SuperBird

I would buy the higher grade, crack it out, bend a corner, and resubmit for the 8.0.

The ratings went down because the show sucked. It always did, it just took people a while to realize.

Action Comics 16! Great non-Superman cover. This was one of the 3 early Actions I bought one fine day in the early Aughts, along with 15 and 18. Best-looking 1.8 ever, inside the slab.

Action Comics 17! The earliest war cover in the run. I won this copy on Comiclink, seeing only the front cover scan, thinking "well, how bad can the back be to make it a 2.0?"

You're welcome! Makes me happy to share it.

Wait. Are we supposed to read these things?

Hey, there's a difference between "cool for my raw collection!" and "yeah I should slab this!" I don't think that copy would fit into a normal sized slab?

Action Comics 18! Part 1 of 3 I decided I wanted to get an Action 12. It had a really cool black cover with a rocket, an ad for Detective 27, and was the earliest issue I thought I could afford at the time. On one of my earlier trips down to the old Metropolis Comics space I asked the guy there did they have a copy, did they ever get one, and how rare was it? "Oh we get them in from time to time, it's not that rare, and doesn't cost much." was the essential response. To paraphrase Old man Skywalker, "Everything he said was wrong." But he did have some other early Actions in my price range, and would I like to see them? He brought out dog-eared raw copies of Action 16 and 18, and a nicer Action 15 with a super-flat, bright cover. I was intrigued. I went home and thought it over, then came back the next day to complete what was the greatest haul of my golden age comic collecting days, buying all three in one go, and even negotiating 10% off on the deal. 10 years later, when it came time to slab them all, I realized that the 18, in addition to not looking all that great, also looked like it may have had a married centerfold. I sold that copy to a boardie, and won this copy off of Heritage to replace it.

Fantastic run!

Assets hold value better than cash during inflation as a rule, so this really depends (again) on comic demand moving forward.

I'd avoid a 7.0 with tape personally, especially if it's holding something together. VG or lower, sure, and you can always have it removed. But you're paying a premium for a 7.0.

Action Comics 19! My favorite Shuster cover. This was a Heritage win waaaaaayyyyyy back a long time ago, for which I certainly overpaid. But it sure is the prettiest 1.5 you'll ever see.

"We have not looked inside this book, but we are sure it should have graded higher."

Action Comics 20! In the last 15 years I have seen many rankings of the "toughest" or "scarcest" Action books, and this one invariably came up. It used to be legitimately hard to find, though I have seen multiple copies come around since I won this one on ComicLink a few years back. Side note: is CVA still a thing?

I am partial to 19, but this one has a great layout.

Action Comics 21! Nice early WW2 cover. This was a Comiclink win.

Action Comics 22! This is one of those books I passed up on acquiring numerous times, then got tired of waiting and bought a restored 6.5 from the other company. A week later, this nice mid-grade copy showed up on eBay, which I promptly won, and resold my other copy. I believe I won this from someone on the site, TheJudge, or Bedrock maybe.

I'm sorry to hear that. I was very lucky, and I know it.

I was thisclose.

There's obviously not nearly as much story for the remaining 8 issues, but I'll keep on, one a day.

There are run collectors looking for all 9.8s, and I assume the consignor thought they had a shot at that grade. People collect what they wanna!

Action Comics 23: Part four of four! With the package addressed to me, and not my company c/o me, it was sent back to the post office to be returned to CGC. I can just imagine the postman at our front door, looking at the 4 tenants of the building, then turning away, just 10 feet from me. I called CGC immediately, and they read the entire address label back to me, where we realized the error. I had misgivings about our local post office already; since our move a few packages had gone missing, but figured since it was registered mail it would be OK. I checked in with the shipping status after a few days, and it still said "in transit back to sender." A few days later, the same. I thought this was weird as it should have arrived back at the sender by now, so called the post office. They confirmed that it was still in transit back to Florida according to their records. A week passed, with tracking unchanged. I called CGC to make sure they hadn't gotten it. They hadn't. Another week passed. By the third week, I was pretty sure something was wrong. I started calling CGC to see what were the next steps to take in tracking the package, or escalating the case. I asked what would happen in terms of insurance and refunds. Recall, if you will, that the value I'd marked down was for what I paid for the comic. This did not include the money spent on restoration work, which was nearly as much as the book itself cost. When I asked about whether this would be refunded, I did not receive an answer, although I am 99% certain my credit card would have covered me (see: Action 32 and 53). It also did not account for the new grade. Granted I have no definitive idea what an 8.5 restored Action 23 is worth, but I know it's more than a 1.8 restored copy. Were the book lost, not only would I be out a comic that I had spent years trying to obtain, I'd also be out a not-insignificant amount of money. Psychologically, I'd probably have given up on the run at that point as well. After numerous calls and emails, I was put in touch with someone in the claims department at CGC, who worked directly with USPS. Among the half-dozen or so people at CGC I'd dealt with around this whole saga, she was singularly amazing! She took the time to speak with me, explain the situation, called the post office and then called me right back. The news, however, was... not great. Apparently my local post office has the reputation of being a complete black hole—even among the USPS. Packages went missing there all the time, and nobody answered the phone, like, ever. The woman on the phone in USPS claims/tracking literally suggested I go there myself to speak with them, because they would not speak with anyone at her office. The package should still be there. They thought. At least according to their records, it never left. Further, they said should I get the chance to speak with the local USPS office manager, please ask her to call central USPS claims/tracking. They needed to have words. I hopped on the subway. I was second in line at the pickup desk, behind a woman simply picking up one single package. It took 45 minutes. Finally, my turn. I showed her the tracking number, explain the situation, and ask her to please physically look for the packaged. Instead, she punches the code into the computer, and tells me it was sent back to the sender. "Yes, I know that's what it says. The USPS tracking people say it's still here. Please physically check." "I just did", she replied. I am Jack's inner rage. This comedy went on for another 10 minutes, with each of us getting more and more angry as I tried to get her to walk into the back where the package would be, in a locked cage set aside for registered mail. She finally acquiesces says "OK I will check in the back", but then also takes the next customer in line. They go through a similar ridiculous discussion, about a tracking number that the teller claims does not exist, but at the same time refusing to look for it. The teller finally goes into the back, leaving both of us standing there, looking at each other in disbelief. ONE. HOUR. PASSES. (not even exaggerating) The woman in front of me has to leave to pick up her kid, so does. Five minutes later the teller comes back— with HER package, but not mine. She says mine is not there, and asks to take my name and phone number. No, thanks, I can see where this is headed. I ask for her manager. She's not there. She gives me a phone number, which as this point I have no faith in, but take it, dejected. I call the number, but there's no answer. I get back to my office and look up the number: it's to a completely different local postal office, and just a general number to boot. Like, to the office itself. Not a manager. I have basically given up at this point. The next morning I call the number, and yeah, it's just a post office, but I explain the situation, and they actually do give me the right number: the manager of this woman I'd dealt with the day before. They don't seem surprised. I call her. She seems nice, human, even. Im out on hold for all of 2 minutes before she gets back on and tells me: "Yeah, it's right here!" !!!!! I ran back down the the office, picked up my package, and the only thing stopping me from hugging her was the plexiglass divider panel. I opened the box right there and then: The work CGC did blew away all of my expectations. This book is ridiculously beautiful in hand, and the work is invisible to my eye. My wife now asks why I don't collect more 8.5s. I called back the USPS central claims, as she'd requested, to give her the phone number to call of the woman who'd helped crack my local USPS roadblock. She seemed eternally grateful. And with that, my 15-year journey was complete.

Yeah, removing the tape was always in the cards.

The before!

Action Comics 23: Part three of four! Yeah, yeah, we're gettin' there. The PM read: "I have a deslabbed 1.8 with slight color touch resto, presents beautifully if you are still looking." I immediately knew which book he was talking about, of course. It was that damn Heritage copy I passed a few years back. I had regretted letting it go when I had my first chance at it. But life works out sometimes. I definitely wasn't interested in the book "as is"—the amateur color touch was kind of ridiculous, basically a kid with magic markers and colored pencils coloring in Superman and the Action logo—but the book had good bones. The pages were off-white, and the cover had great colors and bright whites. Not knowing anything about restoration, I naively thought maybe the color touch could be removed. But failing that, at least it could be given proper professional color touch and made to look significantly nicer, albeit still a 1.8. I quickly came to an agreement with CosmicBoy, and the book arrived 3 days later. And that was it! My Action Comics run was *technically* completed. But to get it into a proper CGC slab would take another year. There will be what seems like some criticisms of CGC to follow, but let me get something out of the way ahead of that. CGC is the only reason I collect comics books at this point; I wouldn't feel comfortable buying and selling comics without them. They have really made the hobby what it is today. They have consistently delivered an excellent product and timely service in all the years I've used them. Further, the restoration work they did to my Action 23 is nothing short of miraculous. I was shocked by the results. Whoever worked on my book is a magician; the results exceeded all expectations. I will continue to use them in future with complete confidence. Book in hand, I emailed CCS with a few images asked a) could the CT and tape be removed and b) if the CT could not, could they JUST provide professional color touch over it. In my head a copy with just color touch would be better than having pieces added. The reply was that they could not tell without the book in hand, so next step was to send it in. I received an email a few days later to the effect of "Our restoration experts have looked at your book and estimated they can restore it to a Fine/ Fine+ copy." Which sounded great (I had assumed a full resto job would result in. VG copy), but that's not what I asked. So I asked again. I got basically the same response. A non-answer about simply redoing the color touch. I tried calling instead, but was unable to speak to anyone who could help. I was told someone would get back to me, but when they did it was the same deal. At this point, I was tired of trying to traverse the communication gap, and honestly a 6.0 restored copy sounded pretty great to me, so I agreed to the work. The time estimate was up to 9 months, which I knew meant more like a year based on previous experiences. I sent payment, indicating the value of the book as what I actually paid for it. This will come back to haunt me. ......... NINE. MONTHS. LATER. ........ Orders you submit to CGC fall off their website after 9 months. So I called to check the status, and was told someone would get back to me. I emailed, asking about the book, just to make sure they actually did still have it, and when I could expect it. I got back a sort of form letter saying in effect "this type of work takes up to a year." But magically a week later it was back on the website, and scheduled for grading! As a rule, I always had packages shipped to my office instead of my home, that way someone would be there to sign for them. 2019 also happened to be the year our office lease was up. We had moved downtown in the interim, and the address I had supplied when I sent it in we no longer occupied. I dutifully updated my mailing address on the CGC website. But guess what? That's not enough for orders you've already sent in; they will still send those to the address included on the order. There is no way to change that address on their website. I emailed, explaining the situation, and saying "please respond to this email and confirm you have updated my shipping address." I got no response. I waited. I called again. I finally got a reply, saying "yes! we have updated it." You know that tingly excitement when your grades come in? The newly restored Action Comics 23 had not gotten a 6.0, as promised. Nope, now it was an 8.5. I called again to triple check they had the correct mailing address, so they read the ADDRESS off to me. I let out a huge sigh of relief. The local post office was a nightmare as it was- they'd lost a page of original art of mine for a month. Thankfully this would be tracked and ensured. But for how much? Only the amount I paid for the book, apparently. The book shipped out the next day, and it "arrived" three days later... ...and was immediately returned to sender. Reason: Incomplete address. The name of my company had been left off the addressee line on the shipping label. ---TO BE COMPLETED----