Ink Bleeds Dropping The Grade? 1 1

[comicginger1789]

So I sent in this Marvel Spotlight 32, really thinking it was 9.4-9.6 easily.

It came back 9.0 which is fine but of course, no notes. So I am left to guess. Could the red inks that bled through on the back be the reason? I always thought printing defects were given a pass but I know CGCs modern graders are all over the map these days and might have deducted for this.

[KirbyTown]

It must be something else, you can definitely have it in a 9.8.

...and wait a minute, shouldn't we be asking YOU about this stuff?! 😉

Really though, it's probably just an accumulation of the littles. Would love to see the front and back, congrats!

[steveinthecity]

Could we see the front cover please.

 

[Axe Elf]

Looks like a bit of a bend along the spine and a crunchy corner at the bottom of the spine, unless I'm seeing things.

[comicginger1789]

Here is the book before encapsulation

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

There's no way that the bleed-thru affected grade.

[KirbyTown]

On 8/3/2022 at 5:34 AM, comicginger1789 said:

Here is the book before encapsulation

 

Take the 9.0 and run! 🥳

(spine, edges, corners, fingerprints, stains, tears, cbcz, etc)

Edited August 3, 2022 by KirbyTown

[Qalyar]

Spine ticks, especially (but not only) near the barcode box. That FC LR corner is a mess. Impact creases along the FC top edge. Smudge at BC LL, and possibly at BC UR also.

Honestly, I would have said "8.5/9.0" if this had been posted as a PGM book. The back cover translucency has nothing to do with this grade.

[KirbyTown]

On 8/3/2022 at 9:15 AM, Qalyar said:

8.5/9.0

🥳👍

Edited August 3, 2022 by KirbyTown

[comicginger1789]

Upon reflection I agree. I guess I hyped it up in my mind too much. A lot of the small bends were pressed out. And when I looked back at the video I took, 9.0-9.2 after press was my guess so I my dreams of higher must have manifested during the wait

[KirbyTown]

On 8/3/2022 at 10:35 AM, comicginger1789 said:

Upon reflection I agree. I guess I hyped it up in my mind too much. A lot of the small bends were pressed out. And when I looked back at the video I took, 9.0-9.2 after press was my guess so I my dreams of higher must have manifested during the wait

would you mind taking close-up pics of the slabbed comic at the same problem locations you showed? (bottom spine, edge, and corner mainly)

thanks!

Edited August 3, 2022 by KirbyTown

[comicginger1789]

[KirbyTown]

On 8/3/2022 at 2:43 PM, comicginger1789 said:

 

Thanks for the pics! Good example of how pressing can and can't affect the grade, even with visible improvement. Who did the pressing btw?

[revat]

can the ink bleed prevent a 9.9 or 10.0? or does it literally have zero impact?

[Yorick]

Your "before" pictures seem to show no bleed.  Storage of the book in improper conditions can be the cause of the bleed through and would not be "production" related.  Also, improper pressing might cause bleed-through. 

[djzombi]

On 8/4/2022 at 3:04 PM, Yorick said:

Your "before" pictures seem to show no bleed.  

Very interesting point.  

[Yorick]

On 8/4/2022 at 12:14 PM, djzombi said:

Very interesting point.  

I've seen plenty of paper items that have been subjected to moisture where it weakens the paper enough to cause the inks from one side to shine through.  In 20 years, that might even turn into foxing.

[djzombi]

I never knew this!  I always figured it was due to too much ink during the printing process, or low quality paper being used.  To think that they might not have come off the stands that way, but became that way due to storage conditions and aging is fascinating - especially the link to foxing.  

[Yorick]

On 8/4/2022 at 12:24 PM, djzombi said:

I never knew this!  I always figured it was due to too much ink during the printing process, or low quality paper being used.  To think that they might not have come off the stands that way, but became that way due to storage conditions and aging is fascinating - especially the link to foxing.  

I think the problem is that there are many possible ways for bleed-thru to occur.  How can CGC be certain that it was from production?  They can't, and they have to reduce grade.

[Qalyar]

On 8/4/2022 at 2:04 PM, Yorick said:

Your "before" pictures seem to show no bleed.  Storage of the book in improper conditions can be the cause of the bleed through and would not be "production" related.  Also, improper pressing might cause bleed-through. 

Cover stock of this era is not completely opaque, and a certain amount of translucency is expected. How visible that translucency is depends on lighting and positioning factors. In my experience, slabbing often (but not always) tends to make it more visible, both because the wells place the book under a certain amount of pressure and because the geometry of the slab tends to make the lighting conditions more amenable to the effect.

I definitely don't think this is actual "bleed-through", where ink from the interior cover migrates through the paper to the outer cover. That's rare outside of shenanigans with solvents. I'm sure that the translucency issue can be made worse with bad pressing, but honestly, especially looking at the slabbed BC LR corner image, I think this is just a visual artifact, and nothing unusual at all.

EDIT: As an aside, that cleaned up nicely, which I think guaranteed you the 9.0 out of the 8.5/9.0 book you started with. I suppose there was an outside shot at a 9.2 with this, since the dirt/gunk on the back resolved. But honestly, the color breaks you see in the before shots are still there because pressing isn't magic pixie dust; some of them are just harder to see through the case. I still think this was graded correctly. Looks sharp, though.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Qalyar