ExNihilo

I saw the early Rotten Tomatoes score which lowered my expectations, but honestly, the movie is much better than what the critics score shows. It's a fun popcorn comic film. This isn't a film that's going to be up for an Oscar. It is an enjoyable way to spend two hours. The CGI of the last few films has been subpar, but there's a return to form. I think some of the color palette is still too bright, and one of the characters in particular looks misplaced. But beyond that, it looks better than the last few Marvel films. In terms of writing, the film has a decent pace, but there are elements that feel lazy. The final battle felt like it borrowed from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. There's a deus ex machina moment that feels cheap. And the solution to many of the problems our heroes faced is solved in a rather straight forward fashion without some of the wit that we've seen from the first two films. But despite all that, there were a lot more positive moments than there were negative. Paul Rudd is charismatic as ever and Jonathan Majors does a great job as Kang. A fun film, not a top tier MCU film, but not bottom tier either.

I'm glad they don't. Requiring a witness makes the program as honest as possible. Signatures can probably still get through, but that would be due to someone on the inside being unethical and bypassing the system. Someone tested the CBCS system by intentionally forging signatures and they got the books back as "Verified". Stuff like that validates my lack of faith in their "verification" system. It's nothing but a money grab because they realized people are vain and want yellow labels. I was perfectly fine with CBCS keeping the verified program with a red label.

Luckily, it seems fairly secure in the inner well. Under normal circumstances I know you can send the book back and have it reholdered, but I hate subjecting books to the couriers unnecessarily and I know it's a book I also want to resubmit one day when a Hailee Steinfeld signing pops up. Wish I could get some sort of credit applied to my account, even if it's like 20% off next standard submission.

Weird. Second time's a charm? (Hopefully it works now)

It's been a while since I've submitted books so I don't know if things have changed with the slab, but my inner slab slides around inside the outer slab. Is that the new normal? I wish I could post the video, but it literally slides a few millimeters side to side such that you can hear the inner plastic bump against the outer shell when you tilt the slab left and right. (Maybe this shared google drive video will work? Jump to 0:15 to see clearly what I'm talking about.) https://drive.google.com/file/d/14qLZfMdpCzZfpuyYkYri8PDrDh9Nd8kd/view?usp=sharing

Posted this last year, but finally got it back from CGC. Grade is disappointing, but then I looked at the back and was like "ahh, now it makes sense." It's odd to me that CGC is okay with the sketch on the front but counts the art stains from the table on the back against the book. I'd think that should count as part of the sketch. :P In any case, I'm not really fussed about it. The art and artist are what's most important. Next up is to hope for a Hailee Steinfeld signing. If I really care about the grade, I can always commission another artist to add something to the back.

Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern S/S FastTrackTAT as of Receipt Date: 10 daysNumber of books: 1Shipped to Sarasota: 11/16 Received by S&R: 11/19CGC Entered/Received: 12/2Grading/Encapsulation/Imaging: 12/9 Grading/Quality Control: 1/6 Shipped: 1/9Received (by owner): 1/13 Total TAT (excluding USPS Registered Mail time): 23 days I should note, this was by far the quickest return shipping I've ever received via USPS Registered Mail. Most of the time it spends days at my local Distribution Center and usually takes two weeks between when CGC ships and is delivered to me.

Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern S/S FastTrackTAT as of Receipt Date: 10 daysNumber of books: 1Shipped to Sarasota: 11/16 Received by S&R: 11/19CGC Entered/Received: 12/2Grading/Encapsulation/Imaging: 12/9 Grading/Quality Control: 1/6Shipped:1/9Received (by owner): TBD

I would never add celebrity signatures to a book they were in no way associated with. Imagine Henry Cavill signing an AC1. No way. I'm all for celeb signatures on books in which their likeness is portrayed, or photo covers. revat said it perfectly and succinctly. It's not even close.

Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern S/S FastTrackTAT as of Receipt Date: 10 daysNumber of books: 1Shipped to Sarasota: 11/16 Received by S&R: 11/19CGC Entered/Received: 12/2Verified: TBD Grading/Encapsulation/Imaging: 12/9Grading/Quality Control: 1/6Graded: TBD Shipped/Safe: TBDReceived (by owner): TBD

The maximum declared value for moderns is $400 so it makes sense that any of the books you're declaring as $1000 would be bumped to standard and thus billed as $80. As for the $400 items, sounds like a question for the Ask CGC thread and/or @CGC Mike. CGC Services & Fees | CGC (cgccomics.com)

Best we can do is provide crowdsourced actuals

My most realistic goal would be finally pulling the trigger on 2000+ mylite/fullbacks from eGerber and re-bagging my entire collection. Maybe finalize organizing my collection which would include creating labels for dividers. This might actually be the year I stop with monthly subscriptions as my interest has waned as there are fewer and fewer titles/events that I'm interested in. Otherwise, continue the long-term/multi-year goal of saving up for AF15 and Jim Lee Hush OA.

What's your declared value? I just went through the submission portal and everything was fine.

Unknown Comics is an online comic store. As with many stores these days, they paid for store exclusive variants. This happens to be a store variant for issue 3. secret empire #3 unknown comics variant for sale | eBay

Wasn't the return policy only added after CGC Mike told him to change it? Prior to that there was no mention of returns, only that books were insured.

You know who controls whether or not you take those kinds of losses? You. Media Mail is the lowest of the low in terms of shipping. You could have increased the price of the books to cover something better like Priority Mail. You could have rejected the lowball offers or countered with something higher. You have no one to blame for the lower return on your books than yourself. You accepted lowball offers, but aren't willing to take a bigger loss? On what? Your items are insured. Take the books back, refund the buyer, and file a claim with USPS. The only person who loses out is the postal service. But then again, you're not supposed to be sending comics via Media Mail so maybe you're worried your claim will be rejected. And I'll just add that this is 100% poor shipping by the looks of it.

Do you just reply with the existing list price?

For whatever it's worth, didn't CGCMike say that books are pressed after signing? So while Todd might manhandle books, he'd have to REALLY manhandle them to the point that they're not pressable defects. That, or as stated, CCS is just really bad at their jobs.

Have you considered pressing them?

Well that was your first mistake. And that was your second mistake. You should probably do a little research before submitting books. Most notably, determining what books are valuable enough to warrant grading. (Hint: not dollar books that are overprinted and relatively worthless).

"Despite being in business for 20 years and knowing months in advance of upcoming con dates and private signing dates, we are unable to build a forecast to more accurately estimate TAT's. Meanwhile our parent company performs quarterly forecasting for investors that are intended to closely align with Wall Street expectations, but WE have no idea how many books you'll be submitting. Please enjoy our QC issues while you wait pray for your books. Thanks."

Still irritated that these private signing books get bumped ahead of all other books in the modern queue.

I remember it would take forever to organize Onyxia raids for whatever reason. The raid schedule was the same each week and people would RSVP, but for whatever reason, people would take forever to show up, get their gear, potions, etc. One time it took so long our guild leader just canceled the raid that day. They weren't too pleased about that.