Vegas021

On 3/28/2024 at 7:47 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I think there was another thread regarding Hot Shot awhile ago - I may be mistaken, but this who situation sounds familiar...

Yes, there was. I believe this happened right around the same time as the whole Hero Restoration debacle. While that thread was allowed to continue, the Hotshot Comics thread ended up abruptly closing shortly have getting started. 

Hotshot Comics - CGC Forum Thread

On 3/28/2024 at 7:27 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

I'm not picking sides, but the way it sounds or imo, it looks like cgc did just that, but somehow when they are quoted, "all have been sent"... It doesn't explain why yours are not?

If that helps get to the root of anything? Did hotshot even send the books you ordered to CGC for you? Like they were supposed too? 

Idk

Or more importantly idk how to suggest a course of action other than pm or tag cgc mike which sounds to me, again, like CGC already has determined it is a done deal 

So I just don't know

 

That is certainly a valid point as I have no way to confirm if Hotshot even ever sent my "pre-order" in for grading. For all I know, the farce was so bad by that point that many of the books they were taking orders on probably never made it to CGC. However, this was a systemic enough issue that CGC decided to step in and in what I honestly believe was an effort of goodwill, tried to get books back to the customers once Hotshot ended up paying up on their tab. To that end, CGC asked affected individuals to reach out and submit information and claims. Why do this if GCG was simply going to just grade and send books back to the vendor once the vendor paid? That's how the process normally works, so if they were simply doing what they do, there was no need to request affected individuals to submit claims and receipts to validate books and state that CGC would work (no guarantee was made) to get books returned to the buyer. That's the part that leads to confusion. 

I like many others sent in a claims form and invoice receipts, to which I did get an initial prompt response from CGC acknowledging receipt of the information. Beyond that nothing until I finally reached out 8 months later only to be told all books were sent back to the submitter (HotShot Comics) not the buyers. Why did I have to reach out to find this out? One would think that if CGC was requesting information with the intention of helping rectify the situation they wold have provided either timely updates or at least a notice at the conclusion of their efforts - neither of which were proactively done. Unfortunately, before the original thread was closed, it appears that several posts were deleted/cleaned up which likely contained information that alluded to CGC sending books back to individuals rather than the HotShot Comics. I suspect this incensed Doug (owner of HotShot) and likely resulted in some legal sparring that resulted in CGC having to walk back what they would probably had intended to do but ended up being quite different than what they were perhaps legally bound to do.

On 3/27/2024 at 10:03 PM, revat said:

I don’t know how much power they have other than “clean things up or else we’re not doing business with you anymore”  

 

So hotshot decided not to clean things up and not do business anymore with cgc and to keep the funds they already got.  
 

im not sure what other action cgc could/would take

 

And I think that would have been fine had they simply done nothing. However, there was a bit more pomp and circumstance with this matter where CGC and their in-house counsel got involved and alluded to the fact that CGC would send books directly back to the individuals who were able to provide receipt of purchase rather than to Hotshot Comics whose business practices were shall we say questionable. Not only did that not happen but I get the impression that it's likely that CGC realized they may have overstepped and/or over-promised, they stopped providing any updates or information to those who they had assured they were working to make things right.

While I'm certainly disappointed, I wasn't terribly impacted as I only had a few preorders with them amounting to a few hundred dollars. However, I know there were many others who likely viewed this as a potential ray of hope in getting some pretty big books back. 

Does anyone have any updates regarding Hotshot Comics and CGC?

At one point I recall CGC was getting involved in an attempt to help victims who preordered graded books from Hotshot Comics and things seemed to be moving in the right direction. I, like many others, submitted my claim information and was led to believe that CGC would be working to get books routed to the purchasers. However, after reaching out the other day to CGC directly, I received a reply this evening indicating, "...submissions from HotShot comics have been sent back to the submitter, and we would recommend reaching out to them directly to retrieve your purchase." 

Given that one of the primary issues at hand was that the submitter was ignoring all attempts to honor orders or return books, how does CGC returning them to the submitter help in any way resolve this issue? I get the impression that rather than provide any real assistance, all CGC has done was simply to collect any outstanding grading fees they could while leaving those who unfortunately were caught up in the mess in the same spot they were before they got involved. Even worse, it seems like any reference to this matter has either been locked or brushed under the proverbial rug after all the grandstanding ran its course. At the end of the day, we all realized Doug was a piece of work, but I suppose I was foolishly hoping that things would have turned out differently once CGC got involved. 

Mine just showed up today and was marked SFG. Looks like they may be processing through the submission. 

Did anyone make an in-person submission while attending Megacon this year? If so, have your submissions been entered into the system yet? I submitted a standard tier submission on Thursday (03/30) and it has still not been entered.

I think the OP indicates that using the search tool doesn't return anything when looking up the packing slip submission number from his recent in-person submission at Megacon a couple of weeks ago. I don't believe your submission will show when trying to view the status if the books haven't yet been checked into their system. Mine also are not showing at this time. Tomorrow will make two weeks since dropping off my order in person. Seems a bit ridiculous given their current turnaround time for Standard is listed as 10 days. You may want to reach out to CGC directly to inquire as to the status.

On 4/11/2023 at 1:38 PM, CGCCOACH said:

I submitted 6 Comics to CGC at Megacon and when I try to check the status of it being submitted, I get a "no submissions" in last 8 months.  Is that normal?

I also had a submission that I made on Thursday at Megacon and have yet to see it reflect in my submission status, whereas last year, when I submitted at the show, it appeared the next day. 
 

I spoke with customer service and they mentioned that this year they were not transporting submissions back to Sarasota daily like they did last year. Additionally, there were other large conventions going on at the same time as Megacon (C2E2) where CGC was on site which resulted in a larger number of submissions. 
 

The explanation seemed reasonable and they advised checking again later in the week. 

On 2/6/2023 at 1:38 PM, kypackman said:

I don't have all of my books back, but of the 20 I have received only 4 came back with the full name signature

 

Just curious - would like to know from anyone willing to respond:

1.  How many books did you send in for TM to sign?

2.  How many came back with full name "Todd McFarlane" signature vs how many came back with "T. McFarlane" ?

 

 

I submitted a total of 5 books and 2 came back with full signatures. 

I was charged by CGC when my books were checked-in on 12/06/2022. I received a separate charge from CCS on 1/27/2023, which happened to be the day before they shipped.

On 1/21/2023 at 8:04 PM, spideyfan68 said:

Has there been any info if Todd finished all the books for this signing or is he going to have to come back to Sarasota for another signing session? 

In one of Todd's recent IG posts he states, "*THANK YOU to @cgccomics for hosting me this week…1 MORE TO GO!" This suggests, that he may be finishing up the signing next week. My books are still listed as "Received at CCS" since they got logged on 12/01. Hoping, they will move through by next week based on Todd's comments.

On 12/30/2022 at 4:21 PM, J Bill said:

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?

 

 

 

GPA indicates the last sale for a 9.2 Platinum edition signed by McFarlane was back in March 2019 for $361. Nothing else noted since. For some context, a 9.4 signed by McFarlane sold for $1150 back in Jan 2022 (a year ago). 

On 12/1/2022 at 3:32 PM, Eddiebrock147 said:

Posted earlier about a sub received by CGC on 10/20 that still hasn't been logged in (Today makes 28 days). Was told by a rep that having submissions that were received after mine be logged into the system before mine was normal so much for first come first served. Does anyone else have a sub that was received around mine that has not been logged in yet?

Send in a handful of books (3 raw and 2 slabbed) for the signing, which were delivered on 10/25. Just got an email from CGC and CCS acknowledging receipt of my books. Like others have said, they are a bit behind, but they'll likely show soon.

Happy to see some of these coming back already. However, I'm a little disappointed that the CGC hologram is covering part of the custom label. 

Add me to the list of people who are still waiting for their books to be checked in. Sent on 10/24 and delivered by FedEx on 10/25.  

On 11/9/2022 at 10:51 AM, Kerdese said:

I decided to gamble with my newsstand Spider-Man one 9.8. Hopefully they don’t mess it up and it still comes back in the same grade.

Best of luck! I ended up doing the same thing with the same book (Poly-Bagged UPC). 

Any recommendations as to increasing the likelihood of a full signature rather than the shorter "T. McFarlane" variety? Would taping a $10 to the window bag help the cause? 

On 10/3/2022 at 12:31 PM, Yaku said:

Quick question for everyone as I am new to the grading side of books.

I have a spawn 1 I got signed back in the day at my local con, can I submit this book for the upcoming Todd signing and request him sign over his previous signature done on the book to get a yellow label? If not what would be some suggestions for this beautiful book I own.

It's my understanding that even if you request the artist to essentially re-sign over the existing signature, it still would not qualify for the full-on yellow label, rather it would get the green/yellow label. Additionally, I do not believe that the artist will sign over the existing signature. The only other option that I'm aware of in order to get the full yellow label is to submit another unsigned copy.

Thanks! Based on this, I'm assuming that the Batman 423 variants will qualify since it's essentially his artwork that is simply being reprinted and digitally corrected (i.e., the missing  yellow in the moon).

On 9/14/2022 at 7:22 PM, ak47po said:

Todd McFarlane will NOT sign any of these books during the CGC In-House Private Signing: Venom #1 Color Variant Cover, Venomverse #1 B&W Variant, Venomverse #1 Color, Venom #6 Color Variant Edition, Spawn Retailer Thank You Variant. TODD WILL NOT SIGN ANY PARODY COVERS. He will only sign books and characters he has worked on.

Does this mean that he will not sign any of the recent Batman 423 reprints such as those from Fan Expo or Spectral Comics? I would really like to get his signature on one of those virgin variants so it's clear and unobtstructed byt the trade dress.

Also, what's the consensus as to the best marker color to have him sign with for a Spider-man 1 (regular version with green background)? I've seen blue sharpie which looks decent if signed across the left side leg (so Spidey's right leg). The other go to option seems to be either silver or bronze metallic across the taint. 

On 10/4/2022 at 7:37 PM, Mr.Fantastic said:

Just got some information back today about the McFarlane signing from CGC customer service. A little too late for me as I sent my books off yesterday, but hopefully it answers some questions some may have.

Thank you for your email, we do ask that you submit graded books with window bags,  However, if one is not sent we can provide one for the signing.  Also, you can request different colored ink, but it is up to the Artists discretion,  We currently have Blue, Black, Red, Pink, Yellow, Brown and Megento.

Does anyone know what color Megento is? A cross between Magneto and Magenta maybe?

I'm surprised they don't list silver and gold as these two colors seem to be the go to choice for dark covers. I imagine there will be a lot of Spider-man #1 in the silver and gold variants that will submitted and the listed colors don't seem to be great options.

I tried doing a search, but came up empty on here. Figured I hadn't discovered something new but was curious nonetheless. I appreciate all the replies!

On 7/27/2021 at 4:49 PM, MAR1979 said:

IMHO the "old school slab" both, original red and blue, carry a slight premium with some collectors. It's pretty much a guarantee that the book has not been pressed especially if it is was a comic with low value back then like the Moon Knight.

So I understand the logic behind the older labels being an indication that the books has not been pressed. I also get the impression that many believe the grading standards may have been a bit tougher back in the days (no actual proof, just things I've read online). However, am I overthinking that with older labels you could potentially be buying a book that was graded many years ago at a high grade, but perhaps due to poor storage (i.e., displayed on a shelf or wall in a well lit room) the book has experienced fading that would now result in a grade a level or two lower if it was resubmitted - all else being equal - despite their being no other physical defects incurred?

Sure, if the fading is significant, it could be quite obvious. However, for some relatively modern keys with bright covers I think may new collector (myself included) may not realize just how much fading could have occurred. Add to the fact that a lot of sellers seem to use filters when posting items to make them pop, it really makes me wonder if getting a recent cert # is a somewhat better guarantee that the books overall grade is still more aligned with the original grade.