Axelrod

Idle question whether you cracked it out yourself and sent it in raw (possibly through a 3rd party presser) or just sent it in for "reholder", possibly with CGC in house press service?

Literally 25 people within 3 pts. of coveted 6th position!

At risk of being labeled sexist, can we have an empowered woman who is also sexy to look at? Can we cater to the male gaze just a tiny, little bit? I consider myself fairly liberal, and am against discrimination, and demeaning of women, and all those things. But, I mean, it's Red Freaking Sonja.

Well, on the plus side, those pages from the grading guide at least suggest that the grade didn't come completely out of the grader's ***, agree or otherwise disagree as we might. I would have said that was pretty "heavy" rust, and the paper migration looked pretty "significant" to me, though, sure, I guess it could have been even worse.

I would see this movie if it ever got made. I place the odds of it ever getting made (with Robbie staring, at least) as....low.

Wait, you want how old I am now? How about how old I was when I actually bought all my comics....

I would have called those staples a "major" defect all day every day. I think there is zero chance the book gets a grade like that if the defect was visible. Still surprised. Didn't CGC publish a grading guide recently? Were rusty staples not covered in it? Seems like this particular kind of defect ought to be easily quantifiable as far as "grade." Even moreso than a stain, which can be of so many varied sizes and locations and hues. I liked the book as part of this contest because it narrowly focused in on this one singular defect, so - theoretically - you could really see how CGC viewed such a defect. Unless, unfortunately, there's actually no standard and it's just how one individual grader feels about it....

Wasn't there, once upon a time, a thing about non-visible defects being notated on the Blue Label? I know they changed that a little bit ago so that not "all" defects would be notated anymore, but I thought these hidden defects would still be noted. So now nothing is noted anymore? And it's just "you can check the grader's notes."

The only one I felt completely helpless on was the Secret Wars. I had zero clue how much of a hit a book that looked otherwise nice would take from just those staples. I blind guessed 7.0

Same!

Pshaw. Only the Superman emoji?

You can't please all of the people all of the time. Or some of the people any of the time. I think mixing it up has been great. I appreciate these contests and everything you do for this community.

Wouldn't compare it to an episode of 24. But it definitely was big, long, and stressful. In a mostly good way.

You did not! Grade was clearly too high!

4 pts. Three of that on the Spotlight. I kind of thought that was whatever they call it "distributor spray" and not a stain, but I wasn't sure. So I hedged with the other small defects I could see and called it 9.0 Otherwise, somehow three bullseyes. Take it.

Late guesses best guesses

There are some who suspect that if you use CGC's pressing services, you get a bump in the grade. Pretty sure there is no way to verify this. Kind of like the old Publisher's Clearinghouse magazine sweepstakes where they claimed you did not need to buy a magazine to be entered, but people suspected that if you bought a magazine you had better odds. That said, people do send in books (esp. modern books) with no pressing and they do get 9.8s, so it's certainly possible. You probably do increase your odds with a press. I think the chances you actually hurt the grade are not that high. May just be another cost/benefit thing, i.e. how much more would it be worth.

Where would I be if I had skipped out on that one really bad contest! Or, maybe it was more than one bad one actually. I can't even remember. I usually have (at least) one really bad round, I remember that! Still, these are fun!

Same! One grade off each of the other two, so, 4 pts for me this round.

Weeeeeell

I think with Dave Stevens, sadly by virtue of dying young, there's also a limited output issue. By which I mean that it's realistic to actually collect all his covers. And that's appealing to many people.

It's just another one for the "what were they thinking" file. How do you spend so much on something so underwhelming? How is it even possible? You can make Godzilla Minus One for 10 million. Did they really not see? Or is it all just what William Goldman said "Nobody knows anything."

Heh. Old movies. P'shaw. My list for the next 8 looks (very) roughly something like: Civil War The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Challengers The Fall Guy Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes If Furiosa Bad Boys: Ride or Die Possibly some additions or substitutions in there depending on what else might be showing. Do not mock my tastes, or lack thereof!