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I've wanted to post this one for a while, but just too many other books that are more relevant to the current collecting trends. Unless I'm forgetting a character, this is the only major monster character to never get a solo book from Marvel. I know that I wasn't born yet, but if they'd asked me, I would have demanded Living Mummy comic. Also, I can't seem to find any significant team-up with LM and Moon Knight. I'm not sure there's even a book with both characters. The two Egyptian themed characters in the MCU can't have one meeting in 47 years? Who runs that place?

I would go 7.0±0.5, but I am not factoring in the ink mark inside. I'm not sure if that will count as a specific deduction or if an internal ink mark would be consistent with the other cumulative defects that are obvious on the cover. I have a book with a similar number spine ticks that came back as a 7.0 and perhaps the light creasing in my book will be equivalent to the small amount of color rub around the staples. These black covers are a PITA for just highlighting every little defect. Graders don't even have to work hard if they get a book with a black cover. There should be a discount on grading fees.

I'm on a laptop and I don't really see the tears. I'll take your word that they're there. I'm going to go with 8.5 as well based on my experience with this book. Spider-man books seem to get a bump if you listen to folks who hang out here. Mine looked quite a bit worse raw and came back at 7.5, which was at least 0.5 higher than I dared dream, and I convinced myself I should be happy with a 6.0 or 6.5.

I have a Marvel Comics Special Edition #2 (Empire Strikes Back) from my youth that is nearly destroyed. I wouldn't mind replacing it, and have been shopping for another oversize book for a *long* time b/c they only seem to show up for sale looking like the spend an hour on a freeway. I think these were specifically meant for younger children, so they understandably didn't survive as often.

5.0±0.5

This one isn't as nice as the other IMO. Some foxing/discoloration in the white around the edge of the front cover. Bottom right corner on the back has some color bleed or something similar. I'll give this a 7.5. Again, these oversized are had to grade as there isn't the volume or independent company grading them.

You are correct that they are not grading oversized books (unless this changes since the last time I looked). They are very slow with magazines as far as I can tell. I see some color rub in the blue text box on the back, but the rest looks pretty solid to me. Since CGC standards aren't in play, I would have to pick the first grade that allows for color issues, which looks like it's 8.0. You could hold these books to different standards though b/c they seem to take a beating.

I'm late to this game, but I see the same creases about 1/2" from the spine and the outer edge (pretty clear in the N of X-MEN). I'm using a pretty large screen and I've recently noticed that I see defects better here than on my laptop. Depending on the definitions of light and moderate, I can see this as moderate. I think a lot of light creasing isn't going to show up well in posted photographs, where I think we also can be fooled by the size/quality of our displays. I know that I frequently have to check whether a stain is just a smudge on my screen. You can try posting a photo in the holder, but that plastic tends to hide minor defects pretty well. As many people will say, pressing isn't magic, so there are limits to how well any defects are corrected, and the quality of the process could vary.

I tried to figure out if this place was still around. Best I can find is a closed place in Ohio by the same name. My Dr. Strange 169 stamp had a full address that as I recall is now the location of a upper scale suburb. A current Google Street view of the Mark Jewelers address shows a vacant warehouse, so yes, a lot of embedded history that is tangential to the comics themselves. I've turned the corner on these stamps. The white cover is remarkably clean for a book this age IMO. Pretty glossy still (compared to other silver age white covers I have like the Avengers 48). The foxing isn't that bad again for a nearly 60 year old book. One of my 2 Golden Age books is a western. Definitely a bygone era in terms of subject matter.

Something a little different tonight. I first learned about this "Black Panther prototype" sometime when Boseman's T'Challa appeared in the MCU. I recall the auction prices went a little nuts. I lurked around for a long time, and grabbed this one when prices came down. Wish I could remember what I paid. I think that I got a "store stamp" discount b/c this is a pretty nice copy. I looked around a little and all/most of available copies/recent sales are pretty ugly. Maybe people are sitting on the good ones waiting for Wakanda Forever. Not sure I buy the prototype here. The name and costume are similar, but there doesn't see to be anything in the Lee/Kirby kerfuffle over creation credits about this character published a year before, and there's no overlap in creative teams on this and FF52. And the character is white and in the whitest comic I can imagine. Of course, I am willing to indulge in the prototype narrative if it increases demand for this book.

3.5. Also one of the only DC books on my want list.

I'm on the 7.5 train actually, but I'll say 8.0 b/c no one else did and winner gets the book, right?

I've got this at 4.5, but I can make a case for 5.0. So it will probably be a 3.0 🙄

3.5±0.5. If the grader has a good day, I can see a 4.0

You have successfully made your first post without any faux pas I see the outer corners have gotten a little bent at some point. As is, you're looking at an 8.0/8.5. If the comic was pressed. which is common these days, you might eek out a 9.0. An essentially perfect (CGC 9.8) sold on ebay recently for $100 with 1 bid. I'm old enough to remember when this series was one of the hottest in comics, but the market has changed a lot since then. I wouldn't call this a good pressing/CGC candidate b/c you're going to invest as much, or more, into that process than the book would sell for. In raw form, you might get $15-20 for it, but probably less. You can search recent ebay sales or online price guides like comicspriceguide.com or gocollect.com to get some idea if other books in your collection are key issues that have increased in value more.

3.5±0.5. That chipping/missing pieces are going to keep you a little lower than what an otherwise quite attractive book like this would grade. Still very nice.

I can see them now on my big computer screen. I would say 8.5±0.5 is safer

I'm glad you posted this book. I doubt that I got it for the Conan prototype specifically b/c I bought the whole CoD run (along with Chamber of Chills and a few others around the same time). I had it separated from the other CoD b/c of its higher value, but forgot why that was. This is the kind of book I should send for signing even if it's not in the highest grade. GoCollect says only 6 sigs exist, 4 in the CGC census. I'd argue Conan might be Roy Thomas's most important contribution to Bronze Age comics and I'll bet he doesn't get this prototype book to sign very often. It would be a cool piece of comics' history to own. Too late for this year, but hopefully he'll have another in-house next year. Yours is definitely a grade or 2 above mine, and you can have the RT signature idea for free 🙂 Edit: one of the SS CoD 4s is up for auction on ebay right now (6.0), which is signed by Stan Lee. There are way too many books out there signed by Stan Lee

5.0±0.5. Definitely looks a step or 2 above the other one you posted. I feel like there are certain books that just took worse beatings than others: war books, westerns, romance. Surviving this long in this condition is an accomplishment

4.0±0.5. I want to go on the high end of that range or even entertain a 5.0, but IDK if the volume of color breaking defects will allow that. Good to see old war books get some love.

So, this is the book I foreshadowed in my PGM Tales o Astonish 90 post. I had initially pulled this one out thinking about a Roy Thomas signature, but ultimately balked b/c of the condition. There are a few creases and so forth that are pretty common and easy to imagine how they will impact the grade. However, there is a bend on the one corner that goes through the whole book. I tried to highlight on both front and back covers. There's some glare in the front corner pic, but there's minimal color breaking. Maybe just a little at the top. I ask about this one in particular b/c it's the most severe example of this kind of thing and IDK how well/if pressing will flatten this out. I have 2 or 3 other books with lesser versions, so any information will be broadly useful. @joeypost

Was just sitting down to do that! Don't have to ask me twice

>9.0. Hard to be more accurate w/o handling the book. I can't see the ticks, so I presume they are small and non-color breaking (or my eyes suck). If you're grading, I encourage pressing b/c they seem to pick up on things like "finger bends" that may not be easy to see. The cost for a book of this age/value shouldn't be prohibitive (perhaps look for an authorized CGC dealer who presses instead of using CCS)

>9.0. My standard disclaimer is it's hard to assign the higher grades based on screen photos b/c the little bends and whatnot are impossible to see. Things that might show up when a grader sits there with a magnifying glass and a light. I don't think the staple defect would count against you. Sort of the thing that can happen when these are produced IMO.

I'm 8.5±0.5 b/c of the abrasions/blunted corner and I feel like 8.0 is more likely than 9.0 in that range. CGC would give it the green label anyway and the signatures wouldn't be visible in a holder, so probably one to put in a protective case and call it a day.