ExNihilo

Looking to gather sigs for this book and have it graded. It looks pretty high grade with few issues. However, when prepping the book, I noticed that there appears to be some "printer bleeding" on the lettering on the cover (see last photo). Instead of crisp white lines, black ink appears to have carried over. Do you reckon that will negatively impact the grade on the book? Thanks for the opinions.

Loeb/Sale. I don't know why there seems to be two different Jeph Loeb's. There's the excellent work he's put out with Tim Sale. And then there's everything else which is pretty much terrible (Batman: Hush and Superman/Batman excluded).

1. Do you think the car will be totaled? 2. If you think the car will NOT be totaled, how much do you think total repairs will be to the car? If you DO think the car will be totaled, what will the salvage value be?

When the adult in you decides you can finally afford the books you've yearned for since you were a kid... (apologies for the shiny/glary pics, I was too scared to remove the books from the bags. ) Silver Surfer is/was/will always be my favorite character so I just had to grab the first issue. Next up is to find a decently graded/priced FF48. I think for anyone who grew up in the 90s, adding ASM300 to the collection is a no brainer. Realizing now that a grail book should be something that's impossible to attain so I guess I'm gonna have to reset my grail bar a little higher. New grail book...AF15. This one I kinda stumbled upon. Then kinda had it set in my head that I just had to have. A dangerous combination for someone who's just getting into the realm of collecting as opposed to just buying books for reading. But still, I love Rocket from both movies so it's kinda cool to say I now own a copy of his first appearance. I guess as Bradley Cooper would say..."Oh yeah." This is one of my favorite books I've read because of the emotional impact and message it conveys. I sent my copy off to get signed and graded at SDCC so I was looking for a new reading copy. Found someone selling multiple copies of the book "unread" and "fresh from the distributors package" for half of everything else on eBay. Literally bought up the last 2 copies. Since the original copy I sent off for signing wasn't the best graded copy I could get my hands on at the time, I'll probably send off the better of the two to get signed and graded as well.

I guess I was thinking since posts are listed chronologically, then you could refer back to the posts that are around the same time as when you submitted to see how your books are faring compared to others. The point was to really consolidate people's responses and maintain all information together in a format that may be easier to read at quick glance and to eliminate follow up questions like "Did you do FastTrack? Did you submit Modern or Value? etc" Perhaps this could be accomplished by quoting your prior post and updating new information? I don't have much experience submitting my own books so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Per CGC, " Poly-bagged comics must be taken out of the poly-bag before being graded." https://www.cgccomics.com/services/comics_we_grade.asp

Thanks for the rec. I'll have to give them a call this afternoon.

Unfortunately, I only see 2 upcoming signings on his schedule (Palm Springs and Dragon Con). Since no one on these boards appears to be accepting subs for Dragon Con, I'm kinda forced to submit to whoever is accepting for Palm Springs. I could drive down to the Con myself, but then that introduces new costs. I'll probably just submit my books and keep my fingers crossed. (I wonder if there's a way to insure my books under homeowners insurance or something). From what I've read, his handlers move pretty quick and try to get as many sigs through as they can. Probably because they're taking a commission on each signature as well. But if anyone has to wait 6 months for books, I would imagine there was a delay in shipping somewhere in the process. Who knows, all we can do is hope for the best.

This thread really worries me because I want to submit books to get signed at Palm Springs Comic Con, but my options are basically Excelsior Collectables (Stan's handlers) or Vegas Comics whom I don't see much mention of on the threads. I just don't want to have to worry about trust issues with $1000+ in books over a 3-6+ month period.

If you buy bubble wrap on eBay, does it come wrapped in bubble wrap?

Wow, starting off strong with the ASM300 and then moving on to bigger keys/grails. Amazing collection. Good luck with the sale.

I love the data points provided by everyone here, but I wonder if it would be more informative if we established a standardized format that was easier to follow along with. And then users could go back and edit their prior posts when new submission data is provided. For example: Tier (also list FastTrack where applicable): Modern Number of books: 2 Event/Signing date (optional for SS only): SDCC Shipped to CGC: 7/25 Received (by CGC): 8/3 Verified: TBD Graded: TBD Encapsulated: TBD Received (by owner): TBD (NOTE: Example dates. Not actual submission data point.)

kinda regret missing the boat on this one.

Just got back from my LCS and was shocked to find they had about 30 on their shelf (all cover A). Admittedly all books were probably in the 9.2-9.4 range as well.

You're probably right, but you still can't deny DC's track record doesn't at least make this a slight possibility. Whereas Marvel movies have a track record of at least being decent, DC movies like BvS and Suicide Squad have been so horrid that (in my opinion) they are 'unwatchable' and as such news like this only adds to my fears that Justice League might bad. But, here's to hoping i'm wrong.

I see some that are being sold by an LCS that are "Straight out of the Diamonds Distributors box." Each LCS might have different circumstances, but I find it a little sleazy to be selling books less than 2 days old on eBay. If my LCS happened to not have any on shelves and then I saw the book marked up on eBay, i'd definitely be upset.

Not bad considering the posted TAT is 35 business days. Thanks for the datapoint.

I'm trying to estimate the total cost of getting books signed and slabbed. I get the sense that books aren't necessarily graded as a group and can get split up. So if I send off a group of books that include Modern, Economy, and Standard, how does CGC determine shipping? Will the books be sent back when the entire invoice is complete (ie one shipment)? Or will my books ship when each type is completed (ie Standard complete first and ships, Economy completes 2 weeks later and is shipped, Modern ships 2 months after)?

Vegas Comics is indeed going (i just received a response from them today). If you don't get a response by email, try messaging them on their FB group. That being said, there's no set price on Stan Lee sigs yet, only an estimated $175. When I got books signed by Stan at SDCC, it was $130/sig. Do creator fees fluctuate from one con to the next? $175 seems like a lot (unless it's like $130 + $45 for CGC/grading/shipping, then it makes more sense).

From a pure character history perspective, value is irrelevant, and thus the book can be perceived as a key book on the merit of it being a first appearance (or a death, or a wedding, or a kiss, or some other major event). The problem I have with this is that as character histories continue to grow, so too do key appearances/events. Black Manta and Jigsaw are big time villains so their inclusion makes sense. But what happens when you get to characters like Scream (Venom: Lethal Protector #4)? Or how about books where a character dies? How about when they die a second or third time? At a certain point, key loses its meaning. As a casual collector, I feel I have to limit what I perceive as key to merely books that I wish I had in my collection because cost is a limiting factor. I guess to answer your question, Black Manta (and Jigsaw's) first appearances were key prior to any surge in value on the basis of their historical relevance to their respective protagonists. But for myself at least, they don't make the cut for what I believe to be key to any collection. (EDIT: I should add that I realize now that a lot of boardies here are big time collectors and can understand how my personal definition of key can be very different from the majority of people here.)

Haha. I tease, my friends would never take my stuff. They'd be more interested in my wine and booze than my books. That reminds me...can I be in your will?

Key is definitely subjective and I'll agree that books can be subdivided as major/minor keys. For the purposes of the original post, I was looking for major keys. To that end, I think value plays a role into what the majority consider "key" (hereby referring to major keys). To that extent, if demand surpasses supply to the point that the value of a book is increased to a point that is no longer reasonable to a large number of readers, then the book is most certainly key. (Additional rule: the contents of a book should be noteworthy in some way, first appearance, first book by legendary creator(s), etc). An example of a book that has a noteworthy event but isn't necessarily key might be Green Lantern #0 (first appearance of Simon Baz as Green Lantern). It ticks the content box, but there aren't a whole lot of buyers clamoring to read about Simon's origin. Now, when a movie comes out, interest automatically ticks up. For example, I recently found myself bidding on a Nova #1 simply because I speculate that Nova will be introduced into the MCU at some point (just purely off the fact that Nova Corp was in GotG). 20 years ago, that book never would have been on my radar. But to answer your question, if Maxima appears in a quality DCEU movie in a meaningful way, then yeah, her first appearance would qualify as key. Appearances in Supergirl, solo comic series, and popularization due to suggestive sketches don't really make a book key in my opinion. But again, it's all subjective. Someone might be a huge Maxima fan and to them it's key. And really I think that's the great thing about comics as a medium, it's really about what enjoyment you derive from it.

@Spikenector: I'm not sure I could ever have friends over for fear of them ruining or taking something valuable with them.

This is me. I went back to look at my old Infinity Gauntlet/Silver Surfer books and saw my collection began at Silver Surfer 50, and that my copies of Infinity Gauntlet were in less than pristine condition because I had read them so much. But wholeheartedly agree that Infinity Gauntlet deserves to be a key. People upselling Infinity War on the title alone either don't know anything about the story and/or are looking to profit off the shared movie title.

Conversely, one could argue that a first appearance alone doesn't make it a key issue. First appearance of a popular/important character is most definitely key (there's no dispute there), but first appearance of more obscure or, dare i say, not popular characters wouldn't strike me as key. Like the first appearance of Antivenom, I wouldn't presume to be a key. Now of course, that could all change should the character make a resurgence or something else that increases interest. Then again, i'm still new to all of this so just my Ninja edit: i was recollecting last night about how I could find copies of Infinity Gauntlet #1 in $0.25 or $1 bins. But suddenly because of movie hype, it's suddenly getting called out as a key issue and costing $20 on eBay. Just another example of books that could be argued as key (or against it).