scburdet

Pretty solid copy here I think. The bottom right of the front cover is obviously a point against it. The mark on the top of the back cover is distributor overspray (my new favorite thing to find). I'm a little unsure if the whiteness of the cover will be an issue.

Thanks. I'm on the 9.0 or higher side too. It held up much better than the MP47 I posted, which is 7 years newer.

JIM

I've got a worse one we can avoid 🙄 One of the most disappointing books in my collection. The only saving grace is I probably didn't pay that much for the McFarlane run it came with

Max 7.0 w/C&P

that's probably what I'll do. I think the combo of a 165/166 time correctly could recover all the $s I spent acquiring them. These old Thor covers are outstanding. I'm a sucker for Kirby stuff. It's a reason I picked up the larger run of Thor years ago.

Continuing the Warlock/GoG theme, here's my Marvel Premiere. Definitely the nicest of all my bronze key Warlock books. I almost sent this for a Roy Thomas signature, but decided it would be better to have it prepped by my regular guy. Also, I saw a signed one for sale, and RT signed it right across Warlock's leg, which was kind of ugly.

I actually have 2 copies of this book. I can't remember, but I might have got the 2nd one as a package when I upgraded my 165. I still have that one too, which is 4.5ish. I'm not on these boards to sell things, but one of these copies is in my "sell pile" (is it really a sell pile, if you've never sold anything?). I was going to offer it up to the two people in the PGM forum who seem to have an affinity for Warlock, but now I can't decide which one should be my keeper. One has more stress marks along the spine. The other is dirty in the white sections. If that cleans up, it's clearly better. Some person_too_unaware_of_social_graces also wrote "WARLOCK" in light pencil on the back cover of the 2nd one. Also something that might clean, but I assume the pencil impression might remain even with pressing.

Just a poll to see what the signature series aficionados think is the best choice if one doesn't feel this particular book is worth the $ and effort to get all the possible signatures

I've got a 5.5. Things like loose staples throw me. It's a major defect, sure, but the rest of the book could look really good and doesn't that sometimes yield a Qualified label?

I'm conflicted on this one. Recently, I got my ASM129 back at a 7.5 (after C&P). Mine had a number of slight spine ticks, which yours doesn't. I do notice something around the bottom of the top staple, but it looks different in different photos. The 2 things I see that are not comparable are what looks like a chip out of the bottom right corner of the back cover, and the crease in the bottom right corner of the front cover. So, the question I can't answer is what combination of minor, moderate, major are those 3 defects. A hard grader might drop to a 7.0 based on the crease. To get to an 8.0, my reading of CGC grading scale says the crease would have to be a moderate defect with, more or less, an otherwise perfect book. There's a little bit of grime on the back cover that will hopefully clean. I will go 7.5±0.5 with the caveat that the book will present better than the grade.

Found it. Nice book. I'll be posting my nicest (bronze) Warlock book tomorrow night. I could pull out my FFs too, but I'm not sure they're exciting or something I'd really want to invest in grading unless he heats way up. I have a 2nd copy of Thor 165 (which I replaced with this one). It's more like a 4.0/4.5, but I think if you have a 6.0 and a 4.0 you can exchange them for a 10, right?

I posted the two Adventure into Fear books in "please grade my", but I should have search the forums for people specifically interested in these inserts. Three more of the AiF books I have in this Morbius run have them (I can post photos too if anyone's interested). The Hulk 330 I just found when searching for grading candidates. I haven't found a Hulk 330 for sale, or that's sold recently. Any idea how much it goes for with MJ collectors (I've found examples sells for the 2 AiF issues)? I feel certain that I have more of these on books that have were bought 20 years ago and have more or less just been in storage since.

I really appreciate all the feedback from the board participants even though I'm sharing a lot. I am limiting to 1/day but I have quite a number of books to decide on/prioritize for grading. Here is my Thor 165. Fingers crossed Warlock actually makes GoG3. I have a pretty good idea where this one stands, so I want to verify my analysis. Thanks!

I think you can pull a 9.0 or a 9.2. I recently got a book back at a 9.0 that pre-submission I thought sure would top out at 8.0. The CCS pressing really paid off. Unfortunately I didn't take before photos, but my memory matches the kind of defects seen here and your description.

2.5? A great benefit if it can be cleaned. Nice acquisition

I'm a 7.0±0.5, probably closer the the 7.0 b/c of the spine wear.

I'm out of my league here, but I think clippings that affect story automatically downgrade to <1.0. If there were no cutouts and the grunge on the back cover didn't clean, I think it's stuck around 5.0±1.0. It looks from the front cover like the higher end of that range. For parts? No idea.

I have avoided this problem by having a uni-directional approach to comics. I have more than 1 long box of duplicate books I haven't even sold....

I'm guessing the next batch of books I send in is going to be heavy on Guardians of the Galaxy character tie-ins. I actually didn't have this booked pulled in my grading candidate stack until the rumors started flying and I decided to pull it out for a look. I bought a long run of silver/bronze ago Thor back in the day when one could do that pretty reasonably on ebay if you just wanted to expand your collection. Lots of mid-grade books in the run (and some fun, but lower grade Journey into Mystery books). This appears to be one of the nicer comics from the set (lucky!). The top edge is curling over a bit, but it is almost completely devoid of real wear (it looks a little wavy in the photos). There is a light indention (I would not call it a crease) I tried to highlight in the photos. The lighting to highlight it might make it look more pronounced than it is. IMO (non-expert), C&P will make that mostly disappear. Interested to hear what the PGM hive mind thinks of this one.

Yeah, I did some more digging and I don't see any examples of books from beyond the 70s. It looks like ink, but it would be useful to have better photos

+1 At this resolution, it looks like distributor overspray. I was educated about what this is only recently. I'm just not sure overspray was still a thing in 1988

Just so I can make Pukie's post on ASM238 all about my Iron Fist 14, here are the back photos. I zoomed in on the stain, so you can compare the two books and see what you think (all kidding aside, I hope this is helpful). This did go through CCS C&P, but I did not take before photos unfortunately. My memory says the stain was a little more noticeable before, but I wouldn't swear on it. I do remember not noticing the stains when I did a superficial examination before deciding to send it for signing. I don't know if another C&P service would have done better, my guess is there are limits to what non-invasive techniques can accomplish. I speak with no authority on the subject, however. If anyone sees my PGM posts, I have several where the books have stains/discoloration that I am now super-paranoid about. This is why.

Yeah, I'm not a 9.8 or bust collector. It's a really nice looking book and my jaw hit the floor when I saw 5.5. I'm not offended by it per se, but it's a big glaring scarlet number right on the front. I've heard you can fix these grades with a well-placed piece of painter's tape and a marker

I don't have the book or a photo of the back cover on me, but if Pukie wants to see it, I can post it later tonight. You can see a small stain at the top of the book here. The one on the back is smaller and much lighter than the one on this ASM238 as memory serves from examining it last night. If you aren't going over this book thoroughly, you'd think it was a much higher grade.