Bill67

This is my copy of Amazing Spider-Man #194 which I had graded last year. At the time I decided not to spend the extra money to have it pressed, and I think that was a mistake. As you can see, CGC hit it pretty hard and gave it a 6.0. I bought this comick back in the 80s out of a back issue bin and I stored it along with a bunch of other comics in a box without using backing boards (at least this one was in a bag). The result was that it slouched (along with a bunch of its neighbors) and developed a roll along the bottom right corner. I'm not sure how much this affected the grade overall. The irony of course is that you can't even see that defect now that the comic has been slabbed. The most obvious defect that you _can_ see is the crunch at the top right of the front cover. There are some very thin color breaks along some of the creases. The photos taken in bright sunlight also show that there are some stress lines along the spine and the top of the back cover. However as far as I can tell, none of these break color. It seems to me that most of these defects are exactly the sort of things that pressing is meant to mitigate. So would it be worth it to re-submit and ask for a press this time? If so, how much do you think it would affect the grade? Thanks in advance for your consideration. -Bill Insert other media

Yeah, I guess I agree with the "9.4 at best" estimate. But at that point it's barely worth paying for the clean & press. Thanks everybody! -Bill

A 9.0? Based on my earlier experience getting comics graded, I think you're being overly harsh. I have two copies of Tales Of The Teen Titans #44, which also has that terrible black background coloring that makes spine ticks stick out like a sore thumb, and they have about the same level of spine stress as my ASM#265. But CGC graded them both 9.4. The first photo below is all 3 books together. The next two are photos of the first copy of TOTTT#44 and the following two are from the second copy. The last photo is of ASM#265 again, taken with the same camera, for comparison. -Bill

I bought this book off the shelf in 1985. Unfortunately young Bill wasn't quite as fastidious about caring for his comics as he could have been. These are the issues I can see: 1) This comic was stored in a box without being bagged/boarded, and over the course of many years it slouched and developed a corner roll. As a result, the bottom right corner doesn't sit flat. 2) There are three very small spine stress lines below the top stable (6th and 7th pictures). The extreme close-up photos make them look huge, but under normal lighting they're barely visible. 3) There seems to be some kind of dings/impressions on the back cover (11th and 12th pictures). They don't appear to break color and don't go through to the interior of the comic. 4) At the top right of the cover, there's a small crease but no color break (4th picture) One other odd thing I noticed is that if you look closely at the Noxema ad on the back cover (last picture)r, along the left edge and about an inch above the black bottle cap, it looks like there's some unevenness in the background coloring. It almost looks like staining, but it's not. (Nothing is visible on the inside cover.) I dug out some other comics that I have with the same ad on the back and noticed similar things but in different parts of the image. I think it's just unevenness of the ink. My questions are: 1) What would be the estimated grade as-is? 2) What would it be after pressing? 3) Is it worth bothering to submit it in the first place? (This is a comic that's worth maybe $250 in 9.8.) My suspicion is that, assuming a press corrected everything else, the spine stress marks would put it at 9.6. http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0362.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0363.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0364.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0365.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0366.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0367.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0369.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0370.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0372.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0373.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0374.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0375.JPG http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/pgm/asm265/IMG_0376.JPG Thanks in advance for your input! -Bill

Can I ask why? Like, what specifically stops it from being a 9.8? I can see only a few possible problems: First, in photo #5, there appear to be some areas right along the spine fold where there's some white showing (i.e. color break). In particular there is a spot at the left edge of the photo that exhibits this. I think you can also see it a little in photo #7. I've seen this a lot, particularly with comics that have thick glossy covers. (And it drives me crazy sometimes trying to decide if what I'm seeing is really a color break or if I'm being fooled by the artwork.) I've always wondered a) what causes it and b) how much of an impact it has on the grade? I have a couple of theories as to the cause. One is that it's due to the stress on the paper from the machine that folds the comics. The other is that the spine tends to rub against the side of the cardboard box that the books are shipped in. Those are just guesses though. All I know for sure is it's annoying to see it on a book that hasn't even been opened yet. Second in photo #2, right near the bottom of the staple, there's something that looks like a small indentation in the spine. I don't know if that counts as a tick though (it seems to be caused by pressure from the staple itself). Third, in photo #3, there may be the tiniest hint of blunting on the corner. Other than that, I don't see anything wrong with it. I'm dying to know if I missed something. :) -Bill

I often use: http://gocollect.com I don't know how accurate it is, and it lacks data for many comics, since prices are estimated from sales history and for many books there just isn't enough data. Based on the guesses of 4.5 to 5.5 for condition, for this book the estimate seems to be about $150 to $200. https://comics.gocollect.com/guide/view/125361 -Bill