LowGradeBronze

6.5 to 7.0 based on what can be seen. Some of Starlin's best art in this issue and Glynis Wein's fabulous colouring is worth noting. She's among the best!

I'm at 6.0 to 6.5 with the back cover holding it back. Still a very handsome copy! I never tire of being shown this comic so thanks for sharing.

Can you share the link to the other post please, so that other board members can be similarly enlightened? Enquiring minds and all that!

Too much work and hassle involved to make a 9 dollar profit from a 6 dollar book. That's how I'd see it if it was mine. I'd go cut someone's lawn for 10 dollars instead. (Apologies this keyboard has no dollar sign!)

I would not take a gamble with such a sweet copy! That book will be out of your hands for months and the lure of a higher grade wouldn't be enough to make me risk what I already had. I'm at 9.0 plus on this book. (Not confident above 9.0 but this is one very special copy. Head and shoulders above most you see.) Thanks for posting, looking FWD to the existing grade reveal. That bottom of the spine is very likely to be a bindery defect so would not affect the grade.

Hi Sandman, there is a thread called Buddy Can You Spare A Grade where this would get more attention and is the proper place to post this sort of question. Won't get noticed too much here! Nice copy you have there! The grade reveal is tantalising!

Unlikely though, that a copy would pass through the mail and still be a 9.8 apart from its subscription crease. I guess it might slip through at a lower, but still fairly high grade.

The psychology of that works well. You do somehow feel as a buyer that you are getting something for nothing even though you know deep down you're still paying for shipping. Provided the price is still acceptable, "free shipping" is a good plan. Worth a shot to see if it improves sales.

A good point well made! I'm glad the collecting bug is not a burden for you. Having been through several house moves in the last 20 years I'm glad my collection was manageable. It used to be a storage issue but no more. And yes, short boxes are a great solution to handling and finding. I put a list of the titles on the boxes now.

I would love to pass the newsagent and see a comic called Adjectiveless Spider Man ........

There comes a point at which our treasure can frankly become a burden! The money aspect increases anxiety in that regard. No easy answers but sometimes less is more. If you have 10,000 comics how long can you spend with each of them? Ditch the ones you don't care about so much and hope they are valuable. Trouble is I like all of mine. (Shrug)

Uh oh! Not worth having it "Wend" its way back to CGC for a correction though. She's one of those artists I didn't properly appreciate at the time but thankfully do now. Tastes change in 40 years. Not many artists have dropped off my faves list but certainly a good few have been added. Starlin still top for his Warlock and Capt Marvel storylines but I was disappointed with his contributions to Epic and still am. Just prefer his comic art to his painted stuff.

My instinct is 8.0 as is. Doesn't get as many outings as an SME15. Nice crisp copy!

Wow! Grottu, I am impressed with your end result. From the aesthetic POV you've created something that's pleasing to hold once more which is the definition of success. What do you use to do the colour touches with? Or is that something of a trade secret? (Esp where you've recreated the off white along the spine and on back cover.)

Is that a 3/4 inch spine split at the base? Just noticed it on second look.

I'm at 6.5 to 7.0 an excellent example of this unusual book. Personally I'm not for pressing but it definitely improves the grade in many cases.

The spine wear says 4.5 but the rest of the book looks like a 6.0 so I'm going to say overall a 5.0 (I'm not sure if grading works like that!) The colours still really pop! I'm not in favour of cleaning and pressing. Your book has survived from 1968 until 2021 in an honest state (and still looks lovely,) and it's frankly very pleasing to see how books look for real.

I started the thread from a place of ignorance so I'd feel pretty bad if this went south! The chap who responded "you must have missed the last 20 years of comic collecting," had it about right! I had no idea pressing was so prevalent. I'm getting the very clear picture that a lot if not most books submitted to CGC will have been pressed by the time they end up slabbed. Not totally sure how I feel about it but I own no slabbed books and am not likely to.

Hey that's really cool having an original sketch and from 1980 too. Did she do it specially for you? If so she was pretty inconsiderate with the placement of her dedication..."property of BanjerD". (Tee hee)

Good man! Comics are individual in character even when mass produced. Let's not erase all their history.

This was posted for fun to see whose greed would get the better of them (one early reply has been deleted or edited,) and who would have too high regard for an important comic. Im not planning any such monkey business and don't have IH181. I stopped getting Hulk when the art went downhill. I'm with the folk who say don't mess with them, these imaginary Action 1s.

They are all in poor condition two are incomplete 0.5 & one might be complete in 1.0. For the purpose of the exercise you reckon you could make one 3.0 using parts of all of them and be left with a pile of loose pages. Would you do it? (Doesn't have to be Action 1. Substitute the comic of your choice if you prefer!)

Say you bought a raw comic for a chunk of change (£100 or USD140) a SA thats sold to you as an 8.0 Later you find out it had been cleaned & pressed having previously been a 6.5 Are you annoyed the seller didn't tell straight off or do you shrug and say an 8.0 is an 8.0 and it was a fair price. (Assuming it was!) Thoughts? (This is just theoretical, to see what people think.)

When was it sent in?

I just love Ditko's rooftop covers showing the waterfront. Totally inspiring. I'm at 2.5 on this one taking into account the tanning and general wear. I hope it's for reading and not slabbing! In the end unslabbed books will be more valuable than slabbed since they will be so scarce!!! Think about it.