Journey into Mystery staple issue...

[october]

I just got a Journey into Mystery 114 in, and it looks like the cover and the interior have been married together from two separate books. The cover only has two staples through it, but four staples can be seen on the inside along the interior spine, as well as at the centerfold. I figure this means the book has been married to a loose cover, but I wanted to double check to make sure this wasn't some bizarre production defect that people had seen on other JiM issues. Thanks in advance.

 

Andy

[ComicBookGuy]

Andy, I'm not an expert on this, but I have seen comics where there are staples stapling (can't think of a better verb! ) the pages together and then another set of staples stapling the cover to the pages in the way we normally see. That makes 4 staples, yet the one set does not pierce the cover, nor is there a set of holes to show that the inside set ever went through the cover. This could well be what is meant as a married cover. I have seen it on non-JIM comics but by no means is it the norm for JIM's, and I should know since I have the whole run of JIM with Thor. Hope this helps.

Joe

[october]

It does help. Thanks for the reply. The cover is not set even remotely right either, as there is a large overhang on the top and bottom, but the right edge is shorter than the interior edge. Here is a scan. The top right corner indicated how poorly the cover and interior line up. It's really too bad, because this is a pretty sharp copy otherwise. Would have been a great deal for price.

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Definitely looks like an "after printing" job cause of the misalignment of pages and cover, but it also looks like there are no staple holes for the other set of staples. At least I can't see them from the scan. This seems to imply to me that this is a cover proof that was stapled onto a comic whose cover had been removed. Every once in a while these cover proofs appear on eBay, and I'm sure restorers are the ones buying them. Again, I'm no expert; this is just speculation on my part.

Joe

[goldust40]

The way the book is cut screams "married" at you, no question. You rarely get that much overhang at the bottom, and the top overhang is simply too high. The only alternative explanation would be interior page trim, but I'll go with the former.

 

Who was the seller, dare i ask??

[october]

Definitely looks like an "after printing" job cause of the misalignment of pages and cover, but it also looks like there are no staple holes for the other set of staples. At least I can't see them from the scan. This seems to imply to me that this is a cover proof that was stapled onto a comic whose cover had been removed. Every once in a while these cover proofs appear on eBay, and I'm sure restorers are the ones buying them. Again, I'm no expert; this is just speculation on my part.

Joe

 

There aren't any empty staple holes on the cover itself. The other set end at the last interior wrap.

[Moondog]

Andy:

 

I've seen this many times. When the cover is being stapled and trimmed, the cover doesn't feed along with the pages properly and misses the first stapling attempt. The second is successful and you end up with a book with 2 normal exterior staples and 4 interior staples.

 

I don't believe CGC considers this a defect since it doesn't detract from the appearance and was a part of the original printing process.

 

--Gary

[october]

Andy:

 

I've seen this many times. When the cover is being stapled and trimmed, the cover doesn't feed along with the pages properly and misses the first stapling attempt. The second is successful and you end up with a book with 2 normal exterior staples and 4 interior staples.

 

I don't believe CGC considers this a defect since it doesn't detract from the appearance and was a part of the original printing process.

 

--Gary

 

Hey Gary. Would that account for the severe miscut as well? Not only does this book have four staples, but the cover has an overhang on the top and bottom, and an underhang on the right edge. The whole book is pretty messed up. If it was married, how would I be able to tell?

[october]

I just noticed that the two sets of staples look different as well. One set is shinier than the other. Unless that's normal, I would say this book was definitely married.

[tth2]

I just noticed that the two sets of staples look different as well. One set is shinier than the other. Unless that's normal, I would say this book was definitely married.

With this many doubts, just ditch it and get your money back. Regardless of what is said here, if you keep it you will always have a question in your mind and look at the book as possibly tainted.

[Stronguy]

No it's not a frankenbook for sure. Dice told us last year that some books at the end of the print run get assembled without covers and stapled together. Then the publisher will take loose, left over covers and manually staple them on. This was fairly common on Silver Age books. I have an X-Men 94 and a couple of other books that is similar to this.

[october]

No it's not a frankenbook for sure. Dice told us last year that some books at the end of the print run get assembled without covers and stapled together. Then the publisher will take loose, left over covers and manually staple them on. This was fairly common on Silver Age books. I have an X-Men 94 and a couple of other books that is similar to this.

 

So it was stapled together by the manufacturer? Would this be a PLOD then, or is it seen as a production defect? Very interesting, I had no idea that happened.

[VintageComics]

No it's not a frankenbook for sure. Dice told us last year that some books at the end of the print run get assembled without covers and stapled together. Then the publisher will take loose, left over covers and manually staple them on. This was fairly common on Silver Age books. I have an X-Men 94 and a couple of other books that is similar to this.

 

So it was stapled together by the manufacturer? Would this be a PLOD then, or is it seen as a production defect? Very interesting, I had no idea that happened.

If i remember correctly my DD #161 has this phenom...i was upset when i opened it up after i got home from the LCS, but i guess it is a prod. defect.

[Jayman]

Andy, there is more info in this thread here

[october]

Andy, there is more info in this thread here

 

Thanks Jay. I had no idea about this phenomenon. I guess you learn something new every day. I already asked the seller for a refund, but I am thinking now that I will keep it. Without the weird errors, the book is a 7.0/7.5 and I only paid $14 for it, so WTF. I guess I will hang on to it. It does have nice colors and gloss.

[october]

The way the book is cut screams "married" at you, no question. You rarely get that much overhang at the bottom, and the top overhang is simply too high. The only alternative explanation would be interior page trim, but I'll go with the former.

 

Who was the seller, dare i ask??

 

Here is the auction link, but don't judge the guy too harshly since:

 

1. I HIGHLY doubt he even noticed the defect, let alone did it himself and

 

2. it looks likely that this is a production type defect.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...me=STRK:MEWN:IT

[Aces]

Andy, there is more info in this thread here

 

Thanks Jay. I had no idea about this phenomenon. I guess you learn something new every day. I already asked the seller for a refund, but I am thinking now that I will keep it. Without the weird errors, the book is a 7.0/7.5 and I only paid $14 for it, so WTF. I guess I will hang on to it. It does have nice colors and gloss.

 

I'll give ya $17.50 for it.

[october]

Andy, there is more info in this thread here

 

Thanks Jay. I had no idea about this phenomenon. I guess you learn something new every day. I already asked the seller for a refund, but I am thinking now that I will keep it. Without the weird errors, the book is a 7.0/7.5 and I only paid $14 for it, so WTF. I guess I will hang on to it. It does have nice colors and gloss.

 

I'll give ya $17.50 for it.

 

I might buy another, so if I do, you can have this one for the $17.50.

[Aman619]

the well worn overhang suggest to me that this came off the production line stapled twice (four total). If this book were "married", it would have resided neatly in a mylar since the job was done, and hence, never had occasion to suffer overhang damage. Th eonly way a restapled/married book would NOT have gone straight to a mylar for resale would be if this were an amatuer job of restapling, and this was far too clean a job for som ekid to have done.....

[Moondog]

Guys that marry books wouldn't leave the overhang - I think this is a binding production error.

 

It is weird though.