poppy73

Corner's look sharp and the book appears to lay flat with no spine ticks that I can see. I'd guess 9.6 without more pics. If I had more pics to base my guess on it might get a higher grade. Anyway, nice book.

6.5

8.0 due to some spine ticks, the staples and the paper being off white. Still a very nice book. eBay has 8.0 copies selling for around $1200 so the book has value. I would definitely get it graded. Nice copy!

I don't see any glaring issues. I'd grade it at a 9.6.. Very Nice Book! Let the community know what it grades at if you wind up sending it out to CGC.

I'd give it a 1.0. I agree that you should wait until you have multiple books to send in for grading.

I'm feeling optimistic so I'll say a 7.0 mainly due to the issue at the top on the front cover. I don't know enough about pressing to say for certain if it would help minimize the crease on the back of the book. Great book though. I traded my copy when I was about ten years old for a les paul electric guitar. One of these days I'll buy another copy.

As far a the overhang's impact on the grade it's hard for me to say exactly. I'm just basing it on personal experience and there are board members who could provide a more seasoned guess. If I had to venture a guess I'd say a point. That combined with the other issues makes my guess a 7.5 IMHO.

Even at 1.5 that book would sell for several thousand dollars based on what I've seen in the past. I'd have it graded as other members have suggested then you'll have a better idea of the value of the book.

Ditto. Spine roll and a spine tick that appears to break color bring it down to an 8.0 - 8.5 IMHO..

I'm unable to see the flaws like SteppinRazor said. Based on the number of flaws you listed though it may be a copy best left raw. I'm not a professional so I can't say with any authority whether pressing would improve the appearance and grade enough to recoup the investment you'd be making by having the book pressed and graded. Perhaps someone a little more seasoned in grading and pressing will chime in and give a better answer. From the pictures though it has great color. I just got my NM 87 back from CGC and got a 9.6. Mine also has a red cover as opposed to the orange you see on some covers. Both colors are first editions. From what I gather the orange looking books have just been exposed to more light and have faded from the rich red color represented on your book. Gold is the color of the second printing.

The corner will drag the grade down to probably a 9.6 so you'll need to have it pressed more than likely to get back a 9.8. I was at Megacon in Orlando and Stan was signing books. My wife and I waited two hours without the line moving an inch before deciding that we just weren't going to wait any longer. My advice would be for you to do whatever it is you want to do. Getting Stan's signature on a Spider-Man book no less will be a cool experience and you'll have a book and experience you won't forget.

As it sits I'd grade it a 7.5. A press and some cleaning could bring that up another point maybe. The corners aren't terrible. I do see what looks like a bit of overhang and the fingerprints you can probably clean yourself. I use a soft rag and breathe on the fingerprint then wipe it off. I have this book in a 9.8 and I have to say I think it's one of the coolest looking covers in comics.

Grader notes for my New Mutants were "spine stress lines"

For sure. I also collect the Marvel Star Wars 001 variant covers. There were nearly 100 I believe and some of them are quite rare and are worth a lot of money especially in 9.8. Anything lower and there value goes kaput. I also collect the Star Wars Action Figure Comic book Variant covers by John Tyler Christopher. It's going to be a couple of years before he's in my neck of the woods again so I'll wait until then and get the top ten action figure variants signed by JTC and witnessed by a cgc rep and send them off for grading. But going forward I'm still going to buy books that are already graded rather than go through the waiting game followed by deep disappointment.

By the way I'm copying the grader notes for your benefit from my 8.5 ASM 300. After all the problems I'm pleasantly surprised I got the grade I did. crease right top of front covercrease spine breaks colorcrease top of front covermultiple crease left bottom of back cover breaks colorvery small crease left top of back cover breaks color

Wow I have never seen that issue. You've peaked my curiosity. Thanks for the heads up and the information. I'll check it out for sure!

As far as the other black costume issue, I believe you're thinking of Secret Wars 8. I have a beautiful raw copy of that issue. Spidey is on the cover in the Symbiote black suit. My other favorite covers are 41,50, 51, 121, 129, 300 of course. I also liked the all black issue that was introduced after 9/11 as a tribute. That was issue 36 from the second series. mycomicshop has a 9.9 cgc copy priced and $600 I believe. 9.9's and 10's are like unicorns. Sometimes I'll go to eBay and just plug into the search engine "9.9 cgc" and see what comics pop up that are graded 9.9. It'll show you which books made the grade. There are a bunch of "All Star Batman" issues with super high grades. I'm not sure why but you'll see a lot of the caped crusader.

Very True. I did get the new Batman Lenticular issue 21 signed by the author Tom King at Megacon and graded by cgc and the two copies he signed and graded came back as 9.8 sig series. I paid less than $10 per copy plus grading and shipping. Now I see these books selling for close to $200 on eBay. That's about as low as I'd go. I did pick up several copies of Batman 24 where Batman proposes to catwoman. It's another I'll probably send in for grading due to it being a key issue. Otherwise I'm going to be looking for higher value books.

IH 181 is a hot book. I'd love to own one. I also collect coins so I have to split my budget between my two hobbies. Hey at least they're hobbies that are worth money after you buy them and that tend to increase in price. Look at ASM 300 in the last 30 days as an example of a comic that blew up. I'd like a nice signed copy of ASM 252. I've always loved that cover. My all time favorite I think though is ASM 41 which intro's the Rhino. There is a nice 7.5 on mycomicshop for $403 at the moment that I may pick up if it's available after I get my daughter moved off to FSU.

I have this same problem with the exact same issue. Wolverine 1988. Mine has spine roll and finger prints. It was suggested to me that I breathe on the copy and rub it with a soft towel. It helped when I tried it. Of course a press wouldn't hurt if so inclined.

It would improve their average price per grade. I'll tell you I work in sales and we live and breathe by the average total ticket per customer and any add on's, additional services just pad that average ticket more and more making the company and the sales staff more money. The products and services offered by CGC & CCS really work wonders with the books they work on. Pressing can make a 4.5 look like a 7.0 and pre-screening is a great service if you've had it with getting back 9.6's and 9.4's. My concern is just that using these CCS services is becoming the new normal. I'll also mention I am not sending in silver age books here. I think the oldest book I have sent in was a copy of X-Men 142 but most of my books are copper and modern books. That's my area of focus with my collection and that may evolve over time but my point is that these books I am sending in for the most part are fairly recent books, unread, bagged and boarded. I handle them with gloves, I always use two boards instead of one to add extra rigidity while in the bag. Yet I am still averaging maybe 20% of my books coming back as 9.8's. As I have said often lately I may just go back to buying pre-graded 9.8's of the books I want rather than rolling the dice with CGC. It won't quite be like Christmas morning but at least I'll get what I ordered without worrying for weeks what the gods will bestow on my books. More than likely, because I still have several hundred modern books that are as of yet ungraded I'll still probably need to do a bit of both. Next go around I'll try my luck with some of the CCS services probably the Quickpress, and get back to you with a full report as to what percentage of my books received 9.8's.

I've run into the same problem. My wife purchased me a large magnifying lens with a light so that I can really inspect my coins and comics. I use gloves to handle my books, I glance over my copies prior to sending them and just as you said, two copies that appear to be the exact same condition receive 2 different grades. My theory is that we're being subliminally encouraged to utilize the different ccs services i.e. pressing or quick press in order to obtain the higher grades. My belief if that the chance of a book hitting 9.8 escalates quickly when using these services. I hope I am wrong but I've sent in books, some of which ahead of time I knew deserved lower grades and low grades were received, but then I've sent in most in what I felt was NM to Mint and 8 out of 10 times wound up disappointed with the grades. That's my 2 cents.

I buy through my LCS and back issues through mycomicshop and have always been impressed in the condition of their books and quality of there packaging. No one is perfect but after 30 to 40 transactions I have never had a single issue. I also find their pricing to be fair and I like the consignment method they use. Very often because they consign the price is set by the customer and I'll see a 9.8 of a certain book selling for $299 from one seller then on the same page see the same book from another seller in 9.8 condition for $449. Obviously I buy the $299 as long as mycomicshop doesn't list any defects in the slab which I've seem them do when defects are present. In other words if the slab was scuffed they'd let you know before you buy. Occasionally you'll run across a jewel where a customer is selling a hot book in 9.8 condition for a ridiculously low price but this is rare. I've never ordered off of eBay and refuse to by or sell from them.

Every band needs a chord man or rhythm guitarist so down count yourself out. My 19 year old daughter can blow circles around me but I put a guitar in her hand when she was two. Now she rips.. I went 5 or 6 years without picking up a guitar. My daughter bought me one for Father's day this year so it's renewed my interest. The hardest part as a young person is realizing you'll most likely never be the best which if ok and is why it's best just to have fun with it.

I understand. Thanks for looking.