MAY1979

Wonderful story. If there was heartwarming OCA transaction thread it would be perfect there - of course it would also be the only posting.

Not from Zeck but i commissioned a cover recreation once. It came out great. Man did I love it. 12 years later I obtained the real cover art and instantly in my eyes the recreation became akin to a photo-copy. Meaning not desirable. So I sold it which i very rarely do with art. Not sure why i felt the need to mention any of that?

BTW folks the last sentence in each of my previous 2 post's was in jest.

BTW folks the last sentence of my previous post was in jest. Once did vintage baseball card deal in a Pep Boys parking lot, I was the buyer. After the card and cash traded hands the seller who was a Pep Boys employee threw in a free Pine tree air-freshener - seriously. Then my guy's who were indeed waiting, beat the money out of him as he walked back to his car.

Once did a deal in a bank in Southern NJ. I withdrew cash via a teller, then cash and art (A somewhat key 1970's Marvel Cover which had been locked away in his collection since the late 70's) exchanged hands right there in the bank. Funny part was before we walked into the bank the seller say's to me "How do i know you won't have your guy's waiting for me when i leave the bank" I said to him "How do i know you won't have your guy's waiting for me when i leave the bank" we both had a nice good laugh. Then my guy's who were indeed waiting did beat the money out of him as walked to his car

"It's not what you know, it's who you know"

Gonna guess it was better stuff than copies of Spawn 1, x-men 2nd 1,4 ASM361, or Xforce 1.

Lost or absconded with?

Impressions of CGC are now mildly favorible on the PSA forums but nowhere near enough that its any more than niche. Of course thing can change in either direction

I might still try to upgrade? Until then a 1st gen slab makes a nice placeholder

As I always say speculate on DC and you are more likley to be burned than with Marvel. With its rather low CGC 9.8 population (for a 1989 Key) if Sandman was a Marvel property the condition sensitive Sandman 8 would have hit 4k or more at some point and would still probably command at least 3K Alas it's DC... Sandman #1 with it's high 9.8 Pop is in trouble. I feel the Netflix series could NOT have been more successful and it's still free-fallin' . IMHO The essential Vertigo #1 reprint with its low print run and low 9.6 and 9.8 population is more likley to hold onto its current FMV. One sold last week in regular auction for $395 on eBay Disclosure: I own all books mentioned in the post in CGC 9.8w - all were self submitted books I purchased as a kid. I do not sell comics, nor have I ever so I really have little personal care about whether they lose or gain value.. However future me might if he plans to retire early

Loved that cover since i first saw it in 25 cent bins as a child at my 1st LCS in the 80's. On the left pane is the Godzilla SHIELD crew, and a great Fury in hand to hand frogman combat on the right

Yeah in 1993/1994 seemingly every dealer table had a few copies at least in my area. My records show I paid $30 for mine in 1994

PSA is the Gold or Platinum standard for Sports Card grading currently, like it or not and I don't but it is them. Beckett carries a negative cachet for a solid majority buyers and sellers compared to PSA. About 15 years ago for short time Becket was on top in terms of perception then they put on clinic of what not to do and how to dilute a brand. Not that PSA is any great shakes but they are firmly #1 and SGC and Beckett are niche so too is CGC card grading. PSA to card what CGC currently is to Comics, but things can change and I sure hope they do.

Where PSA is based you really can't even keep yourself in instant Ramen for $15-17 an hour. Tongue in cheek yes but far closer to the truth than some would think. Here is the thing in order to attract real talent you kind of need to be near where the talent live and pay appropriately. Otherwise except for an occasional diamond in the rough all you get is rough. CGC/Blackstone is riding way high on the hog currently but things change. Of course when the worm begins to turn Blackstone will simply sell them off....

In most cases if you can generate $83K for tuition+dorm working part time in after tax dollars then you probably have no need for the school in the first place. I worked full time 6 Days a week, and went to school at night , back then I was making 2x minimum wage. Now it would be impossible to pay for even one year at the same school by working 4 years full-time at that job. Based on posts here in this thread I'm lot younger than most of you - which means times have change radically just since the 1990's

Makes me wish I was part of that generation perhaps I'd be a lot less grumpy? Although it would also most certainly be with much less original comic art...

Did CGC actually speak with qualified DC representatives? Can we be sure they were not summer interns? Or just anyone who picked up the phone or responded to an email? CGC can simply reach out to renowned DC historians Bob Rozakis or Paul Levitz (former DC publisher too). They will confirm everything. Or even contact Tom Brevoort who loves stuff like this and has regular contact with Messrs Rozakis and Levitz. The real question is will Blackrock/CGC initiate any true action that may result in the tiniest amount of potential revenue loss? With the case of the 1982 Masters of the Universe NN preview that might amount to several hundred dollars a year in submissions. Yes as mentioned the tiniest amount of revenue, its less than bottom line stuff and yet I feel they will never ever do that. If anything they will continue to expand in the arena of dolling out the formally hens tooth rare 10 MINT grades to certain "Social Media influencers" for altered-modified comics or grading invisible comics.

When I submitted this 21 years ago it was highest and 1/1

I do wonder if it has to do with shift in Monitor/Screen tech from CRT to LCD, LED etc Or if their OWL strips were printed different then? Could just be a standards change I guess. As for my own personal collection, I'm more than fine with ow/w in original "OG" slabs, I'm on the fence with the 2nd gen slabs, with the most current slab generation I now tend to avoid ow/w unless pre-1980 book.

1982 Masters of the Universe DC NN promo was never distributed separately. All experienced collectors know this as well as DC historians Paul Levitz and Bob Rozakis . Perhaps a mistake was made on CGC's end. I invite actual evidence to the contrary to be displayed. This preview was only available as DC's 16 Page Comic Preview Insert. No other insert was included in as many different series as this MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE PREVIEW which appeared in the November 1982 issues of 16 different ongoing series which was twice as many as MASK (preview insert included in 8 ongoing series issues) and eight times as many as THE ATARI FORCE (preview insert included in 2 ongoing series). These were the only three inserts which appeared in more than one series from the entire run of these specials beginning in October 1980 and ending in September 1985. The "insert" was attached with the same staples as the main title's pages. Pages 8 and 9 of the insert form the centerfold of all complete issues in which it was included. It was not released by DC as a stand-alone. This preview appears in the issues of the following comics: Action Comics #537 All-Star Squadron #15 Arak, Son of Thunder #15 Batman #353 Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #9 Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1 DC Comics Presents #51 Detective Comics #520 The Fury of Firestorm #6 Justice League of America #208 The Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2 #293 The New Adventures of Superboy #35 The New Teen Titans #25 Superman #377 Warlord #63 Wonder Woman #63

As mentioned above https://boards.cgccomics.com/forum/42-hey-buddy-can-you-spare-a-grade/ Based on the missing paper I think 9.6 is correct. While I do feel CGC was a bit more strict during era of your slab, today ASM300 is highly scrutinized. Therefore a 9.6 then and 9.6 now. The book does present nicer than it's grade, however the ow/w probably offsets that. Lastly with Q/C seemingly being a thing of the past at CGC, mishandling during the process thus a lower grade is more realistic than a grade bump up on your copy.

and 1st Yoda and Lando. It's also low census pop in 9.6 and above yet little collector desire and SW42 commands whole lot more $ Self-submitted, a $2.00 late 1990's purchase. I was nicked on a tiny amount of color loss on back cover. Honesty the few 9.8's I've seen of this are significantly less nice looking but with me CGC played hardball. Book is sharp, flat and NOT pressed with deep color.