CGC Acquires Classics Inc - Response to your Questions

[Dr. Balls]

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

 

That's a huge amount of faith, trust and belief in a company who can't even adhere to their own production timelines for delivering it's current service to it's customers. I think CW sees what a lot of people are seeing with the situation: that "business being conducted" in this instance is one of the things slowly eroding a hobby that is in danger of becoming obsolete in the next 20 years. Only time will tell if this is a "dark day" or not, and when it does - we'll probably never even realize it.

 

"This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper"

[gaz973]

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.

 

Actually it was similar for me, I started buying 9.6 and 9.8 silver and bronze then after deciding that I was wasting my money, I sold my higher grades and bought the same issues in 9.0 or 9.2.

 

Every slab collector does not necessarily target the best grade affordable.

[Foolkiller]

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

 

So... you don't to mess up your own books, you want to read Ted's high end books?

 

Lord. I know what I'm doing at the next show I see you at.

[ciorac]

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

 

That's a huge amount of faith, trust and belief in a company who can't even adhere to their own production timelines for delivering it's current service to it's customers. I think CW sees what a lot of people are seeing with the situation: that "business being conducted" in this instance is one of the things slowly eroding a hobby that is in danger of becoming obsolete in the next 20 years. Only time will tell if this is a "dark day" or not, and when it does - we'll probably never even realize it.

 

"This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper"

 

Faith in what Doc?

[Dr. Balls]

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

 

That's a huge amount of faith, trust and belief in a company who can't even adhere to their own production timelines for delivering it's current service to it's customers. I think CW sees what a lot of people are seeing with the situation: that "business being conducted" in this instance is one of the things slowly eroding a hobby that is in danger of becoming obsolete in the next 20 years. Only time will tell if this is a "dark day" or not, and when it does - we'll probably never even realize it.

 

"This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper"

 

Faith in what Doc?

 

In that CGC's just performing business as usual in this case. I personally think it's a conflict of interest, and that even if it's not - the perception to some hobbyists of this business decision is a detriment to the service they will provide with it.

 

I don't think it's going to kill the hobby single-handedly, or anything like that - but I'm not entirely convinced it's going to help it in the long term. However, I'm open to being wrong about that - time will definitely tell, as well as how many people do or don't embrace it.

[Prince Namor]

High Grade Book... Never been pressed... Hey! Maybe we found an actual use for the CVA sticker!

I can see it now: Old school non-pressers team with CVA to present the NEVER BEEN PRESSED sticker (NBP).

Let the conflict of interest debate begin.

[Davenport]

 

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!

 

Yeah Tell that to the shoulder-high cube of short boxes arranged in the corner, or all the crapp on bookshelves and closet floors.

 

I really can't describe how fortunate and blessed I feel having collected comics through decades I did. But it's a small part of a whole, being a fan of fantasy and wonderment in all its fictional forms.

Rich beyond measure, just not in the way you're thinking.

[comicwiz]

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

 

 

Funny you should be in Toronto while drafting your comment on people's perceptions of this acquisition. Our Mayor just got booted out of office for the very thing you seem to be underplaying in this thread - a conflict of interest. The reason: the Mayor voted on a matter in which he had a personal interest.

 

Bigger picture, it doesn't really matter what I think or say, it's how the public perceives a conflict of interest scenario. This thread includes numerous voices who see a conflict of interest with what CGC is planning with this acquisition.

 

It's not my role as a participant in this discussion to dissuade or persuade either side of the debate on whether this acquisition is a conflict of interest or not - that decision is yours and everyone elses who has either read or commented on this announcement.

 

That said, I do stand firm on my view that the perception issue can and will pose image and reputational harm for hobby certification and this will inevitably mean a trickle down effect on collector confidence in the back-issue comic hobby.

[VintageComics]

I really can't describe how fortunate and blessed I feel having collected comics through decades I did. But it's a small part of a whole, being a fan of fantasy and wonderment in all its fictional forms.

 

That's exactly how I feel. Kid in a candy store...and my son doesn't "get" it.

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

I really can't describe how fortunate and blessed I feel having collected comics through decades I did. But it's a small part of a whole, being a fan of fantasy and wonderment in all its fictional forms.

 

That's exactly how I feel. Kid in a candy store...and my son doesn't "get" it.

 

 

My step-son is the same way. He could care less about comics. But, he may "get it", in his own way - 20 years from now. It might not be comics, but it could be playing a the first Halo on a vintage X-Box console. I think everyone gets nostalgic in their life - the what and how are the variables.

 

I, personally, am ecstatic about collecting comics in this day and age, many thanks to the internet. It's given me a wealth of information, knowledge and ability to get books I only dreamed about having when I was younger.

[Theagenes]

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 think money's to be made in rehydrating brittle pages.

 

[Speedy-D]

I really can't describe how fortunate and blessed I feel having collected comics through decades I did. But it's a small part of a whole, being a fan of fantasy and wonderment in all its fictional forms.

 

That's exactly how I feel. Kid in a candy store...and my son doesn't "get" it.

 

 

My step-son is the same way. He could care less about comics. But, he may "get it", in his own way - 20 years from now. It might not be comics, but it could be playing a the first Halo on a vintage X-Box console. I think everyone gets nostalgic in their life - the what and how are the variables.

 

I, personally, am ecstatic about collecting comics in this day and age, many thanks to the internet. It's given me a wealth of information, knowledge and ability to get books I only dreamed about having when I was younger.

I'm pretty bored with comics. I bet if it weren't for the CGC boards and the people here, I'd be 100% through with my four year return to the hobby. But I don't mind at all, coming here is still good times.

And Carmine Infantino still rules!

[originalisbest]

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

 

Bob!

[originalisbest]

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

 

 

Yep, this!

[Boba]

And Carmine Infantino still rules!

 

Amen to that

[Speedy-D]

And Carmine Infantino still rules!

 

Amen to that

Dude, how did you get your little headbang guy to be in perfect sync with my little headbang guy? We gotta take this act on the road!!

[TupennyConan]

I have kicked this thread's arse up & down Main Street, Comics General.

[MrBedrock]

I have kicked this thread's arse up & down Main Street, Comics General.

And where did that get you?

[Tomega]

More pressing whining. It amuses me.

 

 

This whole thread is hilarious.

 

CGC will be just fine. The hobby will be just fine. CFP will be just fine. The whole pressing debate has been going on for years and there are far more people that just do not care than people who do.

 

You live, you die and the wheels on the bus go around and around.

 

Wasn't there a poll on this board that showed the number of people that don't care was only slightly higher than those that do?

 

It neglected the tens of thousands of people who buy CGC books everyday, just look at eBay - most people do not care or even know about it.

 

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

 

Time to dump all other investments and jump on the gravy train quickly.

 

CGC has graded over 2 million books. There are over 40,000 CGC books on ebay right now, 4000 on Heritage, 6000 on Metro, 7000 on Pedigree and over 20,000 on C-Link. Add that to all the other sellers, dealers, shows etc - how many books do you think are out there for sale? 200,000, 300,000 ? If there are 300,000 books out there ( 15% of all that was graded) and 1 out of 30 of them sell everyday - what number is that ? Granted, they might not all be unique buyers but, before you scoff at the math, eBay alone has sold over 32,000 CGC'd books in the past 30 days.

[TupennyConan]

I have kicked this thread's arse up & down Main Street, Comics General.

And where did that get you?

 

Up & down Main Street, Comics General.