lostboys

I bought a Hulk 341 and immediately noticed there is a small rip to both the front and back covers as well as every inside page.

Could this be factory damage from the machines pulling the book around?

It's strange because it's not a clean cut like from scissors. I imagine it wouldnt be easy to tear a comic like that without bending the book in some way and that's really the only damage I see around the area. The cover and inside pages are flat and smooth.

Thanks!

On 1/17/2021 at 10:50 PM, Lightning55 said:

CGC makes mistakes in grading.  I know - I've owned some of them.

Not many errors, but enough to say that you should scrutinize every comic you receive back.  It still boils down to the human factor, people in a hurry to push product through, make quotas.  You can only spend X amount of time on each.

Before you ship your submission, write down your expected grade, take photos of the comic.  Compare it to the CGC result.  Look for what you missed - or they missed.  At the very least, it's a way to calibrate your grading with theirs.  After a while, if things go as usual, your idea of 9.0, 9.4, 9.8 will be similar to CGC's idea, or any particular grade range.

As I said before, most comics will be close, plus or minus a bit, as no 2 opinions will constantly align.  But there are exceptions in both directions.  Most outliers will be that the grade is much lower than you expected, but it could be legit.  You may never know exactly why.

On the flip side, I have had comics grade 9.8 (or 9.6) with small tears (not bindery), multiple color-breaking spine ticks, rounded corners, etc. etc.  Don't know how or why, but that's what I got, shaking my head in disbelief. 

Seems like a great thing, until you try to sell them to someone who is not totally blind.  All you can say is "Hey, I didn't grade it.  CGC did."

And there are countless examples where people send in comics for 9.8 prescreen that are rejected, and after several retries are eventually accepted.  Good day / bad day thing.

 

I know what you mean. When I buy graded books I usually go for the 9.6s because I can't afford the 9.8s. Some 9.6s look way worse than others.

Buy the book, not the grade, right?

I learned that here.

On 1/17/2021 at 9:49 PM, Roger66 said:

Not everyone is an objective grader and I believe most collectors simply put are below average graders especially when it comes to their own books.  Grading I find is often about personal experience with comics, critical honesty and intuitive skills.  Without seeing your books I would bet CGC got it 100% right.  Someone said it before me but you should 'temper your expectations' and perhaps continue to engage in selective discussions that lead to your becoming a better grader.  Also don't fall into the trap of looking at books already graded without seeing the notes and wonder why this book got a 9.0 and not a 9.4 for example.  No one is perfect but I find CGC the best game in town - head & shoulders above the rest - and I continue to maintain 100% faith in them.  Finally be patient and don't lose sleep over this.   My 2 cents. 

I have faith in them...i got some pleasant surprises back too. I just need to learn how to grade a bit better.  I'll be reading all the old threads.

I also wanna make sure I give some love to CGC because i've gotten back 14 books so far and every case has been clean...no scratches or anything weird inside the cases. They all look great.

On 1/17/2021 at 6:30 PM, Artboy99 said:

thanks for clarifying. In my opinion neither 5.5 improves enough to resub.

Thanks for looking!

I'm not gonna send em back in...not anytime soon anyway.

Just out of curiosity...if I were to resub em in a few years, would it be better to crack em myself?

No you're right... That's the 5.5 with the stain 

22 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

the color loss on the back cover wont be fixed but I see quite a few dents/ indentations on the front and back cover that would press out. Can't do anything about the front cover bottom corner crease because it is color breaking but I could see this book improving. Is this the book with the staining?

One of the 5.5s has the stains.

This one the notes say light creasing, light scuffing & spine stress lines

11 hours ago, B2D327 said:

I think the newsstand 5.5 looks the worse of the 2. The damage on the back cover towards the edge is your main problem. The direct edition looks like it might get a bump from a press but nothing significant

Maybe I'll just keep them as is for 10 years or so and revisit the whole situation. I don't plan on selling them so it makes sense.

Thank you for looking at them.

51 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

I'm sticking with my original opinion above.  At the 5.5 level, you don't have any downside.  Roll the dice again, get them cleaned and pressed, maybe a less picky grader gets 'em.  Victory!!

Would you crack the cases yourself or let CGC do it?

Thanks, man.

The fronts look really nice in the cases but the back covers have the damage.

I can't find the moderate cover stain that CGC listed in the graders notes though.

There are some spots on the back cover.

Sure, in this case I'm looking for advice from the board on if a press would help the grades of the 5.5s.

The fact that one is a newsstand version may affect the decision.

Are you gonna weigh in or...?

The 9.0

The other 5.5 is a newsstand

There's one

9 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

There is a "quote" function at the bottom of the posts so you can reply to specific posts.

As to your books: i suspect your 300's may also have some staining to be dropped so low.

As others have said post pictures when you finally receive them.

Got it!

When I click the 3 dots I get 2 options...share or report.

One of them did say cover stain but I don't remember worrying about that when I sent an in.

Hey, I trust CGC and won't shy away from sending in more books...i have 6 scheduled for grading right now.

I'll make sure to temper my expectations this time

Sorry guys, I don't know how to reply to specific posts...hows it done?

To the one question about holding it in the light...i did and I could for sure see defects but I just didn't expect anything lower than a 7

If a 9.6 can have a few defects...how many does it take to get all the way down to a 5.5?

I can understand if there's a rip...a loose staple or writing on the cover but for light creasing and light bends?

To the other question..yep, this was the first group of books I've sent in to be graded.

The 300s took a looooooong time.

Well, I guess I'm terrible at grading based on my estimates.

I prob should have had them pressed.

I prob had a false sense of security because I also sent in 2 of the 299s and 316s along with the 300s and I got them back quicker.

The 299s came back 9.8 and 8.0 both with white pages.

The 316s both came back 9.4s...off white to white

It never crossed my mind the 300s would be such a lower grade.

Like I said, I bought em 22 years ago so they weren't all that old at the time and I know I took good care of them

 I changed the bags and boards every year.

I'll post pics when I get them back.

22 years ago I put together 3 complete McFarlane runs ...all bought from Ebay.

This year I sent the #300s to CGC to be graded and I just got the grades...im less than thrilled.

I actually had trouble sleeping last night I was so worked up.

The best one came back a 9.0 - off white to white

Light increasing to cover...light stuffing to cover...light spine stress lines to cover

The other 2 both came back 5.5s.

5.5 white pages

Moderate bends to cover...mod creasing to cover...moderate spine stress lines to cover

5.5 off white to white

Light creasing to cover...moderate bends to cover...mod spine stress lines to cover...mod staining to cover

I'm a bit shocked at the 5.5s because I figured for a book to be that low it would have to have some rips, writing or structural damage...loose or rusty staples etc.

I'm also a bit baffled that 2 books I bought 20 years ago, from 2 diff sellers, both came back with the same low grade.

What are the odds?

My main question is, in your opinion, how high would a pressing raise these grades?

I haven't received them yet so I can't post pics.

Sorry for ranting it's just I was expecting nothing lower than a 7.0 and I'm sure you've all been where I am right now.

I'm getting past the anger stage and moving toward acceptance...lol

Thanks for reading.

I go on comics go collect to get FMV before bidding or buying a book. 

Is that a good place to go?

Thanks for reading.

Does the FMV go up and down strictly  based on sales?

I'm a 80s kid so older books don't make me tingle like a good McFarlane cover or the Punisher/Wolverine limited series' do.

Spider Man 299 in 9.8 has dropped from 600 to 425 in the past month or 2.

Punisher 1 Limited from 180 to 130.

Then you have Spawn books that came out 2 years ago going for crazy prices.

On top of that...most sellers on Ebay seem to always expect to get more than FMV.

Any advice on navigating this minefield?

I have an older CBCS slab with a bunch of scratches holding a Killing Joke 9.8 and I want to put it in a clean case. I know CGC did this at one time. 

Thanks!