ninanina

8.0 as is...higher with a press

Combination of dings, color breaking creases, corner wear and surface wear I'm thinking 5.5 / 6.0 range.

5.0 nicer than a 4.0 but the accumulation of the crease, stain, spine and corner wear IMO keeps this from a 6.0. If I may comment on the bottom edge, it looks like it could be a minor condensation stain. Not enough to effect the inside pages but just enough to discolor the bottom edge. This could have perhaps been caused by the book being stored for a time against a basement outside wall. It's the ripples on the far right side of the stain closest to the spine that suggests this could be it as the waves do look like something moisture would generate. Just a guess, but something that might be considered? 

IMO 9.6...and only be because of the bottom left corner ding. Nice copy. Can't rule out a possible 9.8 either because I can't see anything else wrong with it. 

HI guys. 

Flaws include a tiny dent on right side just beside "R" in Surfer, small almost imperceptible wear at Staples with a tiny imperfection lower left corner on front cover. Back cover is immaculate so I didn't bother scanning it. Hoping that's enough for some opinions. Greatly appreciated. 

On 4/12/2022 at 3:16 PM, bc said:

So the company understands the consumers frustration. Step 1 completed! 

But then goes on to state they have no plans to remediate the frustration. 

I understand that grading is subjective, but after slabbing a gajillion books, think they would have a more documented/routinized process around graders notes (while retaining their proprietary intellectual capital used for grading).

Sounds like a Six Sigma Black Belt could do wonders for CGC.

-bc

I'm glad they at least responded. It would have been worse if they simply ignored what's going on here as some of the posts do come across as marginally inflammatory; whether deserved or not. Moreover, they do give us the freedom to talk about it...that says a lot. CGC is trusted, they usually get it right and because of that are and will be  #1...better than most (they do have that reputation) and important to the hobby but no one is perfect. When you grade a kajillion books, not all are going to be accurate and more importantly everyone will have an opinion, good or bad,  on how they did. Simply the law of averages. When I think about all the ones they get right, IMO it's okay to get the odd one wrong. The day they get them all right, is the day AI will be doing the grading.

Yeah, that's what I figured. We are after all just looking at a scan...and it's not the same thing as book in hand. 

On 4/10/2022 at 10:42 PM, WernerVonDoom said:

A book with a stain has the highest grade of 7.5.  If it otherwise higher than that, it will be a 7.5.  Good luck.

I've got a key with a real ugly chocolate milk stain on the cover...it's about 3/4" round. Other than that...almost perfect. May I assume then, based on your post I have a 7.5? I wanted to scan it, but can't remember which copy it was. 

Okay, in an attempt to understand what's going on here....okay, after thinking about it, I can't understand what's going on. If I sent in that 8.5 I would have expected at least a 9.4 and would have been very disappointed with the grade. Maybe it's something we don't see?

On 3/2/2022 at 6:03 PM, PovertyRow said:

Thanks ninanina. Your opinion is definitely appreciated. There is a definite advantage having the book in hand. Unfortunately some of the things you are pointing out are scanner glass smoodge, slab scrapes (several of the new slabs had scratches/scrapes) or indents/finger bends/scanner artifacts that are reflecting the light when scanned. I also find it difficult to discern loss of gloss through a slab scan. Gloss is fine here but the micorchamber paper, especially with larger white areas, can make things seem duller than they are. But the key issue is some of these problems were not there when I had them pressed. Or eould have been easily pressed out. FIVE out of seven books appear to have been handled badly enough to cause some of the problems. My sense is these are from the grading end and not the pressing end. 

You touched upon something of interest but unrelated: the concept of 1980s comics vs, say, Silver Age. While many of us were collecting when 1980s comics were being newly published and maintaining a sense of "they are Modern", a 1980 comic is about 42 years old. So put yourself back to 1980. An Action #1 was considered Golden Age back then and, interestingly, would be the exact same age (42 years) in 1980 as this Moon Knight 1 is in 2022. Time goes by faster than we think! 

I appreciate the response. 

Based on your description of my imagined defects, I would have to side with you naturally on this. As to why this is happening, I have no idea. If enough of this is going on, there is a  problem and one can only hope if there is a problem, CGC recognizes it and fixes it. Worst thing they can do is not recognize there is a problem and simply move on. I personally have major keys I do need to get graded, but when I read things like this, naturally it makes me nervous...and I can't be the only one. When do I send my FF 1,46 & 48, or my Hulk 181, or Journey Into Mystery 85, or Spider-Man 300 et all. A nervous customer can't be a good thing in the long run for CGC. The hobby needs them, but a developing a bad reputation can't be good.

Also, I've always believed there is a Silver Age curve where comics are not graded as strictly as Copper or Moderns not only due to their age, but also because comics in the last 40 years were looked after better. Again, just my opinion. You are right about the 40 year thing, but a lot more 80's comics were bagged and boarded than in the days of Action 1.

On 2/27/2022 at 4:27 PM, PovertyRow said:

Sadly no matter how I angle it I cannot get a good shot showing the NCB dents on the Moon Knight #1. So here is a full scan of a 6.0. Again, no sign of any light stain on back and scanning it just shows a nice white reverse.

NOTE the lower right line on the red dress is a NCB crease that is reflecting light so it looks color breaking. And a lot of that mess next to "Premier Issue" is from NCB creasing within that dent along with the Color Breaking Creasing. Note that the deep breaking creasing there was not present when I sent the book in.  6.0 is very harsh for this. At least they did WP.

 

Okay, admittedly, whenever we have a grading contest I'm usually just above the middle of the pack. But for whatever it's worth, what I'm seeing is cover wear along the spine (8 tics in total that I can see) and the area between his right arm and cape has another 6 or 7 showing. That plus some loss of cover gloss. And yeah, I've seen some 6.0's that were worse. As a Silver Age, it could have made maybe 7.5...but not an 80's comic.

I purchased an Atom 2 about 15 - 20 years ago and it had rusted staples. Cover was attached. After storing it for all those years and doing nothing, now...the cover is separated from the rest of the book. I'm thinking that rust will eat away at the paper and do the same thing. 

That's precisely what the seller said...so I'd have to say yes. 

Looks like I had it wrong all the time. The seller had the comic CGC'd after he accepted the return and it came back 6.0 restored. Huge mistake on my part.

I felt the cover was a photo copy only because:

a) paper used on the cover felt thinner

b) lack of gloss on the cover

Also, there was a 3rd and 4th staple attaching the cover to the rest of the comic. I always believed this to be a symptom of a married cover. I always thought when a comic was properly restored, as part of the restoration, the original staples should be used. 

I would be very interested in a few of you chiming in on this. 

I'm still happy the book isn't in my collection as it just didn't feel right...lesson learned. 

I've seen 8.5's worse than this so I'll go in at 9.0. 

I for one would be interested in how it went as I was thinking of doing the same thing with many of my modern runs as well. Please let us know once they're sold. 

On 1/6/2022 at 11:57 AM, gadzukes said:

I could not resist getting this MCP 72 double cover.  Paid way too much, but had to have it.  Love this cover.

 

I want one.

On 10/18/2021 at 3:08 PM, kav said:

can you give them an address of where you'd like em to open?

If CGC is interested, they can contact me and I can scout out a good location for them. 

In the early '80's I needed cash to pay my House Tax. I think it was around $1800.00 at the time. I sold a lot of my marvel Silver Age at the time to pay the bill. Have since been able to replace everything sold in mostly higher grades since. On the plus side, it made my wife a believer in the value of back issues and she's been a huge supporter of my hobby since. 

On 10/17/2021 at 10:23 PM, kav said:

If a company has too much business, raise the price.

...or open up more locations. A Canadian Division...I like the sound of that. Even better, put it right here in the middle...Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

Next appearance Spider-Woman #5. She's considered a witch...maybe she's going to appear in that Disney series with Agatha Harkness?  Just a wild guess but would be a natural for the series.

These guys have all nailed it. Somewhere in the 5.0 - 6.0 range. I'll go 5.5.

On 10/10/2021 at 6:16 PM, Buzzetta said:

I would be more concerned about how that happened to begin with.

Bug chew?

I think it's called rat chew. But, where did the rat come from?