jimbo_7071

Baddie with fangs and a yellow eye socket to baddie with fangs and a yellow tongue.

The lighter color on the corner of this book makes me think that it spent many years folded over, yet someone was able to unfold it. (I guess someone knew what he or she was doing!)

Everett graveyard cover to Everett graveyard cover.

Blown spines are common on GA books that get pressed. Pressing is always at your own risk. (I've never had a book pressed, and the possibility of a blown spine is one of the reasons.)

It was similar, but I don't remember it having a skull or a piece of cloth on it. I've seen similar ones on e-Bay, too, but they all look a little different from what I remember. I'm sure quite a few different versions/knock-offs were made. (It could also be that my memory is faulty; it has been a while!)

The grade should have dropped to 7.5 or below when that chip came off. The presence of that chip makes me wonder whether there's some heavy cover tanning that isn't mentioned in the notes. The book was slabbed in 2006, and CGC may not have been consistent about noting cover tanning back then (if they even are now).

No, the book retains its original date.

How's the selection of GA?

I used to have a metal bank that you could wind up, and a creepy hand would come out and take the change that you had set on top of it. I left it at school at the end of my second-grade year and never got it back. Seeing old wind-up toys always depresses me a little because I'm reminded of my long-lost bank. (It was already old when I had it because I had gotten it from an older relative; it probably dated to the mid 60s.)

Did you grow up in Irondequoit? I've never been there, but I've heard of it because there's a famous Jane Doe from there (as you may know). It's a major mystery that has gotten quite a bit of attention online. https://www.whec.com/top-news/every-child-deserves-a-name-revisiting-a-1988-irondequoit-cold-case/ Some kid was digging in his backyard at 130 Bay Knoll Road in 1988 and found bones that turned out to be from a young woman who had been buried in a hole head first back when the area was still an orchard. They think that she was murdered in the late 50s. They have tried and tried to match her to any person reported missing—no dice.

Cool! Sometimes I like to use old stamps on letters and packages to give them character, but I haven't had the heart to use these.

Building that doesn't appear to have a side to woman who doesn't appear to have a nose.

Several years ago some jerk used a Heritage comic book auction in an attempt to launder money that he had embezzled from his company, so it has actually happened. https://www.theverge.com/2015/7/22/8870089/texas-comic-book-heist-anthony-chiofalo-tadano

It originally had a detached centerfold. Matt Nelson manipulated the staples to hold the centerfold in place. That accounted for part of the grade bump.

I guess you've never seen this one (although the bump took two tries):

The real winner among the Shadows was this Okajima book, which used to be a 7.0.

Donald Duck as Santa to Donald Duck as Santa.

Skeleton with no eyes looking in a mirror to skeletons with no eyes watching a sporting event.

Man with a gun showing a card sharp who's boss to woman with a knife showing a shark who's boss.

My collection is fairly modest, but I try to think of the money I put into it as money spent, not money invested. The way I look at it, many people spend money on hobbies such as travel, skydiving, taking singing lessons—you name it. Most people are content to reap some enjoyment from their hobbies with no hope of recouping any of the money. Why should collecting comics be any different? I don't think the hobby is going to collapse any time soon, but I do think prices could cool off over time as older collectors bow out. Somebody commented that if I believe that, I should sell my collection, which completely misses the point. I try not to go crazy with my purchases—I can't fathom spending $19K on a mid-grade Tec 47, for instance (that's mind boggling)—but I still buy. It would be difficult to enjoy the hobby without making some new purchases.

Wicked lady with a golden gun to wicked lady with gold earrings.

Phantom Lady in distress to Phantom Lady kicking ***.

Someone asked this question before, but in the thread I was reading, no one was able to answer: Does CGC scan/photograph books that are submitted for re-holdering?

Ice skating to roller skating.

So I guess the memes would be the one-panel comics, and the gifs would be the multi-panel strips.