First 'Grade This' Post

[(un)cooldude]

Hey everyone,

 

After a rather long round of introductions, I've decided (upon being advised) to post a scan up to see what you all thought. Just click on the links to view it. I didn't want to make the thread super-slow to load, as the scans are fairly large in size.

 

Jon Sable: Freelance (front cover) ~800k

 

Jon Sable: Freelance (back cover) ~740k

 

It's from 1982. The slight color shadow you see on the front cover is a result of a super slight roll from being slighty out of stack when it was shipped. I fully expect that to flatten out after a couple of weeks in a good tight storage bag with board. The area that looks bright-white in the back cover shot, is light reflecting of a small crease in that corner.

 

The one thing I note about this comic, is that the interior pages are what I would call 'Off-White', but I also remember buying one of these brand new (that's still in my collection), and they weren't exactly stark white to begin with.

 

Regardless, have a look and let me know what you think?

[FFB]

The links aren't working for me.

[nik]

Same here

[Old_Skool]

 

Hey bro,glad you stuck around. I`m getting a "not found" error msg when I click on the links.

[(un)cooldude]

Gah!

 

Sorry guys...I forgot an 's' in the URL. It's all fixed up now!

[(un)cooldude]

Now, just to confuse you all royally, have a look at this cover as well, and give me your thoughts about the 'scuffs' on it. You kind of have to look carefully for them, as they look like little 'bits' of color missing in the scan. I don't know if it was shipping related, or what, but they're much more visible in person.

 

The Walking Dead (signed cover) ~550k

 

Of course, that kind of sucks when you consider it's a signed edition, but honestly, I picked it up in my quest to complete my run. While I'm on the subject of signatures, if you were getting books signed today, would it be better to have them done on the first inner page, the inside of the front cover, or the cover itself? That's something I've been curious about.

[Old_Skool]

 

 

From what I gather the sig is better off being in a non obtrusive spot like the margins,etc.I`ve heard that cgc will notate a sig but will not authenticate or validate it(even if you send in a COA along with comic).Sometimes CGC has authorized signing sessions in which they arrange the personality that will sign and what book and also have a company witness on hand.Then they will validate the sig. as genuine. If the sig. is across the cover you may get a green(qualified) label which states what the book`s grade would be if it did`nt have the sig present. I guess a lot of it will be personal choice.

 

On that scan....not sure how that gang of color flecks(?) got all across that book but otherwise I would say it was a 9.4 or thereabouts. The scuffing will definately knock her down to...?

[(un)cooldude]

Thanks for the input Mule,

 

I had read the requirements for CGC 'Authenticated' signatures a while back, and I know they state that unless the comic is signed & graded immediately thereafter (all having to be witnessed by a CGC employee of course), a comic will not qualify for their 'Signature Series' label. I wasn't 100% sure what their take was on signed comics that aren't verified, but I was kind of curious.

 

Granted, I wouldn't consider sending in that particular comic, because a) it's my only #1 issue in that series, and I'd like to be able to read it, and b) because of that 'scuffing' damage on the cover I was trying to show. I've seen damage like that on another issue in my series, and I know it's got to either be a printing defect, or some kind of packing problem, because I saw this other particular issue come out of the box.

 

On the whole, I guess I'm just curious to know where other collectors tend to prefer to have their comics signed. Pretty much any of the comics I have that are signed, have the signature on the front cover. Some of those I may consider getting professionally graded and sealed, but only because I have other 'reading' copies. However, CGC's whole stance on the signature issue leaves me a bit tepid about doing that.

 

So guys? Where do you generally get your comics signed on the book?

 

Something tells me I should have started another thread on this maybe...heh...

[Old_Skool]

 

I think a lot of it will come down to what is more important to you.The comic or the signature of the particular person signing it.If I am a huge fan of some artist I would have him sign boldly across the front cover,since that is what I am going to showing off. "Hey,look who I met...blah blah" I used to have a buddy that went to lots of shows/signings and he would always buy multiples of a certain book if he knew he was going to a show.

 

I`ve read on here that CGC will still issue a blue label if the sig. is in an unimportant part of the book(margin,etc.).I`ve never done it though.

 

With modern books I say get `em signed if you can!

[divad]

Nice book, that crunch to the URBC is unfortunate. The slight spine roll probably won't press out, unless were talking about 50 pounds for ten years perhaps it may be worth close to it's cover price by then.

 

No higher than a 7.5 ( a crunch is a crunch is a crunch)

[divad]

Interesting, again the color flecks (scuffs) are unfortunate. They almost look like tape pulls . . . but are probably stack/shipping/handling related, and not production related.

 

But still, a signed copy of a #1 issue 9.0

[garthgantu]

I'd go 8.5 - 9.0 on the first book posted. The 'crunch' is significant. If it impacts most/all of the pages of the book, I'd drop my estimate to 8.0.

 

If not for that defect, I'd say it's a 9.6 !

[blutobc]

9.0 max grade

[(un)cooldude]

Thanks to everyone thus far for their opinions on the comics!

 

divadrabnud: The funny thing about the Jon Sable: Freelance #1, is that I have 7 more! I recently bought a lot of 5 'mint' copies of #1....for a penny!

 

At that price, I was really curious to see what someone thought a 'mint' was. I've got other copies with pretty much dead-flat spines, with some different defects, but I thought this one had the best front cover. I may scan another one that has a better spine and no 'crunches' on it, and see what you think of that one. Since this is my most-loved series in my comic-collecting career, I'd really like to send one #1 in for 'archival slabbing'.

 

So, as you can imagine, I'd like to send in the one that has be best chance of coming back with the highest grade. What I may do, is scan all of 'em, and let you all see them, and decide which you think might be best. Honestly, the pages in all of them are about the same in quality, so we're really just down to covers.

 

The 'Walking Dead' issue that I scanned wasn't damaged by tape pulls as far as I can see...the pattern is just too consistent in the way they go across the book, and you can't feel them at all. It's almost like an ink smudge in nature. Really, the best feature about that book is that I bought is for a dollar over cover! That alone makes me smile everytime I look at it, seeing what they go for on eBay at times!

 

I'm still on the hunt for another copy of #1 though, as I've got 2 almost complete runs of that series...sans the missing #1 I need. I refuse to pay a stupidly inflated price for it though, as we all know how fast the 'hot' fad blows over.