StreetPreacher

Grabbed that a while ago, Hey I said I'm Canadian, and used to be a HUGE Oilers fan, before Gretzky defected! Although, was it wrong to read that comic while drinking a beer and smoking a joint? That purchase was actually my first attempt to grade books 'on the fly' while flipping through back issue boxes, because the LCS had about a dozen copies all for the same price, so I 'had' to inspect every copy to make sure I picked the nicest one... And then I realized it was only a $5 book, and the condition wasn't all the important anyway And I always thought the inclusion of a TEST TUBE on the cover was funny. I've done a lot of drugs, but I've never had anything that came in a test tube lol. I guess they didn't want kids trying to make their own drugs either!

That's DEFINITELY on my list, but the last few copies I've seen on ebay were in pretty rough shape, and the sellers were still asking nearly $30, and then with stupid Canadian shipping, it's suddenly a practically $100 book! And since Conan is one of his 'cover only' books, I might just do the same thing I did with Batman #423, and just find a high quality image of the cover to print out and frame But my LCS always seems to have most of the issues before / after #241, and I think this cover definitely stands out as superior to the majority of others from the period... Of course it could just be my McFarlane bias. I even kind of like his Superman, although I'm sure it's not for everyone. I'm not quite so sure about his take on Sandman, but at least you can definitely tell that Todd drew it! And of course these are both just pinups, I don't think either was a cover. Sandman is included in #50 (Distant Mirrors/Ramadan) along with a group of interpretations by different artists. And I'm not sure where the Superman image first appeared? But damn, would you just look at that cape!?!?! I'm surprised Todd never got to do Dr. Strange, but I guess he sort of cribbed the 'sentient' cape idea for Spawn

Haha, no offense taken! Yeah, it's not that I was having any trouble finding the set, it's just that I hadn't bothered looking for any comics in a while Then when I realized my 'old' books were still essentially worthless, I decided that instead of selling them for next to nothing, that I should go the other way and just keep them and start collecting again! However when I started collecting I decided I needed some sort of goal, so I decided to focus on anything that McFarlane worked on! I'm mostly interested in books for which Todd either did the Cover, or interior Pencils, or hopefully both. I haven't seen any current books that I'm interested in, so I mostly just dig through the back issue bins looking for stuff from my era (late 80s - Early 90s, copper age?). Although I've also read some 'new' books that I found out about after they became TV shows, so maybe I'm just not looking in the right place to find interesting current comics. The new mainstream books just don't seem to attract me, but if I see any classic McFarlane ASM or Spawn covers they still somehow excite me?

No, I'm not insane lol. I was just being a bit dramatic, while still keeping the truth more or less intact... The collection 'officially' started when I bought a bunch of these issues when they were initially published back in 1991, but for whatever reason I didn't buy ALL of them. Then, I recently decided to start collecting again, and decided to fill in the missing issues over the past 6 months. So 30 years yes, actively, no.

And didn't I hear the recently switched to the "A. Ventura" shipping service for their economy tier in order to provide some less expensive options? Next question. How much of this can we get away with on CGC's own company forums before they start getting upset?

Hey, them sprockets aren't going to just make themselves!

Obviously I was going for the comedy angle, but I believe there might be a degree of truth in what I ramble EDIT: BTW, is there anyway to completely delete one of your (my) stupid comments? Unless I'm just missing it, I don't see a delete option in the message edit options?

Not happy with your grade? No problem, just ship it back and we'd be more than happy to take a second look, of course, obviously, we'll be forced to charge you for all of the re-grading services, and don't forget the extra charge to crack open the existing slab!

Yeah, I guess a lot of the grey hulk in the middle of a snow storm did tend to look a bit messy. You get the regular overload of line work providing 'detail' to the Hulk, and then more random lines to represent falling snow flurries and drifts on the ground... I'll have to read my physical copy again, but when I just reviewed the digital edition on my ipad it seems that often the shade of Wolverines costume appears to change... I'm not sure if maybe this was intended to represent Wolverine standing in differently lighted areas, but in the panels it just looked like the colour saturation kept changing... But the eternal question, which cover is better, Hulk #340 or ASM #316? Or am I wrong about the top 2? For me a close 3rd would actually be a cover also featuring TWO characters that Todd was well known for. The final McFarlane Amazing Spider-man issue #328, bought back in the day, but I would have been 11 when it came out, so I can't recall if it was already a back issue when I got it... After this it was onto these 15 issues he did on "Spider-Man", and then I believe his next published work was Spawn? And BTW, does anyone know why they had Erik Larsen do Spider-Man #15, and then McFarlane came back and made the sideways #16 his final issue? Was it a time thing to line things up with the X-Force sister book, or was it because the fighting had gotten bad, and McFarlane was already on his way out the door to establish Image?

Yeah, I'm not sure what the 'actual' shipping cost would be, but it seems most of the ebay ads charge like $25 to ship a raw book... I'd be happy to pay the ~$15 'but it now' price for many of those Hulk issues, but once I add $25 delivery plus whatever additional duty/taxes/brokerage fees charged at the border, suddenly a $15 book becomes a $50+ purchase!

Yeah, Todd's amateur writing skills were definitely apparent throughout his "Spider-Man" run, but I feel the art was as strong as on his ASM run... Even when he was allowed to include Wolverine and Ghost Rider, the story still just never grabs you... Although you have to agree, it's a great set of covers, even if a couple are a a bit too similar, and the lame #11 that looks like it came from the previous 'age' And were you able to read a physical Hulk #340, or did you get the digital version? They completely altered the colouring on the digital edition, so if that's all you've seen then I agree, that for instance Wolverine just always looks odd, likely due to not being coloured quite right?

That was exactly my point. That CGC had reached the point where it actually made financial sense to increase capacity, because they were FINALLY losing potential customers due to the long wait times... My main concern is that CGC was ONLY hiring 'logistics' people to help with receiving & storage of customers books, and that the total number of books they were receiving was still growing as fast, or faster than expected! The Job postings at CGC didn't seem to include more appraisers, which I assume is what they would need to grade more books and reduce the ridiculous 6 month turn around times... But like I said, as long as people keep sending CGC their books knowing that it'll be a 6 month process, then what possible incentive does CGC have to hire expensive skilled employees such as comic appraisers? The only way to fix this would seem to be if people STOPPED sending their books to CGC. And if CGC finds that the business has flat-lined, and that they're actually losing potential customers due to the long turn around times, then they might be forced to hire additional appraisers. But honestly, how many 'collector's are going to go cold turkey on their slab habit? And since CGC essentially has a monopoly on the 3rd party grading service (CBCS/PGX are relatively worthless on the resale market), then my prediction is that people should get ready for them to start listing wait times in years rather than months... And is it just me, or doesn't the current pricing model seem WAY too LOW? I mean CGC is transforming your practically worthless stack of folded newsprint into a striking, triple figure valued, beautiful crystal jewel of memorabilia!

Any chance you're in Canada? I've been watching a few issues on ebay, but shipping charges usually make the deals not worth it... I was assuming I'd be able to find them over time at my LCS, but they NEVER seem to have much Hulk stuff, and nothing from McFarlane's run!

Yeah, luckily my LCS always seems to have a few issues, and other than #1, most of them were in the $5 (CAD) bins, so I'm sure I overpaid for a few, but $5 a book seemed reasonable at the time... Managed to grab #14 on ebay with a coupon for $2.50 shipped, which is about what it would have cost at cover price I think it was when I finally started checking prices on some of my 'old' books and realized they still weren't worth much, that I decided that instead of selling what I had, I might as well by more and finish it off! And when I said I had the run, I wasn't referring to all of the variants of #1... 1 Silver foil cover is enough for me!

Ah, sorry, didn't realize this was an older example.

Like I said, I haven't researched exactly how they decide what label to issue, or if the customer is given options in this situation? Anyway, just wanted to show that you can DEFINITELY get a Yellow label if the copy of ASM #238 submitted for a CGC SS event is missing the 'tattooz' Is there a chance my original assumption could be true, that in this situation the customer is allowed to choose between a lower grade Yellow Label, or a higher grade Green Label? Like I thought I heard that if you send in a book that's already been signed, you have the option of them grading it assuming the 'autograph' wasn't there, and assigning a grade based on the actual condition of the book, but issuing the dreaded Green Label... OR, you could tell them to consider the 'autograph' a defect, and issue a Blue Label while treating the signature as if some kid had just scribbled on the cover with crayon or something? So, essentially giving the customer the choice of a low graded Blue 'Univeresal' Label, or a higher graded Green 'Qualified' label?

Are you sure about that? I've seen graded copies in a Yellow Signature Series slab, but the label states: ("Tattooz" insert missing) INCOMPLETE". Does CGC give you an option of the yellow label with a lower grade, or a Green label with a higher grade? I haven't dug into exactly how this works, or what effect the label colour will have on value, but it appears that it's definitely possible to get a Yellow SS label even if you send in a book that's missing the "Tattooz"

Yeah, I didn't think this book was important enough to be getting 6.0 copies slabbed? But I've been looking for a decent copy of this issue for my personal collection, so if someone else has already paid for the grading, and I'm not paying a large premium for the slab then I guess I can deal with it :). I also haven't seen the OTHER SIDE of the book yet, so maybe the back cover is torn to shreds or something? lol. But yeah, I'm thinking someone must have expected this to get a higher grade, or maybe they were thinking REALLY long term, as those white covers are hard to keep clean? Hopefully all of the un-slabbed copies turn yellow, and then every slabbed example will become more valuable I've also been zooming in on the photo trying to see why it was only graded a 6.0, but I can't see any major defects? I guess spine ticks are hard to see on white covers, but I don't see any major ticks on this copy? The corners also look fairly sharp, and I can't see any severe creases/folds/stains etc. anywhere? Unless, is that a tear in the paper at the top of the 'S' in the title? But you'd think that someone paying extra for the custom label was expecting a higher grade? If anyone cares I'll keep you posted! '

Haha yeah! I'm actually just waiting for the seller to figure a way to cancel the sale since it went for so little lol. Although the seller did specifically mention in the description that it was a 'No Reserve' auction, so it would be a bit weak of them to back out now haha. Oh well, I was hoping my first slab would be the Stan,Todd,David triple signed 9.8 ASM #316 I was considering a while back for only $1500, but I guess this is nice too Now I just have to also buy a digital copy so I can actually read the book!

It seems that I finally popped by slab cherry with a low grade key... I know I'm on the CGC forums, but personally I don't really like what slabbing has done to collecting, but I ended up grabbing this for probably close to the amount you'd pay for a raw copy in similar condition... I actually would have preferred a raw copy, and am considering maybe even cracking this open lol. At least it's a new slab with the 'cool' custom Spidey graphic. Although in terms of long term comic economics, does the crew here think it would have made more financial sense to pay $90 for a 9.0 slab, or $26 for this 6.0 slab? I haven't seen the slab in person yet, but I'm assuming whoever had it done MUST have been expecting a higher grade? Or do collectors have enough faith that demand for this issue will always be high, and even slabbing 6.0s makes sense? According to the serial number the book was just graded back on August 3rd, 2020, so at least it also has a brand new case. Oh well, if I start feeling insecure I guess I can apply a 9.8 sticker over the 6.0 whenever I have the slab on display :). You know, like Jerry used to change the tags in all of his jeans from a 32" to a 30" waist

Decided to switch it up with 4 more, well 3... Hulk didn't want to leave, and I wasn't arguing! I have been noticing that Todd used the character reflection concept a few times, and the dynamic character design used on the iconic ASM #316 is quite similar to the ASM Spidey & Lizard cover...

Just trying to determine the limits of what pressing is capable of fixing. And I thought a mild fold/crease like this, that doesn't appear to break colour, would be EXACTLY the type of defect that could be completely eliminated with a good press? Just so people know that this is the type of issue the pressing can fix, but if your book, for instance, has lots of spine ticks, then pressing will only produce a book with nice flat spine ticks...

Are you talking about the tiny damaged area at the very edge of the corner? I was referring to the less severe, but longer 'fold' visible about an inch from the corner. The longer crease doesn't appear to break colour at all, so was hoping that defect was something that pressing could fix? Or is there some colour break that I'm not noticing?

What would be your thoughts on fixing a minor crease such as this one on the corner of an otherwise solid ASM #316? Would this severity of creasing be something that pressing could completely eliminate, or will it just make the cover lay completely flat, but still leave the crease visible?

Haha! Yeah, especially issue #4, in which Todd was ALSO the colourist! The Kayfabe guys actually went through the issue pointing out all of McFarlane's 'less traditional' colouring decisions Yes, like I said I'm trying to collect his ASM run as well, but that's a bit more pricey And also want to track down some of the cool Spidey covers he did on a few of the Marvel Tales books! And then it's on to the Hulk where he did interior pencils from 330-346? along with a few nice covers. Only have 3 books from his Hulk run so far, but at least one is #340