scburdet

4.0

7.5

7.5/8.0

7.0/7.5. The latter only with cleaning & luck

9.2/9.4 with a press. Small bindery tear & some light indentions that will probably mostly press out.

5.0/5.5. Several creases on the front cover that are color breaking. Looks like a stain on the back cover. Tough call on grading would cost around 30% of the FMV

6ish with a successful c/p

5.5/6.0 A c/p might give it a slight aesthetic bump, but doubtful the grade increases. Defects are color breaking & that does not look like surface soiling. It does look like the top staple is partially detached from the centerfold. I've seen pressing cause detachments when the binding is weak

6.0/6.5 I think the discoloration will be a problem. Given the darkness, I'd want to see how the inside of the covers and pages look

7.5/8.0 as long as that's distributor ink not a stain on the top edge

It looks like a spine split at the top corner, which will set the ceiling. 6.0/6.5. Square bound books can get a little leniency, but spine splits are on the CGC hammer list

Note that the author of the original post said this book was pressed when the grade was posted. One reason I asked if there were notes. @aabruzzese @JollyComics @redgar-red

5.0/5.5. 6s without the rust transfer

3.0/3.5, closer to 3.5

Concur, 4.5/5.0.

3.5

Notes?

I'd be a little worried about the dark spot on the edge of the back cover. If that is a stain, it will knock the book down more than you might expect. Excluding that spot, it looks like some light surface wear is the main issue. 8.5±0.5. To grade or not to grade is a personal decision based on what you plan to do with it. If it's something you want in your collection, there's no reason not to. It's plenty attractive. Beyond that, my personal selection process includes determining if it's a key book (or otherwise unique) or is it an old book that's more or less pristine. This isn't really a key X-Men book (even though it's a cool cover) & it's short of perfect. FMV of a 9.0 is $350 & an 8.0 is $200.

3.5/4.0. Lower end if it's not structurally sound

3.0/3.5. It's probably structural support. CGC had loosened it's stance on tape. The lower limit is 3.5, my guess is this just clears the 3.5 bar

7.0. I think the majority of the defects being on the reverse gives this a little bump. The front could be in the VF range on its own

I wrote gripper holes off. Do they even show up that often on square bound books? I have seen gripper holes line up with a similar hole on a cover though

As my brief eval on the FF stated, I really struggle with this one b/c almost every copy I see of this book looks unattractive. It's like the presses were just having the longest bad stretch in comics history.

Good eye. There is some slight darkening of the paper there that I think the lighting exacerbates in the photo. That said, IDK if it's shadow or something else. It's certainly not a very clear shadow like the Black Lightning Comic Reader 139 I posted a while back & had graded.

To the bitter end I will give my notes. This time I didn't get to type up my illegible notes until tonight, so my eval notes my pick vs. what was revealed. I picked out several defects that either aren't in the notes or aren't actually present. Something masquerading as a defect.