TSwift25

Slight edge wear on the spine. What appears to be bending / tearing to the bottom right pages. Other than that very clean. FN+ for me.

My understanding is the notes only mention non-obvious defects. The discoloration / scuffing in the logo box in addition to what appears to be a slight bindery tear at the bottom would, in my opinion, put the book’s ceiling at F/VF-ish. I’d press for re-sale, otherwise the eye appeal isn’t going to change much.

Spine stress. Top edge wear to top of front and back cover and back cover soiling. From the scan looks like something may be up with the bottom staple. If the bottom staple is secure (not popped or loose) it’s FN/FN+ to me. Back cover should clean up to put it solidly FN+

I agree, that looks like a price sticker that fell off. I see two spine-ticks and slight fraying on the outside front cover. VF- for me 7.5

Cleaning would improve the back cover, IMO.

I see a spine tick by the rock monster’s right hand. I don’t think it breaks color. I see slight soiling to the back cover and a slight slight crease to the top back cover near the left edge. I think all defects are pressable / cleanable. As is, 9.4/9.6. I think this can be improved to 9.8.

This looks like a book that would benefit from a clean and press. I see one large crease on the back cover that seems consistent on the front cover, thereby logically meaning it goes completely through the book. As is, I think it’s a FN- on a good day; with the press it’s a FN/FN+. PQ looks CR/OW to me.

Just speaking in concepts here. If you’re willing to purchase a single page, logically, you’d be OK with married books. If you’re OK with married books, you should be ok with restored. Restored, married, or married and restored would open up a pretty big section of “significant” GA books, IMO. You might have to be patient, but I think you’ll find some really neat books worth owning for 10K if you look for restored and/or married copies. FWIW, I’d also go full book over page.

VG- (3.5)

It’s a very sharp copy, great colors, gloss and sharp corners. The issues I see are the stain, what appears to be slight stress at the top staple, and the tear by the CCA stamp. It looks like that tear also may impact some of the pages. I don’t believe that would be considered chipping or pre-chipping. I think it’s in the F/VF range. 7.0

All pages present and attached? 1.0.

Dust shadowing on the back cover, edge wear, general wear. The shadowing / spine damage to the back cover keep it out of FN, I’d call it FN- 5.5

I count three spine ticks that break color. 9.2/9.4

The rounding/blunting of the corners of the spine looks worse magnified than it does in hand, I’d suspect. BRFC looks dog-eared or potentially torn, though. It’s hard to grade a high grade book from scans. Especially one like this where the only flaw is corner wear (albeit to both corners of the spine and the BRFC). My instinct on the front back/cover scans was NM- (9.2) due to the rounding. For a more accurate grade it would be helpful to know if the bottom right of the front cover is dog eared or if the corner piece is missing.

What's going on on the front cover? Is that moisture damage? Ink bleed? (causing that weird pink wave from Loki to Thor). If it's moisture damage, CGC generally hammers those hard. In my experience, mid grade books with moisture damage end up 3.0 or lower from CGC. As it is, the general edge wear and dust shadowing are all consistent with VG/FN. IMO it's simply too much dust shadowing to be in the solid FN range. 5.5 on a good day, no worse than a 4.5, so a nice solid 5.0 is fair, obviously pending that pink wave issue. If it's moisture it's into the VG- range (but a beautiful copy).

Extreme closeups are going to make some damage look worse on the scan than the book looks in hand. That said, I don't think this is VF-. It's FN/FN+ range. The dust shadow to the TRFC really hurts it. 6.0

I have a hard time seeing the tear in the interior photo. Seems VG- range to me. 3.5

3.0

GD/GD+ 2.0

All four corners rounded, heavy wear TRFC, edge wear right front cover that breaks color, edge-wear bottom front cover that breaks color...slight tear(?) bottom spine? VG/FN/FN range. I'd call it a 5.0

I'm thrilled that the X section of the Marvel universe is must read again, and I really love the direction Hickman's going with this (plus, I'm a sucker for see the future, change the past kind of stories). I know that it's still coming together as a story, and meant to kind of fill in as it goes (and the time hopping doesn't really help since it's not linear), but did anyone else take from it that things like AVX are being ret-conned away? I don't remember exactly how it was phrased in HoX 2, but the panel with the phoenix force from AvX and something like "the dark times no more" or whatever made me think, it's at least plausible, he's cleaning up the continuity too? Anyone else feel that way or did I see something that wasn't really there?

What does the inner well look like? It looks like someone tried to open the outer well, but the inner well is really what matters. If the book is still sealed in the inner well, and consistent with the grade, I wouldn’t worry too much, outside of getting it reholdered.

I'm sad to see it go. I echo the sentiment of others that this is what kept me in the LCS for a good long stretch in the 2000's. If not for TWD, I probably would have given up collecting, or at least given up on moderns. Reading the issue, I think it's clear that Kirkman had an ending in mind (and the letter confirmed as much). I think it's fair for the writer to simply say "I can't get any more out of this, it's only going to get worse and it's time to end on my terms." And that's what he did. I'm glad it didn't end on a high, because that would have betrayed the story. I'm glad it didn't end on a low, because something that went that long should at least end with some feeling of hope, but I am sad that it just kind of ended.

Obviously I really want to read 193 before jumping too in depth on this, but it just feels empty. I don’t see how they can resolve the entire series with 70 pages. Heck, I think that might just be a fitting send off for Rick. You can’t possibly tackle Rick’s death and still give any kind of meaningful resolution with Carl, Michonne, Maggie, at the bare minimum, and give us some kind of “how did this happen” answer as well. The other thing that stands out as odd, at least to me, is that Kirkman’s story telling has been tailored to the collected edition readers. First with Lori’s death in 48 being the end of volume ___ (and sending a ton of people into the LCS for 49), and now his explanation that compendium 4 ends with 192, and thus the importance of doing something major in that issue rather than waiting for #200. Obviously they can fit 193 in there as well, but it’s odd to end the whole flipping thing at compendium 4. True dramas are usually told in 5 acts. If there’s nothing left to tell, fine, don’t belabor it, but with the introduction of Princess, and the Commonwealth, it felt like it was going somewhere, or at least reminding us that there’s a lot more out there beyond Rick and his people. With the 5 year jump after all out war, it seemed reasonable that we’d get somewhere towards answering all the long standing questions, like how did this happen, can society be rebuilt, is there a cure, and with the commonwealth I thought that it was at least setting up the ending of the Rick Grimes clan and maybe it just pivots towards macro type stories about this new world. At the very least, it felt like it was building towards something. Now it just kind of feels like it meandered and just ended. Again, I want to read 193 before reaching any finial conclusion, but I just can’t see any kind of resolution to this that can be done in 70 pages that would feel satisfying. I hope to be proven wrong.

I think it’s been a great read and a great refresh on the character in general. The Hulk needed it. I’m interested to see where it ultimately goes. I don’t think turning the Hulk into an undying monster who is only vulnerable during the day is a long term thing, but who knows. Right now, I’m enjoying it, but I am worried it’s too close to going “stale” without some major kind of pivot, or reveal.