SlabSeeker

Appears this is still very much an issue in late 2023 (and an annoying one). I've got a CGC 9.8 Rai #0 glossy misidentified as matte. They agreed to reholder for free but wouldn't send me a shipping label despite this being a QA flub on their part. Sent it back along with a sticky note saying glossy not matte just to be safe. Received a return shipment notification today and the notes say matte with a new cert number. 🤦 Already emailed customer service, so we'll see what happens. I was thinking about having Jim Shooter sign it a few weeks ago until I learned there wouldn't be a CGC facilitator at that convention, so figured I might as well get the label corrected ASAP. I know the two versions are easily confused, but this book was printed in 1992, the "glossy" and "matte" variants have been known and documented since at least 2004 and I think CGC began recognizing a distinction in 2015. It's frustrating they don't seem to have an effective internal system for helping graders identify known variants, especially when this should be a whole lot simpler than something like "XYZ #1 Left-handed Variant Cover B16 Alpha 3 Bravo Portuguese Subvariant Local Comic Shop Somewhere in the Midwest That Went Out of Business Five Years Ago Edition." A grader doesn't necessarily need to know whether it's a matte or glossy version, but any issue of any book like this with known and recognized variants should automatically be flagged for QA review before it's encapsulated and sent out the door. Their internal system should have notes on how to identify which variant is in hand and QA should have a clear escalation path for dealing with outlying edge cases if a potential discrepancy is identified.

1:41 of your life you won't want back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agTXV5ND6mw 2:43 more you'll be glad you sacrificed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw8l7W_rZzE Yes, that's right — the guy who wrote The 4-Hour Work Week spent more than four hours just interviewing Todd McFarlane.

I wondered if that might be the case since it said "High-Res." What's the resolution (pixel dimensions)?

On Aug. 3, 2023, you announced "Now all comics and magazines certified by CGC are being imaged after encapsulation, and collectors can download the images for free!" Why is imaging still listed as a $5 add-on on the submission form?

I think you should never shut up and never sit down.

Don't forget to create an event listing for each show on the community events calendar here (https://boards.cgccomics.com/events/). There's currently only one event listed for all of November and it's on the West Coast. First rule of marketing: Leverage ALL free promotional resources. You might also consider trying to partner somehow with https://www.comicsinaflash.com/ (unless I'm the only one who nearly fainted upon discovering there's a presser in Evansville). Working out a way for people to be able to drop off stuff to be pressed at a show could be win-win for everybody, especially when the presser is local. Just hope I'm able to make it to a show before you get too big and all the deals get snatched up.

The inaugural Owensboro Comic & Toy Convention is scheduled for Oct. 7-8, 2023, at the Owensboro Convention Center overlooking the Ohio River in Owensboro, KY. Details and tickets: https://www.owensborocomiccon.com/ NOTE: To help ensure this new convention starts off on the right foot, anyone who books a hotel room in the convention block (links on con website) has been promised one free weekend badge ($54.40 separately) at hotel check-in. Children under 10 are free with a paid adult. Announced comic creator guests include Jim Shooter, Bob Hall, Dave Aikins, Guy Gilchrist, Phil Hester and Kyle Starks. See website for list of actors, voice actors, pro wrestlers, etc. (a few more guests still TBA). Celeb Photo Ops is the photo-op vendor, with prices ranging from $60 to $85 for individual celebrities and $115 to $135 for Pokémon and Power Rangers duos. There will also be a cosplay contest with prizes (limited to 150 total entrants across three categories: novice, journeyman and masters). FYI, this was posted on the event Facebook page 10 days ago: The convention floorplan and current list of exhibitors is available here: https://shows.map-dynamics.com/owensborocc2023/ The same organizer produces the Lexington (KY) Comic & Toy Convention and Huntington (WV) Comic & Toy Convention each year, so this new event has great potential for the region. I don't know if there will be a CGC facilitator and/or witnesses there for Signature Series books or not, but I hope so.

Now, if I could just replace the two gold Walmarts still in their sealed multipacks I basically gave away nine years ago...

The cutoff date is based on arrival, not a postmark. For this Bob Layton signing, CGC said "CGC must receive all submissions for this event by Friday, April 7, 2023." When was your shipment delivered to CGC? Did you write "BL" on all sides of the shipping box, as specified in the submission instructions?

Yay, that's great! I didn't realize they increased the trim size later in the run because it was still comic-sized when I quit buying it. I've got a few early issues still in the polybags that I've been thinking about getting graded but didn't want to pay the higher magazine fees in addition to having a longer turnaround time. I need to dig them out and take a closer look at what I've got now.

I was planning on going, but ended up with a conflict I couldn't resolve. Hopefully I can make the next one. I was impressed with the number of dealers I saw listed but had no idea the bench would be as deep as it looks like from all these pictures.

Also, according to the CGC website: https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/8474/cgc-magazines/ I suspect -- but don't know for sure -- that Wizards might have been allowed to fly as comics before CGC started grading magazines, but nowadays they're most likely going to be required to be classified as magazines. Also: https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/10392/Adam-Hughes-Signing/ The Adam Hughes deadline is April 14, 2023, so @1337pino has probably already submitted by now. I personally think Wizards should be allowed to be submitted as comics, but it would be nice if @CGC Mike or someone else in authority could provide a definitive answer. All comics are in fact magazines anyway and Wizards aren't genetically different enough from something like Marvel Age to merit being forced through the separate magazine process, IMHO.

The next time I get a Spider-Man #1, I think I'm going to list it on eBay as "RARE! Spider-Man #1 (1990) not signed by Todd McFarlane," then explain in the description how this is super rare because most versions come with Todd McFarlane's name written on the cover. I like comics. I like autographs. But I don't like a lot of autographed comics, and I personally tend to prefer collecting signatures on newer and/or lower-value things rather than older and/or higher-value things. That Spider-Man #1 I was joking about is kind of in the middle; it's common enough that I wouldn't mind having one signed as long as it was aesthetically pleasing, as most (but not all) McFarlane signatures tend to be. People who sign a dark background with a black Sharpie drive me bananas.

Coincidentally, I also noticed the shockingly high prices for that signing earlier today. What I find especially curious in this case is vintage 90s Rob Liefeld signatures are pretty easy to obtain dirt cheap if you're a fan who just wants a signature. I've still got a signed X-Force #1 that I think came from Walmart if I remember correctly. I can understand popular people who don't sign much being able to charge pretty much anything they want and the market paying it, but it's crazy to me people would pay such high prices for what I'd consider a pretty "common" signature.

If you've got a slab with one of the retired custom labels (ones no longer being offered), do you lose that customization if you send it in for a reholder or are they able to reprint the retired art on the current label template since the book is grandfathered in and thus "allowed" to have it? I've wondered about this for a while.

This. SO MUCH this. ^ But it shouldn't be an option, it should be the standard. Ultra Pro makes a very nice UV-resistant One-Touch holder for 8x10-sized things that I use for autographed photos, so it's not like the technology doesn't exist. Unless there's some sort of highly technical issue with slabs made from UV-resistant material possibly cracking easier (which I doubt), the only reason for not already doing it is to save money on manufacturing the slabs. Which I think could be pretty easily offset by the billions of customers who'd start sending in reholder orders for everything they own.

I'm generally a fan of posting pictures of all sides of an item, but hardly ever see pictures of the sides of slabs. If it mattered that much to the buyer, they should have requested additional pictures.