justafan

Book is on hold pending sale via PM

I agree and can definitely get behind that. ...and I do love the beaches.

of course I WAS upset but I still went back and tried them 2 more times over the years hoping things improved and still ended up disappointed compared to CGC. Also, it wasn't just me this happened to. But I REALLY did want them to succeed. Comics Grading needs competition. And you're right, even CGC had it's growing pains early on and went through their fair share of controversies throughout the years (yes I have newton ring slabs but they didn't damage my books like Voldy's Holder design did), but CGC was pioneering. Voldy had already been there/done that/learned from many of those mistakes. Sorry I didn't mean to sound like I was whining. I was just listing all the issues that hit them in such a short time span which may have been too much weight to carry and led to them seeking to sell the company. Maybe they were a victim of their success. My points are that I had too many bad experiences to continue using their service when there was already a more reliable service for the cost and that if you are the same guy that built the previous one and dealt with all that mess before, you'd think you would have applied the lessons learned with the new company. I get that the plastics issue was not their fault and they handled it admirably with reimbursements and discounts/credits. However, from there things kept snowballing to the point where they just lost my trust. Maybe I held them to a tougher standard due to them trying to be the "better" alternative but I also gave them more than the benefit of the doubt with my business. The fact is any potential CGC competitor is going to be compared with CGC to determine whether they are worth the try. I learned my lesson so I stopped using them. I am hopeful that Beckett can turn that ship around and restore a competitor to the comics grading market place. If and when they officially relaunch and I get a chance to see what they are offering I will definitely check them out and give them a try. But I probably won't be among the first customers or even that first year. So how much is that Montana property you're offering?

Hi folks. Just seeing if there's any interest in this type of book on here. Bought this as my reader copy as I was too afraid to risk damaging my higher graded copy. I read it and enjoyed being able to hold it in my hand and read a wonderful part of history, smelled the pages. (don't worry my hands and nose were clean) Love the story, read it to my kids, felt like I was in the room with Lee, Ditko, and Kirby as I imagined them concocting the story and art each panel I read, I actually got a little lump in my throat and teary eyed while reading it. Love the mummy story, too! First trumps all PMs. Payment options: Paypal or check/cash/money order Shipping: Free fully insured registered USPS mail or local/convention pickup. I'm in the DC-Metro area and willing to do the transaction in person at an LCS or bank or 3-letter agency or something. I'd also be willing to do an in-person transaction at any one of the up coming local conventions: Tysons Corner, Maryland, Fairfax, Heroes Con or Baltimore or give me an excuse to go to Boston/NYCC/some other East coast con. Returns: Accepted for full refund within 14 days of delivery so long as the case/comic is not damaged/tampered with outside of an insurance claim. Buyer pays return shipping via USPS Registered fully insured. AF 15 CGC 4.5 OW Pages Restored Slight (B-1) Restoration includes: "small amount of color touch on cover." See front and back scans below. Asking Price $22,500 shipped CGC Restoration Grading Details: Here's the excerpt from CGC's restoration grading guide with the relevant CT items in bold. (The use of cadavers for piece fill is pretty morbid.) 1 (Slight) All conservation work, re-glossing, interior lightening, piece fill no more than size of two bindery chips, light color touch in small areas like spine stress, corner crease or bindery chip fill. Married cover or interior pages/wraps (if other work is present) B (Fine) Material used: pencil, crayon, chalk, re-glossing agent, piece fill from cadavers Piece fill obvious upon close inspection, obvious to the touch Color touch obvious upon close inspection, or done with materials listed above For comparison: The A- designation is if the Color Touch (CT) was professionally done or if the CT implement used was a better or more perfect match to the cover color. The C- designation is if the CT had color-bleed to the interior cover This copy received a B- designation because there was no color bleed to the interior covers but it was also a more amateurish color job possibly using one of the listed materials used. Offers are welcome. If I've left anything out or stated something contrary to the rules please let me know and I'll rectify. Here it is:

...aaand so we're back to 1 grading company and a couple of sketchy competitors. I had high hopes for them early on and tried them out a few times. You'd think after having started and spinning off 1 successful grading company they would have had the kinks ironed out by now to do it again but after continued mistakes on my submissions I pretty much had to call it quits for them. First they had a plastics supplier issue causing delays and forcing them to give credits and reholders at steep discounts Then they had logistics/personnel issues with comics that were supposed to be pressed or sent for pressing before grading that never got sent to the pressing service. Then they had major delays due to being unprepared for the amount of volume I tried to give them more chances but one key detractor was the lack of a forum where I could sell their slabs. It took 7 months after their initial forum announcement to bring their boards live and it was all a mess. Then 2 years after launch and they still didn't have an official sales forum on their site. (I wonder if that had anything to do with a contract with a dealer). Then I found one of the 9.8's I had got back had sustained damage due to the inner well causing a small tear-bend to the bottom edge. The last straw for me was the easy way in which their older cases could be tampered with minimal sign of tampering leaving me and others with a mistrust for all those slabs further devaluing them. Maybe they can come out of all this ok after settling with Metropolis and maybe Beckett can restore them to a top tier grading company again. But if this law suit is over $15k in assets (not sure by how much over $15k) and they couldn't have just settled before the sale, then they might as well just dissolve the company, declare bankruptcy, allow Metropolis to try and reclaim what they can from asset fire sale and have Beckett start over with Borock and the core graders since there might not be enough good name recognition to make it worth holding on to the 4 letter acronym at this point.

It's the very visible 1/4" CB crease in the middle of the FC that might keep it down at a 9.2.

Normally I would say PRESS PRESS PRESS but there are 2 factors to consider here: 1. the defects that exist and where they exist 2. the current tightness of grading going on at CGC currently 1. Firstly: the scan probably hides a bit of the defects more than in-hand or using photos but even if they are not I can readily see 2 of the 3 listed defects: - 2 color breaking spine ticks on the Back cover (1 in the middle of the spine, and 1 beneath the bottom staple) -1 Color Breaking Crease up to 1/4" on the middle of the Front Cover at the tearduct of spidey's right eye dead center in the comic. I can't see the 3rd defect listed as a crease at the Top Right Front Cover so may be that is the one that would press out. Pressing may also reduce the appearance of the size of the spine wear but NOT the color break which appears to be between 1/16" and 1/8" on the back cover. Those 2 defects combined are likely keeping this book at 9.2. Had the main crease been in a more obscure or less conspicuous area you might have a shot at a higher grade, I've seen similar books with the same defects get up to a 9.6. (yes even with a single color break crease up to 1/4" on the middle of the back cover). 2. Secondly: the consensus seems to be that we are in a very tight grading period with CGC where things like spine stress/ticks that used to be overlooked in a 9.6/9.8 are now getting judged harsher and color break creases in the middle of a book are judged harder than they were in the past. I actually had a SA book Old label (ASM 38 I think) with the same defect get knocked down from a 9.4 to a 9.2 after an evaluation, press and regrade. It had a light color break crease of the same size as in the Dell'Otto pictured, smack in the middle of the cover. It was hard to see behind the old slab which is probably why it got the ok from the evaluator. That was graded last fall. My question is why didn't he have it pressed initially when sending it in to get graded in the first place? That would have been my first choice. However, I would suggest 1 of 2 selling options for your friend: 1. Sell the book as is and make sure the consignor or seller lists the fact that the book has not yet been pressed and there may be "potential" for an upgrade. This may net a higher than usual bid/offer than for a 9.2 that has had all potential value maxed out already. 2. Send the book in to CCS or some other trusted pressing expert for on-hand visual inspection to provide professional opinion on whether it would benefit a press then decide.

Are there names to go along with each of those variant covers? I'd like to search for specific ones. Thx.

Dell'Otto and maybe Parillo but I think their sellouts have more to do with the manufactured rarity of those sets (i.e. 600 offered, the rest "destroyed"). JSC may be the only one that can create 3 different variants of basically the same exact cover with only minor changes and 8 different covers for a single issue variant and sell out in seconds. This last one was absurd. I've learned that his ASM variants sell out in less than 5 minutes from previous sales so I was ready but was planning on picking up some extras in case some of the ones that arrived came damaged like last time. I placed my first order maxed out at 2 unsigned sets which gives me 1 to keep raw and 1 to have graded. I completed that order in less than 1 minute and was in the process of purchasing the next 2 "safety" sets when it showed item no longer available. I went back and bought the only remaining unsigned 4 pack set. Everything else including signed sets had already sold out by the 2 minute mark. I am glad that he has restricted it to just 2 orders per account at a time which does help others get a set if they are fast enough but I feel that the software purchase bots are going to defeat that effort. He's making money and the prices will keep going up because fans and flippers will be forced to pay whatever it takes to get a copy at their floor price point or have to buy it for more 2nd hand until people realize they can't afford it anymore. JSC, please don't get any ideas but I would not be surprised to see sets up to $100/issue at some point and there will still be people who will buy it.

Excellent point and I fully agree. I recommended using painters tape in the post but scotch tape was all I had at the moment to illustrate the concept. I have seen scotch tape break feebly. Packing tape is also more durable.

I disagree that you should stop using them UNLESS you have a better method and flimsy bubblemailers are not it unless you also reinforce them with very sturdy cardboard sandwiches. I 100% agree that if you do use Gemini or other similar type cardboard fold over mailers that you MUST (I repeat MUST) secure it to the Gemini mailer by doing at least 1 of 2 things: 1. Double board the comic in the bag and secure it using tape to the mailer by placing the comic face down and tape the comic on as many edges as you can to the Gemini mailer. 2. Use at least 1 piece (2 are better) of sturdy cardboard that is larger than the comic backboard by up to 1/2" all around and tape the bagged/boarded comic face down (never apply type to the face up spine) on all 4 sides. EVERY comic I have received in a gemini mailer or any other boxed mailer where the comic was not secured in some way to prevent the bagged boarded comic from freely floating/shifting has resulted in a damaged corner, spine, and in some extreme cases tears from the comic corner tearing through the polybag (even mylar). I recommend always using a cardboard sandwich wrapped in bubblewrap then placed inside the Gemin mailer. Option 1: bagged and boarded comic only (full back/mylar used here) taped face down on 3 on all 4 edges to the Gemini mailer. Painters tape works best. Option 2: taped to a single piece of cardboard larger than the comic up to 1/2" on all 4 sides: Then place the comic and cardboard face down onto the Gemin Mailer. Tape the cardboard to the mailer as well. You could also flip the cardboard the other way so that you only see the cardboard and not the comic back board in the picture below. Option 3 RECOMMENDED: Cardboard sandwich: Bagged/Boarded Comic taped to 1 piece of cardboard as in Option 2 above and then place another piece of cardboard on top and tape both pieces of cardboard together on all 4 sides making a cardboard sandwich. Secure the cardboard sandwich in the mailer with tape as well. Close and secure. Otherwise you obviously don't care about ensuring that the comic has the best chance at arriving undamaged at your customers. Not securing them in the mailer is gambling on the comic arriving damaged and the buyer caring enough to initiate a return. Maybe it works for you not securing it 9 times out of 10 but it really sucks to be that 10th customer.

My condolences for your loss. I truly feel for what you and your family have gone through and where it has come to. I have an older brother who has suffered with addiction for his whole life. It has also consumed my parent's lives caring for him, maintaining and managing his addiction treatments and his revolving cycle of jail and rehab. It affects everyone differently. I wish there was a cure all but we haven't found it yet. So many nights over the years we've expected it to be the last one only to be put through another ringer of recovery and rehab. The one and only reason why we think he hasn't died yet (aside from the possibility that he shares similar genetics to Kieth Richards) is that he has 2 daughters that must keep him trying to recover. I bore so much resentment towards him at taking so much time away from my parents and having to help raise his daughters but hearing your story has reminded me to see what my parents know that one of these days it will be his last and he is still a father to my 2 nieces, he is still my brother and still my parents son and we should always do the best we can to cherish the times we have with him and never give up on them. I pray your family recovers from this loss and doesn't bare any guilt or resentment after his passing. Knowing that you did all you could and never abandoned him, you should remember the true parts of him when he was sober and remember him for the way he was when you could see the light of his heart in the good times you shared no matter how brief they may have been.

Bit of a dud for me. Took my 2 little ones to the 2 closest LCS around 1pm and they were pretty much out of all their FREE comics. When I got up yesterday morning I called ahead to reserve the 1 free comic I really wanted which was the ASM copy. Troy at Flashback comics was busy unboxing them the moment I called and I could tell he was already working at too feverish a pace multitasking to properly hold a phone conversation but he said I was good. I got there and they had a minicon setup with some local artists, sponsors, and had some sales but sadly the only comic for my kids they had left was the girly superheroes one which was perfect for my little girl but I had to pick something up extra for my little guy. No biggie. I asked for my reserved comic and the staffers gave me a little scare saying they had no idea and didn't see a reserved copy. Troy still multitasking with customers casually said yeah he has one reserved I put it aside there. One of the staffers found it and triumphantly brought it to me. Troy is da MAN! As I was checking out one of the other staffers handed my son another cool comic for free. Went to painted visiions hoping for something else for my little guy and managed to find a couple of other free books along his taste but they were also only down to 3 options and 2 were the not for elementary school kids age. Those guys did have a sidewalk sale of 50% off trades and $1 long box comics. Why were they so completely out? Did anyone else observe a complete clearout of the free comics? Are people hoarding to resell some of these or did LCS's just not order that many. Painted visions had a 1 of each cover limit per person.

when I had pull lists at multiple shops I found that some shops manhandled their comics more than others, some had a better system of sorting and displaying them that prevented damage but there are sometimes defects that existed on all copies at each store which I have to accept as potentially production or distribution related. if u want a guaranteed 9.8 at all costs, sign up for one of the 9.8 subscription services out there that will get you a graded 9.8 for each new comic. Beachbum on here offers it but not sure he's open to new subscribers for WD.

check the corners and edges for minor wear (whiteness), bindery tears or white tufting at the spine corners. check for color/ink rub/streaks the defect could also be in the book intetior (interior pages or cover) that you can't see from the slab.

Im not a professional grader but from what i can see in those photos the book appears to me to have potential of being in the 9.2 NM- to 9.4 NM range a after a press with potential of getting white pages. Here are the other defects you may have overlooked: 2 color break spine creases on the front cover between 1/8" & 1/4" 1/8 light color fleck or color break edge bend at mid Top Front Cover edge 3-4 color break spine ticks on the Back Cover up to 1/8" cant tell but there may be minor wear to the bottom spine corner. that 3" impression bend in the middle front cover doesn't appear to break color so that should press out. est. gpa value might be in the $400-500 range after grading if you paid less than $350 for it, it would be worth a press and grade.

victimless crime? or another way to look at it is free USPS advertising. someone did that on a package I received. they were in such good shape I saved them and began reusing them for their intended purpose purchasing priority shipments. also, I've received slabs from heritage via the doube USPS box method so they do it too. c'mon everyone's doing it.

oh 100%, brother, and thats where I do most of my big purchases (and conventions) but a lot of stuff just doesn't make it to the reputable auction houses or con dealer stock, especially raw. trust me, if I could I would never use ebay again. comiclink and heritage ALWAYS provide me with high res scans on request. comicconnect often has both front and back scans. but unfortunately ebay is where I'm able to find someone actually selling the various items I'm looking for. there are some great sellers on ebay too but so many more are hostile

im talking mainly about those sellers who list stock photos or just a front cover photo. Does it just offend them? anyone else experience this? why do I get so much static when politely asking for back cover photos for raw comics or asking if specific defects are present? while i would prefer photos that are clear, not cropped, and don't have portions of the comic not in the photo I'll take what I can get. I'm not asking for 20 photos. I'm talking at least 1 but no more than 3 max but 1 clear high res is better than 5-10 close ups that are blury. im especially speaking about those sellers that state the following in their description: "look at the photos closely" "bid/buy only after carefully examining the photos to judge for yourself" "condition of the book is represented by what you see" "ask questions" "if you want more pictures of the book feel free to ask" "the book is the exact one pictured" ok so I politely PM 22 different sellers with only a stock photo or just the front cover and ask for either a back cover photo or a more clear front and back cover photo. half never respond even after a polite follow up. 1 in 4 provide the photos -great sellers that either earn my business or ones I will save as favorites. the rest make me feel sorry for even asking often with rude or annoyed responses. is it really that hard to do of it means a possible sale? I get that listing photos on ebay sucks and many sellers try to dump their ungradable books on ebay (especially auction format) but then why bother with the description that tells me to ask for more photos or feel free to ask questions? I'm not talking $10 books. I'm talking $50-$500+ for all ages including modern. I get that moderns and new releases are considered by default to be NM but many have varying batch defects that will bring a grade down below that. I'm willing to pay more for a book that shows clear front and back photos allowing me to see exactly what I can expect to receive. so if sellers have such disdain for providing photos would they rather deal with returns from unhappy buyers dissappointed with their purchases? am I better off just buying 10 copies to find the 1 or 2 that's acceptable and return the rest? I don't want to be an annoying buyer but how else do I find raw books yhat meet my minimum grade that only seem to be available on ebay ? (I know I can always buy graded but even graded books dont guarantee good staple alignment or no miswrap. I also don't want to have to pay the grading fee premium markup and have to crack out a bunch of books.) besides slabs take up way too much space for my graded books. end of rant...sigh

To answer your first question: With that amount of restoration the book was possibly originally around a 3.5/4.0 but could have been as low as a 2.5 or as high as a 5.0 depending on how large the pieces that were added, tears that were sealed, and what the extent of the reinforcement was for. For that reason alone I probably wouldn't pay more than a 4.0 unrestored prices which is between $6 and $7k on GPA. For your next question: Now would I buy the book vs an X-men #1? From an investment standpoint I might go with a good unrestored X-Men #1 for the same price. I feel that ASM has already netted most of its gains for a while now while there could be potential with future X-men projects. From a collection standpoint, I'd go with whichever you feel happiest with. Is this something you'll want to crack out and read or just leave in the holder? I used to be like comicquant about restored books and still am for the most part but I've begun seeing restoration in a slightly different light lately and not just because of price affordability. To me, restoration/conservation is the best possible damage a book can have and I say that in a good way. For restored books, because the values are muted and if the restoration aids in preservation I will actually buy a restored book to crack out and be my reader copy as opposed to a more delicate and more expensive unrestored copy. Here's how I now rank/value restored books: Restoration preference: Color touch: small amount of color touch on cover (note "small" is relative and can be anything from ink applied to a single color break spine crease that doesn't penatrate the cover all the way up to the entire spine and part of the book being color touched with ink) Value: the same as if I had a non-restored book with an equivalent amount of writing on it. Glue/tear seals: small amount of glue or small tear seals (again "small" can have a large range and need to understand if the glue or tear seals are holding the front and back covers together) Value: 1/2 grade higher than a non-restored book with the equivalent amount of unrestored damage: (i.e. tears, spine splits, or detached cover or pagesd) Staples Replaced: (1 or both) Value: 1/2 grade higher than a non-restored book with the staple(s) missing or rusty but without rust transfer. Pieces added: depending on how many pieces and how big a piece I apply value accordingly. Value: 1 grade higher than a non-restored book with the same amount of pieces missing Cover cleaned/staples cleaned: depending on whether the job was good or looks artificial now Value: 1/2 grade higher than a non-restored book with the equivalent amount of cover/staple soiling that was cleaned Reinforced: I've heard this from being anywhere from archival tape or material used to hold the covers or pages together to simply tape on interior covers. Value: 1 grade higher than an unrestored book with the equivalent amount of damage/brittleness/structure degredation that would necessitate reinforcement. Cover reglossed: books can look really good with this but sometimes it just seems too good and hard to tell with photos and I do appreciate that weathered, original patina with the hint of former glory on the cover. Value: 1/2 grade above an unrestored book without the reglossing Micro Trimming: 1 edge Micro Trimming to amature trimming: 2-3 edges Value: depending on the trim job, I would value it at the equivalent grade of an unrestored book that had the same amount of square inches of the book missing due to normal wear. This is just my preference, everyone has their own and should value/grade/purchase accordingly.

As soon as I read this as part of a transaction I would have stopped it right there and said HEEEELLLL No! I read through the entire thread and agree 100% it is the middle man's responsibility and reputation as the broker to honor the original agreement. furthermore, since no return options/terms were ever discussed or stated, then none should be considered offered even on principle. However, since you're dealing with paypal, none of the above matters at all including who is right or wrong here because paypal will be the final judge. My advice is to just TAKE THE RETURN DIRECTLY. You should have already contacted paypal by now and explained the situation. Always be the first to bring it to their attention. See what they say. I'm not sure they will honor a package refusal as a return without tracking info to confirm you even received the package so make sure they will before your buddy tries to do a refusal. he may screw himself out of a return trying to be cheap about it. Ask for him to cover return shipping and a bury-the-hatchet, end-forum-drama, make-this-all-go-away fee which could be as little as the cost of you shipping to Randall or a 10-20% restocking fee. If he refuses to meet those demands, go ahead and accept the return directly, receive the books, refund him, and then come back on here and decide if you want to nominate him. Since he is probably reading this I'll help incentivize his compliance: IF HE DOESN'T MEET YOUR RETURN DEMANDS I'LL PAYPAL F&F YOU $1 if you PM me his INFO. If you get 45 people willing to pay $1 for his name/ID, that will pretty much cover the cost of shipping and help us avoid dealing with him. win win.

I think it probably triggers a free subscription once you spend $5k or more in a single auction or over $10k annually. when I first got back into collecting a while back i stumbled across their site I was buying a bunch of raw back issues on their sunday and signature auctions spending $300 - 2k per auction for 2 years. It wasnt until after I plopped down roughly $5k on one of their signature auctions that I started getting them. been getting them for the last 5 years. went a whole year without buying anything and figured they'd stop sending them. but then broke my heritage fast with a big purchase so I guess I'm locked into it for at least another year. I guess that's what the 19.5% buyers premium helps to pay for.

Looks fake. Just saw the trailer today at the beginning of Avengers. I'm not impressed. I'm a big Venom fan but much of what I saw in that trailer left me speechless in a bad way. Apparently so was the audience. Normally you hear a lot of cheers, claps and whistles for character favorites especially from a young crowd. Nothing. could hear a pin drop. Tom's dialogue with Venom seems awkward. The whole new origin story for Venom is played out and lacks the same tortured souls background you got when Brock and the symbiote meet. But the thing that looked the worst was the CGI. Dang. Ugh, c'mon man if there's one thing you need to get right these days it's the right combination of fluidity/matting/texture/transition. I'm hoping it was just the trailer but the venom tentacle/spikes that come out look like stop-start animation and like they just appeared out of thin air. The final face shot could have been done so much better. Too shiny, heads too small, eyes look fake, overall it is easy to tell that it's either a mask or is CGI. I'm going to see it but my expectations are officially lowered. I fear this will be a one and done movie. It may manage to get a sequel out of it possibly with a Spider-Man tie in but I see it being rebooted in 3 years.

Just saw it. My thoughts: Trailers: Venom Trailer - - looks like they might be messing this one up. CGI venom does not look that great to me. I'm not big on it's orgin story or on Tom's portrayal. Not enough of a tortured soul going on. Deadpool Trailer - + Still not a fan of their version of cable or Domino. Don't even ask about Shatterstar. Not liking the lack of face paint and don't think the phro looks that great on her. The comedy and action will be it's saving grace. I'll likely still watch both but going in with much lower expectations than before seeing the trailers. Avenger's Infinity War movie rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Action: 5 stars Plot: 2 stars Characters and dialogue: 4 stars Special Effects: 5 stars Drama: 5 stars From start to finish you are definitely on a 2.5 hour thrill ride. The action and pace keep you going to the point where you don't ever feel like the movie has dragged on too long or wonder where it's going. By the end however, you and most of the audience has had it's heart and head strings pulled as you try to reconcile and comprehend the meaning and ramifications of the outcome. At the end everyone walked out in silence and in disbelief. The plot vehicles do feel obvious and forced and I did have mental face palms when our heroes made bad decisions with predictable outcomes and only served to enable or drive towards the inevitable outcome. Spoilers: What I didn't necessarily like: What I did like:

it's on other 79x ASM variant covers as well. I also have one where it's at the top right corner. I wonder if this is a new gripper mechanism that has been introduced recently or they just cranked up the gripping force on it.