dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 I'm a total newbie; I love reading comics, but I know nothing about value, etc. but I love myself some turtles. I picked up two books from a Canadian comic book store for fun, but am I just being picky in not finding this acceptable? The store assessed NM/NM- grade. It's not a local store, so I couldn't see it before shipping. Comic #1 - TMNT Adventures Vol 2 #1 Are these perforation tears? It's only on a few pages. The reason I am thinking of returning it is this one page has a really thin spot. Am I unreasonable about that? Any guesses about what happened here? it's about the size of a dime. Comic #2 - TMNT Adventures Vol 2 #4, with corners like that this could never be NM graded, right? Any insight would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Can you post some pictures not so zoomed in? It looks bad from the photos but it may be a little out of context. General rule, you gotta be happy with what you paid for. So if it's bothering you and the comic shop takes returns, I think it's reasonable to return it. dhabets and thehumantorch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 9:11 PM, KCOComics said: Can you post some pictures not so zoomed in? It looks bad from the photos but it may be a little out of context. General rule, you gotta be happy with what you paid for. So if it's bothering you and the comic shop takes returns, I think it's reasonable to return it. Agreed, while I appreciate the zoomed in pics a image of the entire front and back cover would add context. Based on what I see they aren't NM KCOComics and dhabets 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theCapraAegagrus Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 Picky, possibly, but not "unreasonable". dhabets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 Picky, definitely The thing is, had they not made a big deal about it being NM (or close to it), then I probably would have been less driven to learn more about the grading and what the differences are (might not be a bad thing either way). Thank you for your insight; let me know if these don't help: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 11:11 PM, KCOComics said: Can you post some pictures not so zoomed in? It looks bad from the photos but it may be a little out of context. General rule, you gotta be happy with what you paid for. So if it's bothering you and the comic shop takes returns, I think it's reasonable to return it. Very true, one comic I picked up elsewhere didn't try to give a grade, it was cheap and yes, it's not perfect, but that wasn't my expectation and I'm happy as can be with that one. In this case, they never addressed anything, but immediately sent me a return label, which I guess is great that they take returns, but I would have appreciated some sort of dialogue, maybe my expectations are wrong and it's not like I'm unwilling to take feedback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 5:06 AM, dhabets said: Very true, one comic I picked up elsewhere didn't try to give a grade, it was cheap and yes, it's not perfect, but that wasn't my expectation and I'm happy as can be with that one. In this case, they never addressed anything, but immediately sent me a return label, which I guess is great that they take returns, but I would have appreciated some sort of dialogue, maybe my expectations are wrong and it's not like I'm unwilling to take feedback They sent you a return shipping label and are giving you a refund. What is there to discuss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 (edited) On 5/31/2023 at 8:16 AM, shadroch said: They sent you a return shipping label and are giving you a refund. What is there to discuss? No refund has been given yet, which is fine. They should get them back first. I'm trying to understand and learn if I'm expecting too much and if this is close to NM grade or if it's not close to NM. I'm not picky about it being a grade lower, but my understanding puts it much lower. It also drives: should I buy from them again, yes or no? I'm trying to answer those questions for myself, and I was hoping someone with more experience could help me set my expectations. Edited May 31, 2023 by dhabets Artifiction 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicginger1789 Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 (edited) So the first picture appears to show the gripper holes (provided they are along the bottom edge of the pages). These are very common from many comics from the 80s through into the early 90s and unless extreme (sometimes there are three in a row ripping holes in multiple page bottoms), they don’t normally affect the grade because it was a printing thing. The second pic it’s hard to see what is going one there so I’m not sure what that is and finally the page corners. Again very common on a lot of books this era where the edges are frayed like that. It might be coming enough (and because the cover corners appear sharp) that CGC might still allow such a thing on a 9.0-9.4 book. Personally I would have allied both books VF+ because of that (and having seen overall images of the books) so you may have a case for the seller overgrading. Again if unhappy, initiate a polite request to return and all should go fine. Edited May 31, 2023 by comicginger1789 dhabets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowGradeBronze Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 (edited) Provided you didnt pay too much you could be OK here. They're not NM that's for sure but they're not low grade either. They're on newsprint so the gripper holes you mention are quite normal, so long as they haven't torn and elongated as well. MyComicShop shows links to eBay items so I see you could buy a #1 in VF for $40 and a NM for around $80 Judge for yourself how good a deal your buy was seeing as it looks around F/VF (7.0) give or take. So maybe $35 worth. You can buy a #4 in VF for $12, but no NM examples listed, but maybe $24 for a NM? Your #4 is roughly VF. If you like them and condition isn't that important compared to what you paid, keep them. If you really like them maybe upgrade at some stage and keep these as reader copies. Edited May 31, 2023 by LowGradeBronze dhabets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 @LowGradeBronze and @comicginger1789 thank you for your feedback; very useful and helps me a ton! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Balls Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 6:12 PM, dhabets said: Comic #2 - TMNT Adventures Vol 2 #4, with corners like that this could never be NM graded, right? Those corners look like bindery tears - which happens when you have lower quality paper and the machine that cuts the comic book during assembly (bindery) pulls on the edges, resulting in the tearing of the paper. It does not look like "mouse chew" or anything like that - mostly because in printing, the paper stock for the inside pages is folded and trimmed separately from the cover (which is made from a different paper stock) and then both are put together and stapled. If it were "mouse chew" or "bug chew" the damage would also be on the cover paper stock. dhabets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JollyComics Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 That is a VERY GOOD N00B question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhabets Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 12:03 PM, Dr. Balls said: Those corners look like bindery tears - which happens when you have lower quality paper and the machine that cuts the comic book during assembly (bindery) pulls on the edges, resulting in the tearing of the paper. It does not look like "mouse chew" or anything like that - mostly because in printing, the paper stock for the inside pages is folded and trimmed separately from the cover (which is made from a different paper stock) and then both are put together and stapled. If it were "mouse chew" or "bug chew" the damage would also be on the cover paper stock. Oh, that's great to know! Thank you. Dr. Balls 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
