LudaToke

I just watched this stream/giveaway and it was good. Jim just talking about working on different different books with Scott and Alex. The books they gave away were cool and most of the time there were only 850 people entered in each draw. It lasted for about 25 minutes. Having said that, something that did stand out was that CGC made special mention at the start of the stream/giveaway that they are an impartial third party and they don't sell comic books. To me that sounded like a direct response to some of the concerns echoed in this thread.

My best friend owns a boxing gym and is a trainer/coach. This is always his response when someone challenges him to a fight (sign a waiver, come on down to the club, put on some gloves and let's go a few rounds). Nobody ever shows up.

Does this mean that these 3 (Lee, Williams, Sinclair) will be on site to complete their signings and sketches?

Not sure why the picture isn't working. I can see it but let me try again. Is this working?

The spine is in rough shape and there are a lot of creases on the cover but I love it and how it presents.

I agree. We have all encountered countless forms online that we weren't able to save or exit from unless all required fields were completed. Seems like a simple thing to handle. This is the second signature series where I have had to immediately send it back for the proper label.

I just got my Claremont books back from the signing and it looks like I am going to have to send X-men 121 back as they forgot to include the page quality on the label (White Pages etc.) The strange thing is, the page quality isn't listed in the registry either. Was that part of the evaluation missed entirely during the grading process? Will it now have to go back through the entire grading process instead of a simple re-holder? These are very basic errors with the standard process that are easy to spot. Does quality control not look at the following summary page? It is painfully obvious when you do, that one of the books doesn't have the page quality listed. Frustrating. The cost of all this quality re-work is quite significant. You would think a company like Blackstone that is so driven by profitability would take a look at how much money is being hemorrhaged at poor QC and address it simply through the motivation of keeping that money in their pockets.

Just got back my books from the Claremont signing this morning. I had 3 books in this set that were from my childhood collection (Wolverine 1, X-men 239 and X-men 244). I thought the Wolverine 1 and X-men 244 had 9.8 potential but am happy with the 9.6 grade. They look amazing and I can't see where the defect is. The X-Men 239 was a big swing and a miss. I'm not sure how I didn't see when sending it in, but a piece of the back corner was missing which landed it at a 9.0. Other than that, it looks amazing. Chalk that one up to a learning process. The x-men 120 and 121 were gifts from my girlfriend and I knew they had visible damage so I just crossed my fingers with those. I'm happy how they present. I thought the Wolverine 8 would have been a 9.6 or 9.8 but with no grader notes, I can't see why it scored a 9.4. Unfortunately, the X-men 121 will have to go back for re-holder and new label as they didn't include the page quality (White Pages etc.). Strange thing is, the page quality isn't in the registry database either so did they even bother evaluating it? Does that mean that it will need to go through the entire re-grade process? Also, I'm not sure what the hell Claremont was doing when he signed the X-Men 121. All the comics were signed in a nice silver marker that stands out and then for some reason, he signed the X-Men 121 in a regular pen that just blends into the art. Come on Chris!

I started using the Star Wars and Marvel card trader apps when they first came out a few years ago for fun. You get a certain number of credits/packs free per day and also have the option to spend money for additional packs and increased chances at pulling rare cards. I have always just used the free credits for fun and to see what I could collect. I recently noticed that people are now selling these digital cards on Ebay. Granted that each sale is only for $2 but after about 300 sales that starts to add up. Is anyone else using these card trader apps and familiar with it? Out of curiosity I put up some digital cards for sale and sure enough they sold quickly. Seems kind of odd.

I went away camping last week to come back and see my Claremont books have moved to Grading/Quality Control. Almost done and patiently waiting for the ship notice.

Took advantage of a 25% off sale and picked these up. Very happy with them.

The same thing happened with the Stray Dogs signing (at lot of the books had to be shipped to another location because they couldn't finish them with the first attempt). This is a bad QC move as it increases the handling and the chances of damage occurring. Nothing you can do but cross your fingers and hope for the best.

This is how you get access to the good books with less competition. As time has gone on, I purchase less books from comic shops and more from connected dealers who are buying and selling collections. I was lucky to get connected with a local dealer who turned out to be married to someone I went to summer camp with as a kid. Small world.

Pre-Covid this was a really big show with a lot going on. This will be my first year back so I'm not sure if things have fully rebounded but I am looking forward to it. Toronto is a great city to enjoy once the show shuts down at the end of the day.

That is a cool book and signature combo. Great idea!

I just passed the 4 month mark on my Claremont books - Received at CCS on March 25, 2022. Patiently waiting for these ones as 3 of the books I sent in were from my childhood collection and have 9.8 potential.

Only a few additions this week but they were nice ones.

Happy to add this to my collection

That is a really nice copy. The colours are bright and crisp. Well done.

Wow that is incredible! I didn't see the halo until after I read Ruby's introduction. Such an amazing way to incorporate it and the portrait itself is just brilliant. Cheers to Ruby.

I recently started going into @GOTHAMCENTRALand was there for the 10 year party. They have some great inventory

I was out camping when I got the notification that my girlfriend's sketch had been shipped. This was so nice to come home to. She absolutely loves it. His name is Duckey and he was with my girlfriend for 19 years.

Wow this is amazing! They really did an outstanding job. The subtle nuance of the details are great. The slight smile of the dog on the left and the the tooth on the dog on the right are captured perfectly. Also.......what are their names lol?

That is awesome. Congrats on the 9.8! I would love to see what you had done when you get it back.

This was a great episode of Comic Book Men.