MAR1979

My opinion is any advice based on the image presented is simply not valid. Unless you are flipper not worth taking a chance. If you not happy with a 9.6 you certainly won't like 9.4 to the point just looking at it in a 9.4 slab might disgust you. Still any who ask the question likley all ready have their mind made up anyhow - so good luck with re-subbing it.

Bad things (like mold, warping) could happen to a 2 year old CGC slab stored in a damp cellar. Or a book could fade in a 1 year old slab if in direct sunlight for many of those days. As to how much fading if any has occurred that takes some legwork or experience to know the product. IMHO it boils down to Buy the book, not the slab. I know the social media crowd are just purchasing based on the grade shown on the label, but serious collectors know to look at the book before forking over the cash.

And Chedder is the most scarce cheese

1978 Drakes Hulk #21 Trading Card produced by Topps. Set is truly rare and cards near impossible to find in high grade (Near Mint or above) as they were inserted (usually crammed) unprotected into boxes of Ring Dings, Yodels, and Devil Dogs. Back then the former 2 snacks were individually wrapped in foil not in plastic and many times the foil would scratch the cards or allow a bit of chocolate to stain them. It's 44 years since Drakes Cakes Hulk cards were issued and no "warehouse" finds have ever come to light. The opinion of many non-sports card collectors is they are the rarest USA Marvel Cards ever distributed. Still they are in low to no demand but yet 1990/1991 Impel Marvel Cards which were produced in the tens of millions now go for big money - go figure. Sample card back

Does this count?

While not new acquisitions they feel like they are to me as I had not opened my 80's "Spidey in Mylar" boxes in approx 15 years, but decided to cull some for submissions. All were purchased by myself when new. Had multiple copies of all but 316. 252 was the first ever comic I purchased multiples of in my life. I recall having to pass on other books that week to do so. It was a heavily hyped book in it's day and my Mom even cut out some newspapers articles back then for me. Copy is perfect on front and spine but a tiny color rub (app 20% the size of a standard pencil eraser in diameter) on top of the back, I've seen and have purchased many worse books in 9.8, but I seem to get Graders of Doom who just had a fight w/their significant other on all my submissions thus expect only a 9.6. Sadly have no recollection why I never purchased 301, 302 , 303 and 304 back in the day I scan all my books before subbing, but not sure if it would ever actually make a difference in the event of CGC mishandling? Still have more to scan. I probably put way too much effort into each submission to the point it's become a chore. BTW: Those seeking McFarlane era newsstands are truly missing out as they lack the B/W pencil and ink "doodles" in the UPC area. Love those things!.

While Logical, it's nowhere near absolute. Of course without CGC displaying or even possessing up to this point that Direct vs Newsstand data it's speculative. Lets take some examples: 1) Thor 337 in CGC 9.8. Those who have monitored this book the past 5 years as i have on eBay will likley have noticed there are a plethora of newsstand copies for sale, at times outnumbering the directs. Back in the day 337 became a hot book the moment it hit the Comic shops. Dealers, flippers and collectors of the time flocked to the newsstands 2-3 weeks later and grabbed all copies they could find, even if they had to intimidate a few children in the process As result that book as a newsstand copy is not scarce in 9.6 or 9.8 and probably should not command a cent more as newsstand copies back then still outnumbered direct sale. 2) Early DC and Marvel direct sales. Newsstands accounted for all but a tiny fraction of the market. "Warehouse Finds" of newsstands of that era are still unearthed every now and then. Also back then there were venues other than actual newsstands that would carry newsstand editions. While there are exceptions of course newsstands from the early Direct Sale era in high grade are not scarce. 3) Later era's, I've low interest in books issues after 1990, but I do agree those newsstand pop's are probably very low in high grade. Keep in mind I've no skin in this game unlike Mile High Comics I do not sell Comic Books. My guess is any attack on my comments that drip with venom (or carnage ) are from those with a fiscal concern. P.S. There are several late 70's Marvel Books I prefer newsstands as they are what I recalled as small child. The different between the price area on the 40 and 50 cents Marvels is quite different as the direct sale has the diamond. Once the only real difference became the Spidey vs UPS i could not care less. As for DC, only difference from the get go was the UPC area so no real interest to me which I have (or get). However some direct sale had art while newsstands had the UPC (like Crisis 1) on those I want only the Direct Sale.

Everything Chuck sez aligns with profit motive. Take his words carefulllllllly

As long as demand maintains so too will price. However with so many copies in high grade it won't take much of a demand drop to change that. Then again I could say same thing about Infinity Gauntlet 1 and Amazing Spider-Man 300 and Killing Joke #1 and Dark Knight 1, etc. Guess what I'm attempting to convey is Supply and Demand 101 eventually will reign supreme Although "a market can remain irrational longer than many can remain solvent" - to paraphrase Wilde.

I was going to write 9.6 then I saw grading was completed. But 9.8 was not out of the question as the quality of the pics were not so good Congrats on the 9.8. #361 back in the day was a heavily ordered and hyped book. Not usual in that situation for a book to actually live up it's alleged at the time potential.

They are in Texas, the buyer is is stuck with it. Between their policy's and shill bidding from the house is legal in Texas one has to be prepared to pay their max amount of their bid for every item and more importantly eat the loss if said item has some flaws never mentioned in the auctions description. -----------------

Also in Collectibles like Trading Cards, Comic Art, Boxed Video Games condition is KING. With OCA condition is an afterthought. Thus no room for the alleged WATA / Haspel brand of nepotistic fix-is-in manipulation. i would not be surprised if an investigation led to numerous counts of outright fraud - for now we'll just say alleged fraud. Of course with Comic Art there is the OCA dealer merry-go-round If you are one of Goldin's or Cohen's buddies there is money to be made, if you are not then you will play the part of the rube.

Perhaps. Also possible that "The Promise Collection" has a hint of alleged nepotistic impropriety.

It was not accurate. Simple stuff like the way Marston met Peter was depicted was fiction. They played it very loose with accuracy to make it entertaining (Hollywoodization) but the way the film portrays the history is nowhere close to gospel. I do agree not truly a straw-man so I've edited the post.

Huh? If you were to research the 3 people you will find nearly all the chain of events never occurred anywhere near the manner they were portrayed nor even in the correct chronological order. Including the way the 3 first met. Again very entertaining and well done film that merely weaves a story around non-fiction people and events in a wholly fictionalized manner. I've not read the book perhaps that was more true to the actual history? Regardless of fact or fiction still a great movie.

Enjoyable movie, I really liked it, however its nearly all Hollywood fiction based on actual people.

Same thing happened in Trading Cards with the 1986 Fleer Jordan earlier this year as a prime example of Alleged fraud and market manipulation. Of course what is not often mentioned is nearly all dealers and majority of collectors seem to condone this type of fraud and manipulation. Dealers OK makes sense logically, but for collectors its a strange Stockholm syndrome variation. Case in point nearly every collector I have spoke to knows how crooked (insert name of well large state auction house or Banned northwest eBay entity here) are, not to mention (insert name name a left or right coast warm state grading firm here) but continue to do business with them unabated and often will defend them to the hilt. If the bulk collectors stayed away the schemes would have minimal success, if not failure, but those behind the scenes know that ain't ever going to happen. Earlier in this topic there was mention of OCA shenanigans going on, no surprise.. Anyone have a link or willing to provide info. Here is one of those posts.

The last Major con I attended in Oct 2019 i heard dealers say the same thing over and over regarding raw books; "Get it pressed and you will have 9.6 or 9.8" . Heard one of them say that about a book missing a small piece of cover approx half the size of dime, and the potential customer agreeing - seriously. Some dealer's I'm sure make a fair amount of bank selling to "rubes" and the "greedy".. I'd really like to see a guide out there with before and after of what can and cannot be solved by CSS pressing. If some of the mystery was removed it might encourage more folks to give it a go.

Yeah it's gamble alright. Since at least up to this point in life I'm not a seller, not sure costs and risk of re-submitting are worth it to me. If it came back with less than a 9.8 I'd have to put it away for 40 years Perhaps 10 years ago i should have revisited the book? I do agree grading more consistent today. Still though I have purchased many new slabs and scratched my head wondering how it garnered a 9.8 which is why I prefer to purchase in person so i can truly view the book. That said anything under $100 I still roll the dice. I will say at 1 place I'm a regular customer if the book does not meet my grade they will take it back but I do have to pay return shipping costs. In today's age of "buy the slab not the book" many dealers have low tolerance for a return. P.S. you still have the Scooby 1?

Nope not born in 1979. Was late teen when ASM 300 came out. But as an OCD-ish collector for few years already I had noticed 2x size issue seemed more condition sensitive. Like Crisis 7,12 and others. My personal line of demarcation as "Kid" or not is 10 months after high school ended. "Child" I consider anything pre 9th grade. These are only my standards for myself when relating a story nothing more than that.

I've been in self imposed ASM 300 exile since late 2000. Every time I see the cover to the book I just want to scream - still do Here is my boring vent: I picked up ASM 300 as a kid the day it hit comic shops in 1988. My local shop must have had 300-400 copies and I gently dug through them until I found a copy that met my very rigid standards. It was pristine (still is) and I purchased a Mylar and board at the same time to protect it as I often did on books that cost what was for me a lot of money. Knowing how difficult it was to find double sized issues in perfect condition I never read my personal copy. In 2000 while culling books for my first CGC submission I gave ASM 300 a then fresh look and as not often happens it was a perfect as I recalled. I figured a 9.9 was possible - something I never thought on any other sub since. When I got the submission back and opened the box, these were days before online grades were available, I was heart broken then angered after seeing a 9.6. Yes CGC was very strict in those early days but I too was a harsh grader. Must have got the CGC grader of death. Today when a book is submitted you can get graders notes not sure if they existed back in 2000. I packed up the book and for the next 21 years tried to forget this kick to my nads by CGC and did not set eyes on it again until today. Looked at through the case with my 12x jewelers loop this morning and all looks perfect. Spine is tight and flat and blemish free, edges are all razor sharp and surface and gloss on both sides appears flawless. Earlier today I compared it to 40 other various CGC 9.8's (all newest CGC label) and this book beat them all, some by a wide margin. I do find a decent amount of CGC 9.8's i purchased the last 5 years (in the newest slabs) would have only been strong 9.6's back in the earliest days. Which is why when I can I try to only purchase in person, "buy the book not the slab" in effect. I gave thought to cracking it out and re-submitting but afraid I'd damage it, also like some collectors I favor the old-school CGC labels or Flips as they are referred to in trading card grading world. Here's a scan, pardon the cut off top+bottom and the redacted barcode. I'd like to say I feel better getting this off my chest but I don't. Oh well...

My comment was pretty much geared at the mid 70's Hanna Charlton's as mentioned in my first sentence but yeah not 100% clear on second sentence. "I had wanted a High grade Hanna-Barbara Charlton, but only to have one as type thing. Other than Scooby the demand is pretty near zero on the Cartoon Charlton's and I don't see that changing. " Yes, Agreed on Underdog same to some degree with the Underdog Gold Key run. Underdog was issued by Charlton 1970/1971 before their product went from low budget to an even more super-cheaper endeavor. I feel the Underdog art was really nice. All Charlton issues I believe were drawn by Frank Johnson of 1970's "Boner's Ark" fame as well as Beetle Bailey "ghost artist" for much of the 1960's

I had wanted a High grade Hanna-Barbara Charlton, but only to have one as type thing. Other than Scooby the demand is pretty near zero on the Cartoon Charlton's and I don't see that changing. After I picked this up I had my High-Grade Hanna Charlton and moved on. Man, Dino is the wrong color, Pebbles and Wilma look as chunky as Fred, these Hanna Charlton's were some cheap stuff. I see mine was https://www.myslabbedcomics.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=6923&GSub=626 @seanfingh please remove from your MySlab gallery - Thanks Man!

removed

You gave the topic a 12 year bump I can say demand is very high for Joe #1 and key issues same with Transformers. In 10 years will they be $5k or more or a few hundred or less. Not sure there is long term viability but my year 2000 self-submitted Joe #1 in original 1st gen CGC slab that i originally picked up raw for $2 in 1998 makes me smile. I was a Joe kid, Transformers never did it for me the same way.