink. Here's one that sold high with no black ink. https://www.ebay.com/itm/SPAWN-1-CGC-8-5-MANUFACTURING-ERROR-TODD-MCFARLANE-RARE-NEW-MOVIE-/232612214648?hash=item3628c4b778%3Ag%3AWpkAAOSwjodaMros&nma=true&si=%2Bey%2BN7zyh5IiSfyn5nnpacBYG8Q%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Yeah, I see that. And like I said before, he showed scans and said it in the description. I'm actually fed up with buyers who never read the descriptions and complain about something when it was clearly stated. I'm not talking about having to read 10 paragraphs worth of fine print. I put 2 paragraphs at most and people still complain or ask me questions that are already covered in the description. I vote for the seller here. You don't read, you deserve to be taken to the cleaners.

I find nothing wrong with this listing. He does not call it Fantastic Four #52. He gives the year of the book. He shows the back cover which has a UPC code which didn't exist when the original came out. So in my opinion, this listing is fine and there is no deception.

I'm lazy and don't want to read 4 1/2 pages, but if I got something with too much tape, which I think I have in the past, but it's a rare occurance, I trust my razor. Someone mentioned creating spine dings. I think I may have done that trying to pull off a bagged comic once or twice, so I'd rather sacrifice the bag/board the comic is in and not risk damaging my book. Just carefully cut the comic book out of its tomb of tape along the edges. Don't worry that the comic bag has tons of strips of tape, and just remove it and put it in a new bag. I'm assuming we're talking about raw books and not graded ones.

CGC graders know exactly which Marvel stamp is supposed to be in any particular issue. I've seen many married page 10 or wrap 6 with Hulk 181 with the correct stamp. I saw only once where it had a Hulk 180 or 182 stamp in it (can't remember). Many of the MVS issues are on page 10 (physical page 10, not side 10), a few are before the staple, maybe page 7 or 8 (not sure), and some are on the last page. That is the most common. Any book with a Marvel value stamp should be checked, especially that page. Just because you see it doesn't mean it hasn't come from another copy, so look for the page to be taped in, glued in, or the wrap to match the others surrounding it with color, printer tears, printer creases at the top spine area, or any other signs of tomfoolery. Most damage will match pages around it.

I believe manufacturing errors are noted on label text, which should read "manufactured without gold foil" or something to that effect.