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Gambit's other first appearance. Did well with my X-Men 266 with last year's CC signing, so thinking about the pair. I didn't realize until examining this book that Marvel kept the square binding for annuals but got rid of the staples at some point. I presume this style uses more adhesive to hold things together. You can feel the impression around the spine where I presume the binding machine compressed the book together, but the binding is solid.

CGC's Guide says staple rust can get grades from 6.0-9.6 & rust stains are listed separately and treated more or less like any other stain. Their policy is all about severity, and more rust on the paper means lower grades. Not terribly surprising. This does not look bad to me, especially with the white cover. 8.5/9.0 seems like a reasonable expectation to me.

5.0/5.5. Maybe 6.0 with a very successful press

In the 9s is where I'm at. In my CC signature books, he always signs over the title in black. Unless you window out a separate location, I would make a large bet that is what he'd do. It's hard to find books he doesn't sign this way. I looked back at all my SS books signed in colors & I don't see any issues with the recent in-house signings. Maybe they worked out that certain types/brands of marker shouldn't be used.

I'm wondering if that uneven surface on the inside of the cover is moisture damage. It is true that mold can be removed, but it sounds like once it evolves into foxing, not so much. I would expect a thorough cleaning to cost more than the grade bump in a book with this value. I think you're looking at about a 5.0/5.5 after standard c/p.

Even though it's in an unusual spot this is just a tear & one that size is a ceiling around 4.0. I think an experienced presser could take those bends out and minimize the aesthetic impact of the tear, but nothing moves the needle above 4.0. I concur that grading is unlikely to yield sufficient ROI, so such a decision would have to be based on personal preference.

As long as those aren't creases from handling, 8.0/8.5

this is true. Not all defects are noted, not all notes are defects. We can debate whether this is good policy, but it is what they do. This was graded month ago. I would not expect an outcome beyond a grade higher/lower depending on the specific person handling the book

I sent mine to the CC event last year & was pleasantly surprised with a 9.0. Is there a bindery tear at the top of the spine, or is that some artifact of the photo. Assuming a printer's crease 9.2±0.2

quintessential 4.0

Nice result. I literally have too many copies of this comic including 2 that were graded shortly after CGC got started. This almost has me thinking they should be resubmitted b/c the standards have evolved.

I think you're looking at no better than a 3.0 & I'll offer 2.5 as my official guess. If that's correct, it looks to me like the FMV would be <$250, maybe $200. Grading fee plus round trip shipping around $75, maybe as low $35 if you can hand it to a authorized dealer. Probably 6 months at best turnaround. There's no hard & fast rule as it depends on what you plan to do with it. I have my doubts you'd get much ROI if grade/sell was your plan. Personal collection is a personal choice.

I wonder if this was stamped on March 1, 1965? Someone was clearly bored at the old newsstand. I don't think these stamps qualify under the usual standards. I'd call this 5.5/6.0 without the stamps, and maybe a point deduction for the obtrusive stamps 4.5/5.0. I'd love to see CGC give this a Green Label with a note about the excessive stamping. That would be hilarious.

I was on 4.0 scrolling down until I saw the pieces out. I think Q4.0 is consistent with CGC policy. My read of the CGC Guide Book is that a book with this amount of interior pages with missing pieces will received a qualified grade unless it grades <3.5. This looks better than a 3.0, so something qualified. Let's hope for a 4.0 or maybe a 4/5

Dammit. Super nice result. Give us some pic later!

I've got 7.0±0.5. My gut tells me this is too much for a 7.5 on this book. 6.5 is an outside shot, but not out of the realm of possibility

Ultimately, I think this one will miss the cut b/c of the spine stress lines, but I am always interested in these horror-adjacent Marvel semi-keys. I've had enough books coming back in the 9s with more spine stress than I would have expected was allowed to give it a second look though. Not a lot of these available & usually in lesser grades for whatever reason.

It's pretty common for the older Marvels to have miswarps, overhang and other such deviations from perfection . Nothing to worry about IMO based on what CGC says about this. I see some spine stress lines, a little discolored something in the price box & maybe a short crease on the TRFC. If that spot in the price box is deemed a stain, it could get dinged, but this looks like a solid 7.5/8.0

IDK if that's a printer's crease going from Spider-Man's hand out, It's pretty heavy. There are several things that look like printer's creases, which aren't treated as defects per se, but having multiple and long ones does impact the aesthetic appeal. There's also something going on in the dark ink along the spine. Some color rub or something. 7.0±0.5 with some uncertainty.

I'll give this a 9.0. The little chip of of the spine is a wildcard, but the only other thing I see is little white line parallel to the spine in the bottom left. That could be a printing defect, but I'm not 100% sure.

7.5/8.0 with C/P assuming that's a printer's crease through the word balloon. White is tough b/c it shows all the dirt and obscures the color breaking defects. This has a bit of grime on it that hopefully can clean off, and a few spine ticks & whatnot. Still looks nice.

3.0/3.5 for the spine

Debatable. Marvel wiki has this as being Earth-616 & lists it in the chronology of Death appearances and the same character in Marvel Mystery Comics 10. Others argue Captain Marvel 26 is the first Death from Thanos. They look the same tho.

Concur with 2.0 being the ceiling. Recent ebay sales for CGC graded 2.0s are between $600-1000. To me this is bananas for low grade copies, but there are raws that look to be higher grade by several points selling for the same price. I guess it depends on your plans & how much you've sunk into the book already. If you're going to sell it, there's a lot of buffer for ROI on $150 USD to send it.