ExNihilo

I recommend calling Customer Service as advised. I've always been able to get through pretty quickly and get the response I need.

Tune in next week when someone asks about an X-Men run. I personally don't like date stamps, but it would be kind of cool to have an entire run of books with date stamps from the same store as it's a reflection of a bygone era. It would feel like owning a collection without the pedigree notation.

To be honest, Hickman's FF/Avengers/Secret Wars epic has ruined me for modern comics. I haven't read any new titles since then with that kind of scope and quality and I'm not sure I ever will. That makes it easier to reduce the number of monthly subscription titles I have now. I still spend a lot on monthly titles, but it's more a matter of completing existing arcs as opposed to plans to continue collecting into the distant future. So my expectation is that as series wrap up, my monthly subs should decrease. That all said, that loss of desire for current books, only makes it easier to focus on older runs/books from my youth.

I've had foil books signed and pressed. You want to make sure they're using a proper Sharpie (probably the metallic variety), and that the ink doesn't get smudged. Also, I'd only trust a proper presser as I think there are certain nuances involved with pressing foil covers. (But I really don't know much about it).

It's reaching a point where there's a novelty in these sort of errors. I actually wouldn't mind keeping that book as is in the "New Book" label if for no other reason than it's a good laugh.

Been using DCBS for four or five(ish) years and have never had any issues with monthly shipments.

Yes.

Dunno if anyone has submitted any vintage books lately, but check here:

Director of Excellence sounds like the business equivalent of a participation trophy. "Aww, here you go buddy, here's a Director title even though you don't do anything meaningful."

Is it 2017 again? I remember when re-salers were hyping up this character.

I wonder what the Director role pays. Sure sounds like I could easily balance his existing workload on top of my own and probably be able to provide a marked improvement to CGC while simultaneously doubling my take home. Because you know what they say, improving upon nothing is still improving.

I remember a year ago Mike mentioned that there was a new Quality control guy that was supposed to come in and work on improving the system. Was that this guy? He's gone already? Why would you leave such a cush position? He clearly did absolutely nothing other than collect checks.

LOL! What a f'in joke. @CGC Mike, just admit it, CGC's QC department is non-existent. Books go from grader to encapsulation and directly to shipping. Pretending QC exists is just embarrassing.

There are three methods of selling off a collection: 1) sell individually (this results in the greatest return but is also the most time consuming, potentially taking years to unload everything) 2) sell the entire collection to a single buyer/store (this results in the lowest return but is the quickest method of washing your hands of books/responsibility) 3) some combination of the two where you identify the keys and sell those individually while selling the rest as one lot (best of both worlds) Personally, if there are runs (a continuous or near continuous run of issues for a particular title) I would lump those together and attempt to sell them as one. You never know what buyers are looking to fill holes in their collection and might be tempted to buy a bunch of books from one person instead of scouring stores to buy a book here and there.

Static had his own animated series from 2000-2004, Static Shock. The character has had a small cult following since then which is probably why the book sells for more than cover.

Again, it's not you, it's me. This is the newbie section of the board and your question is perfectly valid. I apologize as it's just something I happen to see repeatedly in places like Reddit. So yeah, keep your questions coming. I agree, I think mylar is an excellent means of protecting your books. It's the material used by the Library of Congress to protect historical documents so I'm of the opinion that if it's good enough for them, then it should be good enough for our comics. People will say that they want to slab to protect their book and I think that's a bit misguided. Mylar, fullback, microchamber paper, and a top loader will provide sufficient protection at a fraction of the cost. Obviously if you've got like an Action Comics 1, then you're gonna want to go the whole nine yards with a slab and likely several other layers of protection, but again, it's a matter of cost relative to value.

I hate that we've come to a point in collecting where people's first instincts are "should I slab XYZ?" for EVERYTHING. This comment isn't geared towards just you OP, it's more the repeated question here and on other social media sites around the internet. There are those vocally oppose slabbing. You'll often hear them chirp "books are meant to be read!" I like to think of them as "raw doggers". Then you've got the opposite end of the spectrum who see any remotely valuable book and go "send that to CGC!" That latter group of people is what leads newbies to re-enter the hobby and ask of themselves "what's CGC and should I get my books slabbed" and then often post a bunch of drek. The truth is, there's a middle ground. Slabbing serves a purpose in the following situations: 1) You have a personal/emotional connection to a book and just REALLY want it slabbed. If that's what makes you happy, go for it. 2) You plan to keep the book a long time and want to easily identify value for yourself, or more realistically, your next of kin. 3) You want the provenance that comes with witnessed signature/sketches. 4) You want to ensure that a book is free from restoration. There are other reasons (such as people maintaining registries), but beyond that, you need to consider the cost of slabbing. Far too often I see people slabbing $10 books and it just makes no sense to me when the cost of slabbing such a book can be as high as $50/book. If you have the money and want to just blow it on that stuff, no one's gonna stop you. But logically, I'd rather apply that $50 into some sort of fund for future books/keys. Also, while we're on the subject of slabbing, any books signed and not witnessed by CGC will be given a green label. A lot of people don't like green labels and would much prefer yellow. Lastly, no, I don't think you should get those books graded, but it's not my money, it's yours.

Take @ 20%

The cover says $1.50 US.

Yup.

Every time I go to Manhattan, I go to Midtown Comics. And every time, I leave disappointed. Maybe some of that has to do with how shady they were with some exclusive variant sales. Whatever the case, I haven't spent a dime with them in years. They do have a warehouse sale every so often that I've considered checking out since I get the impression that's where the majority of their back issues are stored, but I've never taken the time to venture out there.

I stopped following this for a few days and now I come back and it's like the thread is on fire again. 9 years?! Part of how I justify expensive books to myself is to amortize the cost of ownership over the life of the asset (or more realistically, of me). If I buy a $30,000 book, then I think of it as just spending $1000/year. (For simplicities sake, I ignore the time value of money of what a $30k investment would grow to become in those 30 years). My point is, I'm willing to spend a lot on books and see the majority of the cost attributed to the asset itself, and a portion of it is simply the cost of ownership and the ability to see and enjoy such a book. 9 years with that book in someone else's hands would rob me of any joy I get out of owning something. I get nervous when CGC has my book for 9 months. I'd be questioning the status of my book weekly if it took them over a year to do anything. How you maintain your sanity on a six figure book is beyond me. 9 years without starting work/services? That's no longer a business failure. As others have said, that's business fraud.

When you're right, you're right. Let's add the encapsulation department and QC (as noted by others on the previous page)

@CGC Mike Seems to me the right course of action for CGC would be to reach out to the seller on eBay to try to remedy it, or buy the book so it's off the market, fix the label, and recoup some costs via auction or giveaway or something. Whatever it takes to remove that embarrassment from the marketplace.