CGC Acquires Classics Inc - Response to your Questions

[VintageComics]

Some time ago, I crossed over from being annoyed at the whole thing to being amused by it.

Did that have anything to do with any of Roy's posts?

 

It had everything to do with Roy's posts. Roy is the reason I post here.

 

Slut.

 

Don't be jelly. I'll break you off a piece too.

 

Pieces of Roy.

 

This is not the foursome you are looking for.

 

[gaz973]

People who think that anyone against pressing is primarily concerned about the financial implications of it is dead wrong. I'm sure that some are but far from all.

 

As regards dry pressing, I wasn't aware that it wouldn't be noted if detected or that it was so commonplace as has been inferred here.

[gaz973]

There are tens of thousands of people buying CGC books every day?

 

While he may have been exaggerating a bit there are people who will only buy CGC graded books. They don't have the time to learn how to grade, source out dealers who grade conservatively and travel to shows and inspect their own books.

 

Oh, I know there are people who buy only CGC books. It was the tens of thousands of people buying them every day that I found slightly amusing.

[ComicConnoisseur]

It's hard to reverse that. Sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away.

But not walk away empty handed...

 

New-tech is just beginning to engage Fandom in fresh and exciting ways. Everything that has gone before, and everything coming down the pike, is being (re)presented in formats that don't dent, curl, bend, tone, flake, or crumble.

 

All the sizzle, none of the burn.

 

Comic book fans live in very exciting times, unique in all the history of the medium.

 

I have to agree we are about to go to a major change with digital comic books.

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

The new tech has made me read more comics then I have in many years.

Digital comics is the future.

[COI]

The world is ending in less than a month.

[MrBedrock]

Some time ago, I crossed over from being annoyed at the whole thing to being amused by it.

Did that have anything to do with any of Roy's posts?

 

It had everything to do with Roy's posts. Roy is the reason I post here.

We are more alike than I thought

[MrBedrock]

I have to agree we are about to go to a major change with digital comic books.

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

The new tech has made me read more comics then I have in many years.

Digital comics is the future.

As weird as it may sound, digital is also driving more folks to comic shops simply because more people ARE reading more comics. As a retailer I was really fearful of digital delivery. But 2012 has been far and away the best sales year we have ever had from both a unit sales and dollar sales standpoint.

[Davenport]

It's hard to reverse that. Sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away.

But not walk away empty handed...

 

New-tech is just beginning to engage Fandom in fresh and exciting ways. Everything that has gone before, and everything coming down the pike, is being (re)presented in formats that don't dent, curl, bend, tone, flake, or crumble.

 

All the sizzle, none of the burn.

 

Comic book fans live in very exciting times, unique in all the history of the medium.

 

I have to agree we are about to go to a major change with digital comic books.

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

The new tech has made me read more comics then I have in many years.

Digital comics is the future.

I know, right? I was gifted a 10" android tablet recently, and WOW, it's such a smooth, bright, fluid reading experience. Truly amazing.

 

Happenstance or irony, collecting digitally solves just about every complaint in this thread, with sugar on top. (no storage clutter)

[gaz973]

The world is ending in less than a month.

Hey Andrew, you've been on good form.

[originalisbest]

I have to agree we are about to go to a major change with digital comic books.

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

The new tech has made me read more comics then I have in many years.

Digital comics is the future.

As weird as it may sound, digital is also driving more folks to comic shops simply because more people ARE reading more comics. As a retailer I was really fearful of digital delivery. But 2012 has been far and away the best sales year we have ever had from both a unit sales and dollar sales standpoint.

 

Super glad to hear that, Richard!

[skypinkblu]

It's hard to reverse that. Sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away.

But not walk away empty handed...

 

New-tech is just beginning to engage Fandom in fresh and exciting ways. Everything that has gone before, and everything coming down the pike, is being (re)presented in formats that don't dent, curl, bend, tone, flake, or crumble.

 

All the sizzle, none of the burn.

 

Comic book fans live in very exciting times, unique in all the history of the medium.

 

 

Yesterday, I read Top-Notch #1, the Wizard went to Pearl Harbor to save the fleet from the Jatsonians (sp). It was 1939. This is what I find engaging, stories about things that had not happened yet, the wonderful imaginations (too bad they didn't work in the State Dept;) ...there was some color on the spine, some tape, but the pages were fine and the story was great. That's why I love collecting these old treasures...the stories, the art, the colors and the history.

 

oh and Tupenny's posts;)

[Logan510]

It's hard to reverse that. Sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away.

But not walk away empty handed...

 

New-tech is just beginning to engage Fandom in fresh and exciting ways. Everything that has gone before, and everything coming down the pike, is being (re)presented in formats that don't dent, curl, bend, tone, flake, or crumble.

 

All the sizzle, none of the burn.

 

Comic book fans live in very exciting times, unique in all the history of the medium.

 

I have to agree we are about to go to a major change with digital comic books.

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

The new tech has made me read more comics then I have in many years.

Digital comics is the future.

 

I don't see what digital comics have to do with collecting comic books

 

I also see comics as we know them possibly going the way of the Dodo before digital has a chance to really take off. I hope I'm wrong about that.

[VintageComics]

Some time ago, I crossed over from being annoyed at the whole thing to being amused by it.

Did that have anything to do with any of Roy's posts?

 

It had everything to do with Roy's posts. Roy is the reason I post here.

We are more alike than I thought

 

Nut kicking coming in NOLA.

 

 

[VintageComics]

 

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

I know, right? I was gifted a 10" android tablet recently, and WOW, it's such a smooth, bright, fluid reading experience. Truly amazing.

 

You guys are not collectors after all!

 

[Prince Namor]

I have to agree we are about to go to a major change with digital comic books.

The most fun I had with comic books has been in the last year reading comic books on my Kindle Fire and then Ipad.

The new tech has made me read more comics then I have in many years.

Digital comics is the future.

As weird as it may sound, digital is also driving more folks to comic shops simply because more people ARE reading more comics. As a retailer I was really fearful of digital delivery. But 2012 has been far and away the best sales year we have ever had from both a unit sales and dollar sales standpoint.

 

And I hear that from every retailer I talk to. I hear it from Diamond Distribution.

And I see it in my own behavior as I love to read comics on my iPad but have bought more actual comic books this year than ever before.

It's amazing how it has increased the sales of actual comics!

[ciorac]

Any links kind Sir?

Who is this mysterious Hammer fellow who is frequently mentioned in hushed tones?

 

Yeah I know - noobs.

 

Hammer was Dupcake himself. In the cyber-flesh.

Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be butthurt in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you...

 

Gotcha - Thanks Dicey

Many of Hammer's rants are still viewable at STL. You think we give the Game a hard time. These debates are like Miss Manners by comparison. Small example (on Ewert trims, 2005):

 

"You know, you all act over there like I WASN'T pointing out Jason's books for YEARS. You all act as though I was in the dark too. I WASN'T in the dark about ANYTHING concerning pressed and trimmed books in CGC Blue labels. For years, I was pointing out books offered by Jason, JP, Heritage, Link, etc., etc, on message Boards while everyone told me I was crazy and had my own agenda. I pointed, I described, I detailed WHAT was done, why it was done... everything but HOW it was done so copycats wouldn't jump on the every burgeoning bandwagon. I GAVE ya'll the blueprints of what game was afoot and nobody listened.

 

If I was right about THAT, what ELSE am I right about that everyone thought was just another crazy Hammer conspiracy theory? As time unfolds, what I detailed on those nessage boards will ALL prove to NOT be crazy conspiracy theories because each effect is based on cause and there is only one possible logical cause for the effects that the hobby is starting to notice. Like a jig-saw puzzle, each piece related though all different, and yet only ONE way to put them together to reach one possible conclusion once assembled. "

 

 

His allegations - the part about the system using certification to move questionable material - this is exactly what I was trying to hit home with my comment about CGC taking the ceiling and turning it into the ground floor of a gamed system of certification.

 

The immediate thought in people's mind was to connect what I said with the suggestion CGC enabled Dupcak/Ewarts like activity, when what they should have been taking from it is the thought that these books needed to be sold somewhere.

 

Full circle, the love it or leave it is logic is badly flawed because regardless of motivation or agenda, without the detective work of people connecting the dots, and figuring out how and where this material was/is being circulated, I believe we would be far worse off than we are with whatever amount of awareness that came from being vigilante, even if it comes off as petulant protestations with little or no effect for greater change.

 

When we factor in public perception, bleedingcool's condemnation framed in humor, and the opposition that's spreading across the web over the appearance of a deal loaded with questions surrounding potential conflicts of interest, there is a fallout from all this that comes with considerable cost, and those allegations once thought to be the rantings of a nutjob poster-boy scammer are cementing into a hardline perception of a certification system complicit in the activity and movement of questionable goods.

 

This isn't just a dark period for the hobby, but a crisis in both the "universal" understanding of what certification is meant to do, and consumers acceptance of it's impartial role and what it ought to be doing to eradicate any/all external perception of impropriety.

 

I guess it is fitting as I sit here in the Toronto airport and read this post, trying to get back home from a meeting here today, as CW lives here.

 

I find it both amusing and disquieting that you pontificate repeatedly in this thread about a "crisis" a "dark period" and "conflict of interest" etc. It is galling and in some ways makes me sick to the point of nausea to think that someone could actually believe, let alone espouse, that the acquisition of CI by CCG would bring about a crisis or dark period in our hobby..

 

It is a HOBBY for cripes sake! Comic books are to be enjoyed, collected, bought, sold, traded whatever, not fretted over the way you seem to.

 

I just don't get it CW. Either you are perpetrating an elaborate hoax by pretending to be some elitist "protector" of the sanctity of the hobby, or you need to buy some super glue and get a grip.

 

CI was and is a very profitable business, and a target for acquisition by CGC or other large comic entities. It makes good fiscal sense for them to buy CI and to bring in house the end to end process of submission, maximization of grade, and encapsulation. If I were them, I would have done the same thing.

 

No crisis at all. Simply business being conducted. No conflict, no dark period, nothing

 

Good day sir. I said good DAY sir

 

 

[ciorac]

Every person who subs wishes for the best grade achievable.

 

Every slab collector targets the best grade affordable.

 

To reach these goals folks would best be served subbing to CGC through CI.

 

Doing so will turn any potential conflict of interest into your higher grade advantage.

 

From the mouth of babes comes such lucidity. Love me some Tupenny

[Speedy-D]

you need to buy some super glue and get a grip.

[Speedy-D]

Every person who subs wishes for the best grade achievable.

 

Every slab collector targets the best grade affordable.

 

To reach these goals folks would best be served subbing to CGC through CI.

 

Doing so will turn any potential conflict of interest into your higher grade advantage.

 

From the mouth of babes comes such lucidity. Love me some Tupenny

Not sure what constitutes a slab collector, but assuming I'm one, I don't get the highest grade I can afford. There are tons of comics I can afford in 9.8 that I get in 8.0, 'cuz the price difference is ridiculous and I don't even like super pristine comics of a certain age.

[blazingbob]

I actually have stopped grading and read some G.I combat's, 75 and 86. My wife caught me last night supposedly "Grading".

 

I have even read some Pre-Code horror lately. I miss setting up next to Ted because if the show was slow I would pull some books off his wall display and start reading them. He was too busy talking anyway to notice