wardevil0

For anyone who missed it, the decision has been reversed and extra staples added after manufacture, especially in conjunction with an after-market acetate cover, now receive a green label and if you check the serial number it will list as "Qualified." Unfortunately the blue labels already exist in the physical world, but the policy has finally been made right in principle.

Just goes to show why the OP didn't get the kind of response he wanted... I consider a "Premium" book to be a special, limited edition like a retailer incentive, the Valiant golds, Kickstarter perk, etc. Without pics or an actual description of what the OP thinks is "premium" there's really no way to answer. I wouldn't try to sell Action Comics #7 the same way I would try to sell a convention exclusive Harley Quinn variant, because those appeal to different audiences who frequent different venues.

I've had a hard time finding most of them in top condition; probably too many years in underappreciated bins. I've been buying lots and picking out the best condition copies I can. It's so satisfying when you bring in a one-of-a-kind highest graded. Unfortunately, they're so niche that CGC mislabels them. All the #1s now have the text "includes poster" despite that being in only a tiny fraction. Hopefully threads like this one can raise some awareness/interest!

Love Antarctic Press, and Ninja High School in particular! I currently have 75 issues of the base series in 9.6+, and lots more of the specials!

It's actually pretty common for CGC to charge the label verbiage, as seen recently with the change in policy for foreign editions. Most of my non-US editions now reflect different titles and even publishers than what are actually present on the comics themselves. I agree that it's disturbing, because the slabs exist in this quasi-state. Today I have Die Spinne 15 from Williams Verlag, but if I sent it in for a reholder I would get back Amazing Spider-Man 13 by Williams Verlag, from 1974, with a notation of 1st appearance of Mysterio. It used to be a niche issue, but it seems like they just do it whenever.

Sequential original art pages reunited!

I think this is all we can reasonably ask for. Mistakes and accidents will happen, but identifying recurring problems and implementing mitigation is the right way to fix it.

Posted 21 minutes ago Comic says Marvel on it, this is Marvel's incompetence as well. True, but in this sense Marvel is potentially a victim of having their product altered in the aftermarket, and not a party to this particular round of incompetence.

The inaccurate American flags were added AFTER Marvel approved the artwork for the variant, which was basically Clayton Crane imitating the original UF4 cover.

I, for one, greatly appreciate it. I can't imagine how discouraging it can be when every post, no matter what, is roasted by the peanut gallery, but it seems like there are actually developments being made in the QC department. Everything hasn't changed to perfection immediately, but concerns are being addressed. Seeing "Inspected by" stamps on invoices should help a lot when there are remaining issues. Theoretically the error can be more easily corrected, and that's moving in the right direction. Some of these QC issues shouldn't be laid solely at the feet of the QC inspectors, though. The number of stray hairs and other particles that seem to get encapsulated should be remedied before a slab is reviewed by the QC team. Do you know if there have been any changes earlier in the process to reduce the foreign objects?

Yes, anyone can get an exclusive of any Marvel issue assuming they are willing to order at least 3000 copies and abide by the terms of the licensing agreement, whatever they are precisely. Safe to assume Marvel retains the right to veto any artwork they wouldn't endorse. As far as people going nuts over it, they mostly went nuts over the ALLEGEDLY corrupt method Black Flag used to sell them ("influencers" cutting line to buy armloads), the fact that CGC graded these modified books in blue labels, and that CGC has given each of Black Flag's submissions exactly 1x 10, 3x 9.9s, and 6x 9.8s for each of their acetate variants.

Interesting. Having been involved in comics retail since 1978, opening my first store in 1990, and growing to six stores at present, I thought I knew everything about speculation as it relates to comic collecting. Thank you for educating me. Hopefully you can throw a little knowledge CGC's way too. Maybe it's not the correct way to use the term, but if I start buying up Amazing Fantasy 15s because I suspect the price will rise significantly in the short term and I will be able to make a disproportionate profit relative to the value increase of comparable comics, most people would consider that "speculating." Yes, AF15 is a proven value, but why buy into that particular issue instead of Brave and the Bold 28? Because I'm "speculating" that it's value will increase more.

WOW... it was one thing when obvious "0 feedback" bidders were getting on this but now... are people relying on this auction being nuked as a "counterfeit" before they have to cancel or retract? Either way, this gets attention.

Also, it may be worth mentioning that it's up to the copyright holder to decide what they think violates their copyright, and historical precedent is all over the place. DC owns Captain Marvel because a judge decided The Big Red Cheese was too derivative of Superman, but DC can't sell his comic as "Captain Marvel" because another company that came along much later started putting that word on its covers. Marvel sued Jim Shooter's Defiant out of existence because "Plasm" and "Warriors of Plasm" were said to be too close to "Plasmer." Marvel lost, but forced Defiant to spend so much on legal fees they couldn't continue to operate. This was done purely to spite Jim Shooter and eliminate a competitor on the marketplace. My point is, even if there is dubious legal standing for Marvel to do anything, if they want to, they can, and it would likely be catastrophic for Black Flag.

if you check the serial numbers you can see the "grade date" is in July

This morning I bought Chik-fil-A on the app while in my car. When I got to the restaurant, I walked right past the people in line and got my order. No problem. Variant covers and convention exclusives often sell out before everyone who wants one gets one. Very common for SDCC, BotCon, etc. No problem. CGC certified a manipulated comic as "blue label universal," and has demonstrated they will provide 1x 10, 3x 9.9, and 6x 9.8 for these items to be ready on the day of sale. BIG PROBLEM. If we had 8x 9.8s and 2x 9.6s in a Qualified green label, this would be a non-issue.

I *think* this may have been a part of the deal for "influencers" to promote the variants; they may have been picking up pre-sales, which would be slightly different from just jumping line.

I'm sorry to hear that Bruce has passed on, but it's what I inferred when I saw the listing on Heritage. This page is definitely going to a good home, and will be incorporated into one of the largest Ninja High School collections around. The Skottie cover will probably go well beyond my reach, but I'll be sure to throw in on it!

Interestingly, I bought this page in the most recent Heritage auction. The buyer's premium totaled almost twice the final bid... It's hard to tell what pages like this will sell for, but I definitely would have paid the seller more than they're going to get from Heritage. At least this page will soon be reunited with my page 23!

To try to translate some of their hype-speak, I think the "+" is for the pre-slabbed versions. It seems we can assume there will be 1x 10, 3x 9.9, and 6x 9.8 available at time of sale, so they don't want you to imagine you can get one of those for anything less than a totally imaginary price. Also it seems that the "influencer" line may be based on pre-sales or pre-commitments via whatever IG, YT, TT, etc platform. They know who's a collector vs who's an "influencer" based on pre-determined cross promotional activity. This is all just speculation, and possibly gives more benefit of the doubt than is deserved.

I think that's exactly right, but is just the current incarnation of a long-time trend. I think it's in the same vein as Pacific Comics getting Kirby to do Captain Victory and Silver Star, the original Image Revolution of 1992, etc. So many times we're seeing creators on flagship Big Two titles also releasing their innovative ideas through Image, Boom, IDW, whatever. Whether or not those ideas stick long-term, it's generally stuff that would've been published by DC or Marvel in the 60s or 80s. Plus, consider the urge to increase sales by promoting a new 1st appearance. So there's a push to introduce new things, but also a reluctance to lose control of a potential "next Walking Dead" sized payday. Thus, we keep getting things that are more and more derivative and rehashed. So far, it looks like fans are bowing out while speculators keep coming back for more. I remember being in an argument over DC's Punchline character where the announcement of her ongoing series was proof that she was here to stay. Seems like every month is a big announcement of something, or a rush to buy based on movie or TV appearances. One thing no one wants to talk about any more is buying to read the story...

The problem here is that "variant" information has been put in the "issue notes" field. No matter what someone puts in their submission form, this information is going to come up. It's not a common problem, but it does happen and once it does there's really no way to sort it out accurately. Because it's in the notes, it RETROACTIVELY applies to ALL issues of that comic. An example from my collection is Ninja High School #1 from Antarctic Press, here's a serial number to check: 0901243012 On my physical slab, there are no notes at all. In the database now, notes say: 1st appearance of Jeremy Feeple, Itchy Koo, Princess Asrial, Lendo and Professor Steamhead. Poster included. The problem is, the poster was only included in editions sold directly from the publisher either at conventions or mail order. There are about 100 copies of the poster edition, and about 7900 that do not have the poster. But now ALL copies say they have a poster included. Fortunately, if you know where to look, you can tell from the outside whether or not the poster is actually supposed to be in there, but it would be infuriating to buy a copy based on this note and find it to be the far more common regular edition. Also, Professor Steamhead first appeared in Mangazine #2, Feb 1986, but that's a minor quibble compared to these variant notes.

As a kid in the 80s I always loved reading the letters columns, especially when you'd get a letter from the top-tier letterhacks like Uncle Elvis or T. M. (The Mad) Maple. It really brought in a sense of community, but also makes me regret that I personally have yet to send in a fan letter. Today, I still enjoy scanning letters to get a feel for what the fans felt at the time, and to note letters from fans who went on to be pros.

again, boldface by me... The seller must have, because Dr. Balls was able to check out and pay for the book at an offer price. It wasn't until his other purchases arrived that he realized there was a problem. I'm not sure how long CL would wait before they initiated a claim. Presumably they assumed the book in question was en route. You're right that CL should have refunded by now. It's a ridiculous system we tolerate, but see it all the time. A few months ago my hotel was supposed to be paid by for by my employer, but it wasn't. I paid myself, knowing I could get reimbursed. My employer sorted things out, and paid for the hotel room themselves after the fact. The hotel told me they would reverse the charges in 5-7 days. My card was charged in 5-7 MINUTES, my reverse is in 5-7 DAYS. I still got mad at my employer's travel coordinator instead.