Jesse-Lee

This book is my favorite in my collection - I wrote about why here in another thread. Long story short, it was the book that started my love of comics, and I still have my original copy from my dad. I just got a nice deal on a cleaner copy, and I'd love opinions on a grade. I included a pic of my original copy too just for fun. I think it would actually be really cool to get both copies slabbed, just because of the meaning it holds to me - we'll see...

Batman #209 - I wrote about why this book is so important to me in another thread. Here's my new copy and a side-by-side with my dad's original copy:

When I was a kid, probably no more than 7 or 8, I was visiting my grandparents when my grandma told me she found a box of my dad's comic books. She said I could look through them if I wanted to. They were kind of musty and falling apart from reading for the most part, but to me they were amazing. And right on top was this weird and crazy cover of Batman as a tiger, stalking Robin - it just seemed like such a cool image to me at that age, and it made my imagination run wild. I opened that one first and read it, then spent the day reading about Teen Titans, Superboy, Lois Lane turning into a centaur, the X-men battling Juggernaut. So many cool books - I was hooked. But Batman #209 is what really started it all for me. Do you remember your first book? I still have my dad's copy of Batman #209, and I was recently able to get a much, much cleaner copy for a really good price. Here's a few pics:

The indicia is the printing information, usually in the bottom front or back of the book (first or last page) that tells info like the name of the comic, the company who prints/distributes it, when it was printed/distributed, etc. OPG is the Overstreet Price Guide, a comic pricing and grading guide.

I almost want to buy one just to see what you actually get (aside from getting your money flat out stolen). This feedback on his account was funny though:

Sorry, don't mean to overpost (still only doing 1 or 2 in 24 hours, but I feel like I'm posting these a lot) - but you've all been really helpful in helping me learn to better determine book grades. I've gotten a couple of books recently and wanted to see how you'd grade them vs how they were sold to me. This is Justice League of America #74

Thanks all. It was sold as a 3.0 - this is why I'm posting a bunch of stuff and reading this forum daily, so I can get better at grading and identifying grades. Either way, I didn't pay very much at all, so I'm cool with it. it's still a neat looking book in my opinion!

That is gorgeous...

No, that's correct. That's a very Kirby-looking spread! Edited to add: I mean it's correct in that's what other copies look like - not sure if it was the actual intention given the narration on the page that Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion enter a "nightmare of kaleidoscopic for and color."

FF Annual 3 and JLA 74 - I know the FF Annual is a lower grade, but it's still a pretty sweet book! And I love the cover on the JLA - no word balloons, no crazy call-outs, just some cool action with an all-star audience!

All intact and all pages attached solidly.

Goofy little Marvel title from 1970. Forgot to take an interior pic, sorry. Also, is this still considered a silver age comic? It's right on the edge since it's a 1970 issue, but I really don't know what the "cutoff" is for silver vs bronze...

Yeah, I guess I was less concerned about the image considering it's a pre-order, but the price is way wrong. It's pre-ordering for more than $20 raw based on recent eBay sales...

I haven't seen this before: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Spider-Man-46-CGC-9-8-PREORDER-Peach-Momoko-Cover-B-Virgin-Variant/392908747961?hash=item5b7b2fb4b9%3Ag%3A6pkAAOSwUTdfNz74&LH_BIN=1 It's a bad photoshop, but it's advertising a preorder of a Peach Momoko ASM 46 in a CGC 9.8 for $15.99 (plus $10 shipping) from Hong Kong. It has to be an obvious bootleg for that price. Has anyone seen a bootleg in hand, and are they pretty easy to identify compared to the real thing? I buy on eBay often and I'd like to be aware so I can be more cautious in what I'm buying...

I just got here like a week ago, so me - however, I just bought my first two graded books, and my graded Batman 404 was sold to me as unpressed. And the other book was a new 9.8 Detective 1000 which if I had to guess wasn't pressed either. So I guess I'm 2 for 2 on unpressed graded books...

One more for tonight - the TMNT Christmas Special Michaelangelo one-shot. Not a high-priced book, but I like it and I'd like an idea on the grade please. Also, I just noticed the edges look a little blurry - I think my scanner had an issue with the all-white cover, sorry...

This is an amazing answer, thanks very much! I appreciate the time you put into it - I'm really trying to learn what goes into the grading process. This is super helpful!

Detective 1000 Frank Miller 80s variant - in hindsight I probably should have bought it raw for less than $10, but whatever, I feel like I got a decent deal on it and I really like this cover; and Batman Who Laughs #1 in the Parrillo foil trade dress variant - C2E2 edition from Scorpion, limited to 750.

Grabbed a couple of the new Bat books with covers I liked plus a Dark Nights Metal 2 variant (and a 2nd print of 90 and regular 92 cover), got a cool Batman Who Laughs 1 variant (hard to take a good pic, it's the Parrillo foil trade dress - C2E2 edition, limited to 750 copies) and got a nice deal on the 'Tec 1000 in the Frank Miller DKR 80s variant

You can see this book has been well-loved and well-read, another of my childhood copies - I was learning to read on this book. Trying to get ideas of grade and learn more about grading... Hope it's ok if I list what I see and take a stab at a grade, and then people can tell me why I'm wrong, what I missed, etc.? Thanks in advance! Here's what I think: Obviously corner chip missing from top front left, veritcal color breaking crease down the spine, horizontal spine creases, bent corners on right top and bottom, some other creases (thumb creases?) on cover. Back has the same spine creases, cover creases, corner issues and a vertical crease halfway up the middle of the book. Pages are white to off-white? Color is good though, covers are intact (minus the top left chip) - it's a card stock cover so it shows the wear a bit more. Also, does age matter in a grade - is it more lenient on older books compared to a brand-new release book? It's from 1962, so being a 60 year old book it doesn't look terrible in my opinion... But I'd say 1.5-2.0?? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?

My other problem is I've been buying other books not on this list too. Well, one of my many other problems...

Thanks and good idea! Ok, it's a weird list and I add to it a lot, so it's growing to more like 100 or more - it's grown to include comics I actually had and comics I always wanted... Many of these are easily available and others are more difficult. Some are actual keys or minor keys, some I like the stories and some just hold significance for me. Some I just like the cover art - big Neal Adams fan. Some of these issues I want more than others, but I figured I might as well keep an entire list to reference as I'm looking. A lot of these I could get raw for pretty cheap now, and I've actually been looking and getting some raw here and there, but it comes down to having a limited overall budget, trying to find a decent copy and just finding the copy I feel is "right" for me if that makes sense. And also prioritizing a want vs a gotta have it... Here's the list as it stands so far (needs to be organized): Batman (Vol 1): 92; 113; 156; 163; 200; 205; 209; 232; 234; 241; 244; 246; 251; 366; 368; 400; 404-407; 423; 426-429; 679 (Zur En Arrh variant cover); 700 Legends of the Dark Knight: 16-20 Dark Knight Returns 1-4 1st print Killing Joke 1st Print Son of the Demon signed and numbered Crisis on Infinite Earths full run Detective (Vol 1): 345; 359; 395; 400; 404; 457; 475-476; 526; 575-578; 880 Joker (1975) full run Preacher 1 Superman 199 Green Lantern: 76; 77; 85 Iron Man 128 Wolverine 1-4 Watchmen full run Hulk 340 World's Finest: 88; 113; 154; 156; 185; 198-199 Brave and the Bold: 28-30 ; 59; 60; 67; 75; 79; 83; 84; 89; 91; 93; 94; 99; 111; 118; 200 Raphael TMNT One-shot Donatello TMNT one-shot Teen Titans (1968): 13; 14; 16; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 28; 29; 31 Tales of the Teen Titans 42-45 New Teen Titans 1-10; 16 Captain Carrot entire run

I recently got a foil cover variant of a book, and it has an all-white paper cover/wrap over the actual foil cover. This copy is foil on both front and back, so it's a full white "cover" covering the entire book, and it's attached to the actual staples. I assume I'm meant to remove this, but is there a typical way to do this without damaging the book? And is it better to leave this paper cover on until I'm ready to display/grade it, or does it matter?

Was at Walmart today and they had one each of the Batman 89 pack and the Wonder Woman 755 pack - which includes Hell Arisen 3 (3rd Print). They were $9 for each 4-pack, so I figured what the hell and I picked them up...

Another issue I found in my old bin comics - a newsstand copy of Avengers 257. Interested to hear what the perceived grade is. Thanks.