J Bill

Bendis did a Sam & Twitch book as well, correct? That may have been the series that ended the partnership, not Hellspawn.

We're in deeply strange territory with these adjacent books now. I know Hellspawn ended after Bendis fell out with Todd, although I never understood the reasons why. Probably for the best anyway. I was buying Spawn in '96 but have zero memory of this Impaler series even though I'm a Mike Grell fan. A quick Google search of the artwork validates the reasons for it being lost to the sands of time - yikes. In retrospect, some of these Image books feel like true cash grabs by certain creators. I hope they were lucrative at the time.

This is definitely a thing with YouTube and, I suspect, causes a lot of unnecessary internet consternation. My interaction with Ryan has been solid.

I'd be shocked if @comicwiz doesn't get the Hobby Hero plaque also!

I would think so but Matt seems to indicate they have other methods, unless I'm misinterpreting?

Great video. Going to 9.9's last question/observation, I am curious how they can determine if a Hulk 181 has the value stamp while still in the holder. I'm not sure if they take photos of the interior prior to slabbing, but given that these aren't even the same books, that won't help. Some kind of x-ray? A special mark on the inner well? Thoughts?

Another silver lining might be that any of us who have been resistant to learning Excel imports, conditional formatting and pivot tables for work finally have the motivation they needed to learn. Btw, thanks again for all the hard work you're putting in @comicwiz!

There's probably a lesson or parable on the human condition here about getting outside more or making human connections, but, oddly, I'm more inclined to find those Bronze Age issues of Batman I've been itching to look for!

Thank you again for posting these and especially for your honesty about how the stress and anxiety grew over time. I periodically get the bug for an issue chase or even for a small run, so I can't imagine what it would be like to commit to this level of effort. To be candid, and with all respect, I especially cannot fathom putting in this kind of work for this particular series. I mentioned it previously in this thread, but I barely made it to #100 before jumping off. The content just wasn't strong enough to maintain interest for me. I'll admit some of the covers are slick, but even they start to become an exercise in watching how many cool poses they can put Spawn in. After 250+ issues, it feels like it could descend into madness a bit? I'm not checking this thread daily, more like 2-3 times/week, but it's actually starting to feel a little uncomfortable to observe at this point. Interesting since it sounds like you were about done yourself. I'm kind of surprised at my response to it now since we're all comrades in arms in this hobby with similar sensibilities and semi-obsessive tendencies. It's fascinating, really. Again, I sincerely don't intend to offend here- just sharing my immediate thoughts!

Does anyone know how long CGC has been putting those subtle diagonal 'CGC' watermarks in the white grade box on the label? Seems like a newer security change? Thinking it through, I'm not sure how this would help with detection, but between that and their new policy to provide scans, it feels like they've been aware something has been amiss and they've been trying to subtly respond.

Almost certain they're the same. The white background and the vertical line from the inner well really creates an illusion that the white wrap extends wider than it really does.

I certainly wouldn't want to have any books waiting to get reholdered in Sarasota right now. I have to think they've done a complete lockdown at this point. This person could have other books in the queue there right now and CGC most definitely shouldn't be laundering his remaining product. But that presupposes they know who it is, which might not be the case at the immediate moment. So first step is for them to find out exactly who this is, pull out any comics they have in the waiting room, and then restart things back up. And if they figure out who it is, you have to think they could provide that information to the proper authorities or interested parties.

That's one irritating facet of CGC submission tracking. This... 2012 notification technology. Refresh the page? In 2023? Really? Feels like they could hook up with Twilio or some other communication vendor and really get things cooking from a customer engagement perspective. Let's get a text in real-time when books change status and save everyone some time (and likely some server overhead)!

I would think the difference in the wrap pretty much says it all? Not looking for a conspiracy here, but it is interesting that CGC started offering photos of the books for free in the past, what, 6-8 months? Will definitely help bring some clarity to situations like this going forward.

It's fascinating to see Spawn persist after all these years. I recall really having to grind it out to make it to the hundredth issue. The stories were... consistent. Capullo's art was always fun though. Remember Image Zero (the mail-in?), it was very disappointing to see everyone submit a story, but Todd just sent in some pin-ups (and let's not get into Image United!). All I think of when I see clips of the movie is how Todd was all enthusiastic in interviews at the time about how amazing it was going to look because Spawn's cape was going to be all CGI, but the money dried up so he only had it for a very limited number of scenes. I do miss Todd's sequential art (I loved his Hulk and ASM runs), but it doesn't feel like we've seen much of it in many decades (!) which is a shame. All that said, @newshane - I'm very impressed with your dedication to getting these 9.8s so deep into the run! Can't be easy!

Thanks for sharing this. I was curious if the chiseled sig was the actual sig or if he 'signs' it as well. Looks like it's both?

My favorite cover of all time. This was submitted slabbed so signature placement was really at Claremont's discretion and very happy with how it turned out!

I just got back two books on Friday that had this exact issue. Back cover, bottom right. Not sure why the front cover wouldn't be impacted and just the back. Maybe we were both on a cart someplace in the CGC offices that fell over? I've sent them back in under mechanical error. Both were pressed by CGC on original submission so hoping they can sort it out with another press and reslab.

Hi @CGC Mike - any word on when the Dave Gibbons signing will take place? Thanks!

@CGC Mike I can confirm this. If I open the submission site via Chrome on my mobile phone, I get no results, but if I switch to Desktop mode within Chrome on my phone (effectively emulating a PC), I can see my submissions. It works fine on my laptop. Appears to be something with default settings for mobile phones?

Totally agree on Paul Smith. Given Byrne won't participate in signings and Cockrum has passed, he's the next oldest artist from the All-New X-Men. I'd be surprised if CGC hasn't at least tried to contact him. Plus, he's also my favorite X-Men artist ever. It would mean a great deal to get books signed by Smitty!

I have a slabbed 9.0 Spider-Man #1 Platinum I bought years ago (graded in 2007). I know generally speaking cleaning and pressing wasn't as prevalent back then so I took a gamble and submitted it for the signing and CCS. Came back a 9.2 so pretty happy about that! Ebay sales on the Platinum version in a 9.2 is pretty sporadic. Does anyone have access to Gpanalysis data that might provide some further insight?

If you don't mind sharing, when was your comic 'received'? Mine was received on 10/6 and going over to CCS after signing as well so it'd be helpful to know where I might stand in the queue.

I just called them and they said CCS has had it since 9/14, thankfully. Strange that others are seeing it in their submissions sent later, but we all know CGC works in mysterious ways...

Has anyone had their McFarlane submissions received by CGC/CCS yet? They used to provide the number of days it took to be received after delivery on the TAT page, but that disappeared recently (what happened to that btw?), so I don't know when to expect to see it listed. Historically, my SS submissions, with the initials of the comic book creator all over the box, have usually been received within a week or so, but I'm going on 3+ weeks without any indication on this one, although I can confirm it was delivered with their tracking number tool (which is a great feature). Anyone else see theirs yet?