James J Johnson

Not Monty Python. Monty Constanza. West Coast, baby!

That's a very good point, and I've already considered it, But................................. This book has shifted pages to the rear, the result of a "flat" spine roll. The re-fold I describe, the fold realigned with the new spine edge to the right of the staples, along that main flake line would yield a stunning success on this book because the offset of pages you mention would be perfectly counterbalanced by the amount of spine shift in hat realignment I suggested at that point I mentioned! Trust me, I think of everything and would never suggest a book get the West Coast Costanza treatment if the front and back covers wouldn't line up flush, as produced, with the inside pages in a logical place! Most of the books that underwent that treatment were not rolled like this so a counterbalance was not a practicality and they wound up having that undesireable effect you referred to. This one is off-set perfectly for it!

Though everybody calls those pleats in the paper, "printing folds", they really have nothing to do with the printer. They are imperfections in the manufacturing of the reams of paper that go to the printer. The CGC doesn't detract much for them, if at all, unless we get into grades of 9.4 and up and especially on newer books, Bronze and up. I see what looks like light staining on the back cover, some serious tears near the staples, emananting from the staple blades, a real good pull it looks like, and that bottom right corner as the main flaws. Overall a 7.0 to 7.5, a nice book, taking those flaws mentioned into consideration, relegating it to IMO a CGC 4.5 or 5.0 and that's assuming that when that front cover is opened up for a look inside the spine, those are tears at the bottom staple, actual ripped paper, and not just bad creasing. In this grade with those flaws considered, no extra deductions for the paper pleats.

To the best of my knowledge, although the CGC doesn't consider this type of press that literally creates a new spine, a spine being nothing more than where the leaves are folded, their pressing service does not offer this type of press, but I may be wrong and possibly just haven't heard of any instances of CGC pressing doing this more radical type of pressing. I do know that there are sellers who do this that also are very adept at all phases of restoration, even though I must once again stress that this press does not garner a purple or green label. I am not aware of any of the sellers who do this being, at present, in the resto business. That stated, it's not that difficult a fix. Anyone with a heat press could do this. The book is opened to the centerfold, pressed flat, the spine now gone as the pages are not folded into book form. Then a fold is carefully worked by hand folding a spine in the new position, in this case the new fold at the edge of the spine being the flake line immediately to the right of the staples (the staples will now be on the back cover when the new spine fold is established), and then the fold is first flattened by hand and then further flattened by the heat press. If done deftly, the staples do not have to be removed. In this case, the staple placement is ideal that you will likely not loosen their grip on the paper and pull or show any more wear than the paper surrounding them does now. Now , that "spine wear" on the front cover will all be shifted to the back cover near the spine, the wear still there, but not as evident from the front! "Costanza", it is done! Someone like Joey Post here could do this beautifully in his sleep if you have qualms about do-it-yourselfing it.

Yes.

Lots of lines and little scuffs/scratches. Not sure if any of them are common to them all (part of the plate) as I'm unfamiliar with this book.

Syd Shores art! Tremendously gifted with action anatomy. Look at the positioning of Cap's feet, the inward turn, the matching degree of turn in each leg at the knees each knee perfectly positioned as suggested by the angle of Cap's uppercut, and the hips transferred from that uppercut delivered in that position down to the lower body right to his toes, it's all anatomically perfect. Even the correct angles suggest more of an actual live actor still than a drawn character. This is a consistent feature in Shores' work, a very, very talented action cartoonist.

I agree, but this book has enormous$ potential. There's enough of a roll that it's a prime candidate for the "Costanza spine realignment therapy" treatment. If this book were opened to the centerfold and pressed flat, thus no longer having a spine as it's just unfolded leafs of paper, it could be refolded then pressed, positioned with a new spine fold created right where that flake line is immediately to the right of the staples. That would place the flake line right on the spine, thereby eliminating most flaws from front cover view, the wear seen now shifted to the back cover just to the left of the spine! There have been many books given this treatment and it's not considered resto so always yields a blue label (from all that I've seen). This FF 12 is reminiscent of one in particular that I saw graded 5.0 that was Constanzaed up to either 7.0 or 7.5, a sizable jump in $ value for a relatively minor procedure. This book is the perfect candidate for that procedure and the risk is very low.

+1. Once that slight upturn is flattened by pressing, and if those waves across the top margin also press out nicely = CGC 9.4, as I really don't see much more in the way of flaws than that.

That cover is so nice that it's going to pull up a technical 5.0. Most of that spine wear is more evident edge on than face front. Reminds me of many "Constanzaed" books that had spine realignment therapy (that has not been done here). The more that spine wear is centralized to the edge of the spine, or slightly to the back cover, the less CGC will ding the grade because of it, and this is a book with tremendous paper quality, pedigree-like colors. These eye-appeal factors will impact the grading at CGC and skew the grade up either to 5.5 as is, or 6.0 if a press is done and it's at all successful in flattening, or battening down some of those spine kicks and fractures.

El Rio Verde!

The color-touch is incomplete as well, that is; only portions of the stresses treated and other portions not but should of for at least a homogenous look. There's already too much ink as it is for removal. IMO, once cut away, those areas with ink seepage excised, that would devastate the overall eye appeal that this copy does have. The smartest play here would be to have the work undone and then completed correctly and totally, which would mean spine work and pro color-touch, and whatever other areas, like the Flash, that are color-touched to be similarly corrected. At least in this way, an apparent grade of as much as 8.5 may be possible in the hands of a real pro.

Right in the middle: should CGC at 6.0, maybe one tic less if they hit the bottom rhc crease hard. Press won't do much to smooth out that threadbare spine, though may be worth a try.

This. Left as is, and with a press = CGC 6.0

Canada, huh? He won't deliver there? Lady luck herself must be sitting atop your shoulder!

The chipping is fairly deep (eats in from right to left to a moderate degree) and is along approx. 30% the length of the right edge (about 3 inches), so although it could be worse, it's an appreciable amount of moderate chipping. Since it's a light color cover, the visual impact is not as drastically stark as if on a cover with darker colors, like #2, #4, #7, #9, and others. But it is there nonetheless and will factor greatly into the overall grade. Although chipping is a production defect, these are missing pieces and are considered as such by the CGC in the grade. Now I've seen many 1963 CGC graded Marvels with similar chipping on what looked to be a book of otherwise NM- or better quality graded as much as 7.0, but typically, 6.5. I can't really make out if this piece has the type of defects that might be helped by a pressing, but since it is graded 5.0 already, my feeling is that it's already nearing the upper limit of 6.5 to 7.0 headroom that it may attain if there's really nothing else in the way of tangible defects aside from the chipping itself. Mind you, there may be some pressable defects I can't see that could get this up to 5.5 or 6.0, but keep in mind that with that much chipping to that degree, 6.5 or miraculously a 7.0 would be the upper limit, this based on my observations of similarly chipped Marvels issued in this or neighboring years.

Can we see a scan to properly assess the extent and degree of the chipping? It does matter.

Where's Waldo?

I only wish we had scans with higher resolution. It's a super-key book worth thousands and deserves the best analysis we can offer based on us being able to see a lot more than, at this point, we can't.

Bronze age book. Piece missing. Major stain on the back that soaked through to the front. Big flaws too. Spine is nice but those flaws are too big to be mollified by the spine. I think 3.0 would be an act of CGC mercy in this case.

5.0 to 5.5. Though the scan res is poor, more than initially meets the eye in the way of wear can be hinted at in what can be seen. Plus the color touch was horribly botched in that Flash red area scuff.

Dimensions aren't a foolproof way to determine trim. Every book is a different size. Tolerances for 1950s and 1960s comics were very lax.

If he bought this in the early 80s, his money back is the last thing he would want. My guess is that the early 80s price on this was less than $1000, even without full disclosure. In 2018, even with amateur ct and if trimmed (50/50 at this point), he'll get at least triple that and probably more.

Yes. By the early 80s, a portion of the Mile-High books already had been glued and color-touched. Although the scan quality is poor, there appears to be color touch evident on the spine and the cover without even discussion of whether that's bleed through or holes seen on the inside cover. If cut, it was trimmed on the right side although the book appears to be quite normal for factory cut on the back cover view. Again, I'm 50/50 on trim from the front cover and a better scan, higher resolution would seal the deal either way. I can come a lot closer and eliminate almost al guesswork with that better scan.

"Publishers glued on the cover"? Must have been published by the Lilliputians if somehow the publishers wound up glued to the cover.