scburdet

4.0 inc. a GA bump

4.5/5.0 for me too. The vertical creasing along the spine keeps the ceiling at VG grades.

Looks to me like there's a stacking bend/spine roll. Press that successfully for ≥9.2

I'd be worried that the staple impressions would get dinged below what you want. I can't tell what the darkness is around the staples, could it be rust?

8.5±0.5, press to remove some of those indentions.

5.0, just for the two small missing pieces. It's a really nice cover.

@grendelbo @zzutak @JollyComics I don't have a copy of IM#1 to model how long the crease is, could be 7", could be 6" (so I guessed a wide range of grades), but if you read CGC's book, you would have a hard time either justifying the grade of this comic, or paying for their book to help you make accurate assessments of comics before deciding whether or not they're worth getting graded.

Front & back photos are the forums standard for grading

That's a finger shadow of dipstick the who took the photo (me)

5.0/5.5

very hard to grade in a bag or holder (I recommend always taking pre-grading photos when possible). It does have a long color breaking crease across the front cover. It doesn't look terrible, but according to the CGC Guide, I'd say the max is 6.0, but I can see at least some minor handling defects, so anything betweem 5.0-6.0 would be reasonable IMO.

The last of my Robert E. Howard/Roy Thomas books that are worth sharing. Not the most valuable, but a great Severin cover (I believe w/Andru & Buscema).

I'm inclined to agree here. I just love the cover art of this one in particular. Buyers on ebay seem to be paying more for the equivalently graded copies of 23 over 24. The comp I have is the issue 1 from this same run, which was part of a purchased of the entire BWS run on the book (inc. the two he didn't draw). My issue one clocked in at a 7.5 & I believe this is at least a grade better.

I also see a stain in the T of Thor. There's something blue on Loki's forehead. IDK if that's just some ink bleed or what. Minus the stains, I could see this getting in the 4.5 zone, but I think the staining, particularly the small ones on the front are going to drop it into the 3.0/3.5 bin, likely the higher option. These old JIMs are a trip to read sometimes. They had a lot of good ideas but often just had to crank out books on a deadline.

I think it's small. Spine has a series of light stress lines, and one corner looks slightly dinged. IDK what the standard are for minis I'll take a WAG of 8.0

2.5. A point or so higher if the condition of the back was equal to the front.

I have mine now. There are a decent number of places where the give themselves a LOT of latitude and don't have as specific standards on the page as one might hope

I've had two 9.0s come back with no notes recently, and I agree it would at least be nice to know if anything you ID is the reason. Based on post-CGCing, I find many 9.4/9.6/9.8s to be more or less interchangeable. It looks great! Can't wait for my copy to come home.

1st Red Sonja cover. I really enjoy the BWS art in the early Conan comics.

It's not Christmas without Conan. I thought about sending these to Roy Thomas this summer. Didn't, and now I think I should have at least sent this one.

I've got to say, this one has me scratching my head. I've got 3 stain books (2×5.5, 1×6.5). For one 5.5, the location of the stain definitely merits the 5.5. For the other 2, I would say they are at worst equivalent. I am having trouble interpreting how they arrived at pretty different grades Unless some CGC grader is Latverian.

very nice, especially with a white cover that I imagine is often dingy ≥9.0

6.0 as a ceiling. Seems like some moderate tanning, which isn't going to be fixable. The spine stress marks break color, so pressing is mostly going to make it look a little better IMO

Exactly where I was at before seeing GB's post. I haven't paid a lot of attention to the see-through ad before. You can see it my newsstand posted yesterday. I have photos of my direct edition, which I don't have in hand, but don't notice it. It's a dark M&M bag behind, so it seems reasonable that small differences in ink &/or lighting would make its appearance more apparent. It's fairly common to see dark ads showing up through lighter covers.

Thanks all 👍 7.0/7.5 (or pressed higher) is more than I expected. At current market value, this (graded) plus the buyer protection claim from the original purchase, would more than cover the cost I paid for all 3 books & getting this book graded IDK if that makes up for all the other books I probably overpaid for, but those are less fun stories to share