silverseeker

Sweet books! I wonder if the Marvel FF film will cause #8 to heat up in the future?

I agree, and was thinking 3.5...

7.0 for me as well...nice book!

I agree, but it might grade higher if CGC treats the gripper tears (that's what I'm assuming they are?) at the bottom of the front cover as a production defect...I've not submitted a book with these types of tears, so I don't know if they're ignored by CGC. A press would help with the bends at the lower left corner of the back cover, if that's your thing... Nice book!

7.0, with a shot at 7.5...sweet book! Do the stains at the lower left corner of the back cover extend into the book, or are they only on the back cover?

One compelling reason to first crack the book out of the slab before sending it to CGC would be to ensure that the other grading company didn't miss anything that might cause CGC to assign the book a dramatically lower grade. For example, I know CGC hammers stains but do not know how the other grading companies treat them...

7.5 for me as well...

Courtesy of @pickycollector...

Showcase #55 is a sweet book...glad it happened to be in my collecting focus when I picked it up a while ago!

I totally agree with this... Since I got back into collecting in 2000, every year was supposed to be the year that DCs start to catch up with Marvels...after 20+ years I don't think it's going to happen. I don't collect Batman and don't have any of the major DC keys like Showcase #4 or B&B #28, but can think of only five DCs I own that have significantly appreciated over the last 20 years: B&B #54 and #60 Flash #139 Hawkman #4 Showcase #55 (which is surprising to me) In the meantime, I have what feels like 50-100 Marvels that have done the same. This is unfortunate, but it means you can get most DCs for pretty cheap compared to Marvels...however, if your plan is to turn a huge profit when you eventually sell your collection you may be waiting a long time! I'd love to see DCs start to get some of that Marvel action...

7.0, with a shot at 7.5...bummer about that crease!

I'm torn between 5.5 and 6.0, and don't know if a press will help much since most of the wear breaks color...from the photos it looks like the faint diagonal bend on the front cover near the spine is the only wear of note that does not break color. It's a very nice copy of this book for its grade!

I just received a nice copy of Showcase 34 from Patrick...was the last book I needed to complete my Showcase 34-36 and Atom 1-20 run. He's a great guy to deal with, and took the time to answer all my questions and provide additional photos/scans as needed. He packed the book incredibly securely, and it got from Canada to California in five days, which seems crazy during these times of delivery lags. Thanks Patrick! Looking forward to doing business with you again in the future...

I had a discussion with my friend about this very point...for those of us who grew up watching reruns of "Bewitched", "I Love Lucy", "Leave it to Beaver", etc., the first few episodes of this series have a cheesy, nostalgic feel to them that we can appreciate...however, I can see how younger viewers who were not exposed to these shows could be put off by the first few episodes. I was telling my friend that starting the series off in the style of an 80s or 90s sitcom might've appealed to a larger audience... I did see or read something (I can't remember if it was a video or an article) that mentions Wanda's fondness for 50s U.S. television shows (maybe this is all they had access to in Sokovia?) as the reason for the series starting like it does though.

Looks like there's a new company selling clear backing boards...has anybody tried them out? https://www.comicclearsupplies.com/

Here's my nicer copy of #1...was graded CGC 7.0 when I bought it back in 2011, but I cracked it out to read and it now lives in a mylar...

I'm so glad I put together a run of issues 1-20...crazy how much #1 has blown up in just the last few months!

Sweet copy, Ben!

I actually had a discussion with a friend about TOS #52 and TTA #44 about a year ago at this time...the context of our discussion was whether or not these two books were a better buy than Avengers #4, assuming that you had a fixed amount of cash to spend on them. For example, assuming you had $2,000 to spend at the beginning of last year, was an Avengers #4 CGC 7.0 a better buy than a TOS #52 CGC 7.5 or TTA #44 CGC 7.5? His comment was Black Widow and the Wasp were "B" level characters, and even though Avengers #4 does not feature the first appearance of Captain America it was the better buy because he's an "A" level character...fast forward one year, and he was right. With this noted, I agree with you that TTA #44 is a cool cover and has room to grow (it's also a hard book to find without Marvel chipping or smudging)...I'm hoping to acquire a nice 6.0 - 7.5 copy one day!

It feels like even minor keys are rising...I was tracking the FF #16 CGC 6.0 in the latest CLink auction and was shocked at the hammer price of $622...am I missing something here? https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DFantastic%2BFour%2B16%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1452425&id=1452425&itemType=0 It does feature the first Ant-Man crossover and a cool Doom cover, but still...

I've noticed this as well over the years...some graders leave very extensive notes while others just document the major flaws.

Awesome video...thanks for sharing!

Indeed! I also remember him from Friends when he played the UFC fighter that dated Monica...

Looks like Daredevil #1 is heating up again now that the character rights revered back to Marvel...