comicginger1789

Okay...sorry not ALWAYS. I was using that word in terms of my own life which began in the 90's. Still, when you think about a book that cost 20 cents in '74 to be a $10 in say '84, thats a x50 increase in ten years. It has increased even more since the 80's and early 90s when the character was everywhere and a bigger deal.

I would throw the book out. I hate Superman. Sorry that was harsh. Leave the piece loose. Set it in the bag so it looks all there. When selling, show the piece. The potential buyer can then have the dilemma of leaving loose or reattaching.

I don't think I would ever submit or marry pages, covers and the like unless it was a very cool or hard to find book. Like some Golden Age books, I would totally do that for, although I would likely leave raw and likely leave the pages loose inside the copy that was missing them rather than try to attach on my own. I am also curious what book this is...if it is anything newer than 1965, I have a hard time thinking of a book this makes sense for. Sure, there are valuable books but I feel Frankensteining one to up the value or grade is something collectors who want it would just avoid anyway.

I mean, even if it is a printing error, it is ugly. This being a book that can be found in high grade for $5-10, personally I would just sell this one and buy one without the mark. As for grading it, unless it has some major sentimental value, I wouldn't. You could find a 9.8 for around $50 if you want that perfect, encapsulated copy. Sending it in and getting it grade would likely cost more than the value.

Strange Tales 180 around $150 tops Captain Marvel #18 around $120 tops Avengers Annual #7 around $80 tops Wolverine #1 around $130-150 Punisher #1 (if its the Zeck mini) around $100 tops Secret Wars #8 around $125 tops NYX #3 around $450-500

Neat! I love OG Captain Marvel. I think your cover would be even cooler if you had him in his green costume. To me, Captain Mar-Vell was a great character! I enjoyed his origin and while I feel writers at the time could have done more with it (it was the late 60s so I forgive some campy writing), I still regard him along with Spidey and Daredevil as one of my favourite solo heroes from the Silver/Bronze Ages. Green Lantern though...ugh. Could never get on board with the premise of a ring that conjured up whatever he wanted. Like Superman, it seemed like he had no limitations which I did not like nor a story I could connect with.

Yeah ASM #129 has always been a valuable book because people have loved the character since his inception. Personally, I find it weirder to see Moon Knight spiking in popularity because he was never wildly popular but now you see first and early appearances that are very expensive (back in the early 2000s, his solo app in Marvel Spotlight was maybe a $5-10 book). Punisher had some movies and some great TV show apps on Netflix to fuel the continued love in the past decade and beyond. I myself am needing one for my ASM run, one of the few I need to complete #100-400. It's always expensive and I have hope for a drop but it just seems to have fans and buyers at all times which keeps is a consistent key seller. As for the term "mega key", seems like the lingo of a few hip Youtubers and Instagrammers have caused any book valued around $1000 in high grade to receive this term. Way I see it, its a great cover from a great run of comics at a time when Marvel was killing it. The character design is loved by many (skull on his chest, come on! And go go boots!) and he has had success ever since debuting. Find me a character like that whose first appearance doesn't sell and continue to sell. It is just the way.

Due to not enough pictures, could be anywhere from 6.5-8.0. But I seen enough spine ticks and other things to make me think anything higher than VF would be generous. Oh and that's a legit Brunner sig.

The last pic shows the staple, which means its not attached to the cover at the bottom. 6.0 would be best case, I am calling it 5.0-5.5

Your 4.0-4.5 seems correct. Not rough enough for a 3.5 IMO and not nice enough for 5.0

I could see 7.0 on this. Definitely 6.5. Spine ticks and colour loss? due to printing error? near "identity" on the front.

Also, keener eyes than mine noted that small spine split. So I think 7.0-7.5 might be more sensible. If you got an 8, be elated. If you got 7.0-7.5 be happy as that should be where it falls. Anything less is a disappointment.

It may be scarcer but that means nothing to me personally. I consider it a foreign comic. Not from North America. I kind of want my North American copy. Say book A was a cents copy and in the same grade as copy B which was a pence copy. I would value the pence copy less and even then, my eyes would be on purchasing the cents copy. Not saying this is how it is for all collectors, but for me that's what I focus on.

A $500 ask seems high. If I has said book I would hope to get $200-250 or so.

I found this, a CGC 8.0 on ASM 129 with a rusty top staple that was migrating. Yours is a tad more noticeable only because of the white cover. So perhaps it has a chance at 8.0 or even 8.5. I know they grade Golden Age stuff different than Bronze too, generally a bit more lenient so I think safely saying 7.5-8.0 tops is where I would be. https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/243632-quick-question-on-rusty-staples/

I looked before scrolling and said 7.5. Nice 8.0!

Beautiful copy. I am having a hard time finding any major flaws here, which is awesome for a book this age. The front cover seemed off to me at initial glance and then I noticed it was a pence copy, which I don't know that I have seen on this ish before. 8.0. Could be a tad higher even.

I think 7.0 is reasonable. That being said a rusty staple is something I have not had experience with to know how much CGC dings for it.

#101 I think has 8.5-9.0 potential #102 is closer to a 7.0 at best mainly because of that little rip/wrinkle top right on the cover

Hmm, I am slightly lower here. The top edge has enough wear to bump it closer to a 5.0-5.5 for me. But then again, I have always found I am harsher on older books than CGC seems to be so perhaps 6.0-6.5 is the actuality.

That sucker is eaten, stained, maimed and beaten. But still collectible. 2.0 might be a tad generous. I don't think I have seen a book that worm eaten or whatever made the weird holes on it. I will say it fares slightly lower, 1.8 for me.

As a collector, I do care about condition and grading. Just not at the level the original post was suggesting. Like, if I am picking up a new comic and there are multiple copies, I might flip through a few to see if any stand out as being nicer but I wouldn't say I am spending a lot of time to do it (I also don't buy new comics so there is that). I get wanting the nicest one, I do. Just for me personally, it is challenging to discern a 9.4 from a 9.6 and a 9.8 and I don't personally have a point or purpose because a 9.4 is as good as a 9.8 for me. If the front copy has a big ding or crease then yeah sure, I will flip through the multiples and find the nice one. But to scour a handful of three nice copies to really decide which one might be a 9.8 over a 9.6 or a 9.6 over a 9.4 just isn't fun for me.

I don't care if my pages are off-white or white. Or even cream. I only care if they are brown (and even then on older books I dont mind terribly) or brittle. So I would take the grade. Does off-white pages mean the book is on the road to worse looking pages in 20 or 30 or 80 years? I doubt it. I'll take a 7.0 off-white over a 6.5 white. And if someone was charging more for a 7.0 white compared to a 7.0 off-white, I am buying the off-white. If it is slabbed, I dont get to see the pages anyways so why would one care? The only white I care about is a cover that is white. I want that sucker as shiny as humanly possible.

What flaws are you worried about? Does a spine tick destroy your desire for the book? An oh so slightly blunted corner ruin your day? For me, I buy to enjoy the books. I know there are differences but for the most part a book in 9.2 looks as good as one in 9.8. Obviously there are some minor flaws but not enough to make me care either way. If I buy a new book and the cover looks clean, the back looks good and the spine looks fine, I am happy. Do I waste my time going over every inch to find every minor imperfection? No because 90% of the books are not worth doing that for. I mean, If I get a book with a rip or tear or major fold, okay, that I dont like. If you are trying to get the best copy because you only want 9.8 caliber books, I fear you will be wasting more time and money than you would be enjoying collecting. I would find a couple shops that ship overseas and have a good reputation. Maybe try three and upon getting three similar shipments, determine which one sends you the nicest books. However, I would advise against annoying the shop owner to go through and select the best possible copy for you. If you cannot get to a store yourself and are going to be that picky about new comics, they will likely just politely decline doing business with ya.

If he agreed to do it, he agreed to do it. Were there times he may have been taken advantage of down the stretch? Sure. But its no different that the advantages he took to get where he was in his career. You want to make a statement, you say something while filming this. Or better yet, you don't line up to try and be someone who gets one of his "last ever signed comics".