Captain Britain #1 Mask 0

[manetteska]

Captain Britain #1 Mask

Picked this up recently and checked quickly to see if the mask was inside.

It is, but it is stuck to the interior pages. If I attempt to pry them apart, the pages will rip. I was trying to determine if the mask was attached with adhesive or if this is the old rubberband now stuck to the pages. There is residue bleed-through to the opposite side of the mask pages.

Also wondering how CGC would grade this (Blue, Green, Blue with deduction) if I sent in as-is.

 

 

[Tony S]

CGC does not slab "loose" items. If items like masks or trading cards are attached inside the comic, they are encapsulated. You can find CGC graded copies of your book for sale on eBay with the notation the mask is included. Universal blue label unless there is some other issue

[manetteska]

12 hours ago, Tony S said:

CGC does not slab "loose" items. If items like masks or trading cards are attached inside the comic, they are encapsulated. You can find CGC graded copies of your book for sale on eBay with the notation the mask is included. Universal blue label unless there is some other issue

This older thread is what has me questioning such things: 

The submitter never really replied to say if his mask was attached or not; others chimed in saying they had a loose mask and just thew it in for submitting. And a UK member said the masks were never attached.

And lastly, assuming the mask should be attached, is there any downgrade for being attached too "strong"?

[Tony S]

 If just thrown in loose, what would keep the mask from just falling out at the printers, at the newstand? The mask was attached with a little bit of adhesive that was supposed to easily come loose. The belief that the mask was loose is probably based on the fact that many may have come loose from the adhesive over the years. 

Being attached "too strong" is only going to be a problem if something was done to it AFTER printed. So if there were collectors that were gluing the masks back inside the book with some Elmer's glue or whatever - that could be a problem.  If CGC believes the book has (only) glue added, it should  get a conserved grade. 

Quality control on the printing of comic books until the last 25 years or so was just kind of a vague ideal.  Comic books printed in the mid 70's IMHO had some of the worst quality control. Publishers were struggling with rising paper and printing costs and sales were slumping. So it would come as no surprise to me that the Captain Britain mask was SUPPOSED to be attached with a little bit of adhesive - but some got a lot and some got little to none. 

The general rule is that printing defects have much less of an impact on grade (often times none) than defects that occur from handling and storage after sold. So if your copy got  a glob of adhesive instead of a dab at the printers, it will likely have no effect at all on the grade.  

Edited May 30, 2017 by Tony S

[koollectablz]

Sorry that is incorrect.  The mask was thrown in loose, and yes it did fall out on the shelf at the newsagent.  How do i know?  Because I bought one myself and picked up a few extra masks that had got left behind on the shelf.

Hey! I was a kid ok?!!!

Plenty of UK comics had free gifts that are were not in anyway attached to the actual comic, stickers and transfers mostly, it was always a bit of a shoot as to whether you managed to get a copy that had the gift if you had to rely on your parents to pick up the issue.

This issue is most likely the rubber band perishing and adhering to the paper.  You should be able to pry it apart with the end of a teaspoon or whatnot.

[manetteska]

I'm pretty sure I cannot pry the mask out without tearing off portions the attached pages. Or ripping through them entirely.

In terms of resale -- not necessarily slabbing, but sure -- best to leave it as-is or go for it?

[Still Only 35c]

Following up on this, the mask (and other subsequent free gifts in the series) was loose in the book. This book with the mask embedded in manufacturing seems like an outlier.

[ComicVein]

The comic came with the black adhesive or it turned black with time. Mine still had some of it on but the mask was not stuck on the page. I would leave the way it is and not try and pull it. Just get it CGC'd if that's what you want.