nisora33

I'm too much of a newbie of grading to offer a solid grade--but what I can say is this has great "eye appeal." I would be proud to own that, especially given the age. The veterans of this board will have a much better appreciation of what you should expect, grading-wise. But I'm jealous. Take my opinion with a very large "mound" of salt.

Thanks gradejunky. The seller included a photo of the corner but it did NOT really showcase the full reality of its appearance. I will say that the seller was very communicative and more than willing to offer a refund if I wasn't happy. Not a bad experience, over all, but like I said, I'm new to grading so I wanted some other opinions on the grade/condition.

Front cover and back cover + 1st page showing comic panel Click zoom to see high res photos.

Thanks. The crease wasn't apparent in the photos on Ebay, so I was pretty bummed when I received the comic. That said, I've long wanted to get back a copy of this issue, as I traded it away as a kid (along with some other McFarlane Michelinie issues) and my mother ended up getting rid of a lot of my other stuff, too.

So I got it back out and examined it, and the "crease" of the spine is actually the outline of the 1st page panels showing through the cover--it's not a crease after all.

Okay, don't know where I got that, probably from Reddit. Thanks for your help and insight.

I know that pressing is considered restoration, but if the creases don't break color, would evidence of pressing even be detectable to a grader after the fact? Or would the grader look at the comic and think, "All things considered, this comic looks a little TOO perfect?"

Thanks all. That helps. I have an additional question: I hear talk of pages having an "acidic smell, is that the same thing as old paper smell, or is that something different? Because I actually love the smell of old pages.

Thanks Not a Clone. I was thinking between a 6 and a 7. But I'm still sharpening my judgment and don't feel confident yet. I'd like to get to a point where I can determine whether certain comics are worth sending in for grading. I've been looking at lots of grading guides and scans to make a comparative judgment in order to get better at this. Obviously, I still have a ways to go.

Hey, folks. I'm new to the board, and having just gotten back into collecting, I'm very, very new to grading. I think the biggest question plaguing me is how heavily interior page quality affects the grade of the comic vs. the exterior; most of what I've turned up here and elsewhere references the exterior, and what little I have found regarding interior page quality is contradictory and inconclusive, to me at least. I recently purchased a copy of AMS #299. The eBay seller listed it as VF or higher grade, but the more I inspect the comic, the more I doubt the grading. I'm going to post a link to some photos I took, but I'll also provide a description of some of my observations: I took the photos under yellowish light, so the exterior doesn't look as white as it appears in person, and the interior pages appear a darker tan, while nevertheless being somewhat tan IRL. Cover is rich in color and glossy with just a few almost imperceptible impressions on the cover (see photos 1 and 2). Among my biggest concerns are the bends to the upper left corner of the back page; the largest of the two is a little greater than a fourth of an inch in length. Next up: a handful of the pages have what appear to be faint folds or creases, which I didn't even notice at first; but the more I've inspected them under differing lighting, the more apparent they become. Lastly, nearly all the pages have a slight (maybe 2/8 inch) bend to the upper corner, an example of which you can see in the final photo. Here's the link to the album: my copy of Amazing Spider-man #298. I tried to take the most unflattering photos as possible. While the outside condition isn't terrible, the interior pages give me strong concerns/doubts over the total grade. I paid 65$ for it. At this point, I'm not sure whether it was worth it or not. Thanks in advance to all of you in this community for your time and attention. I look forward to participating more!