Shock horror! When you bought a book and discovered an unexpected defect 4 4

[MattrixAlien]

Share an experience, including photos, of a comic you thought was ok, but when you took a closer look there was a nasty defect.

Here's my example. On the weekend I went to a closing down sale of a store over here in Brisbane, Australia. The shop was packed with people. As a Jim Lee fan I was happy to find an Alpha Flight 51, Jim Lee's 1st art for Marvel, while digging through the bins. It looked solid and for $4 I didn't bother pulling it out of the bag & board to inspect it.



When I got it home I found this on the back cover.



It looks a combined mould food stain. A shock twist 

 

Edited July 14 by MattrixAlien
Photo appeared twice and remove redundant spacing

[Domo Arigato]

I don't think that's fudge. 

 

[grendelbo]

I bought this as a kid in the late '80s and got it home and discovered some tape repair and missing pieces. 

[KirbyJack]

I bought this in the late eighties, and I was not counting pages in those days. Years later, it occurred to me that I had quite a few decent, raw FFs that I had not verified to be complete. I checked everything, and thankfully, this was the only incomplete book: it’s absent an easy-to-miss, non-story page. I managed to find a page to marry in!

[Ken Aldred]

Only memorable one for me is an issue of Marvel Presents featuring the GOTG, which had a hole created by a large insect inside it. Dead by the time I opened the book, not that that made it much better.  

Edited July 15 by Ken Aldred

[KirbyJack]

On 7/14/2024 at 5:47 PM, grendelbo said:

I bought this as a kid in the late '80s and got it home and discovered some tape repair and missing pieces. 

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that the staples are not original. A more advanced eye will pick up on some subtle creasing. 

[ADAMANTIUM]

Depending on your point of view it could be shared as a positive, as it it now a reader copy of the 2nd Rocketeer. None of the Dave Stevens pages are missing! 

 

Bought for $3.99 in decent vf shape, but now since I found the cut out I just leave it near my desk to read and peruse

Edited July 15 by ADAMANTIUM

[KirbyJack]

I once bought an ASM 20 that looked magnificent, and was priced accordingly. I got it to my car before I even opened it, only to discover the worst rust-rot I’ve ever seen. The dealer refunded my money, and we both felt like abject simpletons. 

Edited July 15 by KirbyJack

[aszumilo]

Bought a Giant Size X-Men for $100.  Got home and when I looked at it, the top left corner of the back cover was missing, about a 1inch triangle shape.

[goldust40]

Bought a copy of an early Avengers for a decent price on eBay many years ago - it looked sharp, despite the below par scans. So I recklessly pulled the trigger, as you do.

Book arrives, and I inspect it. Turns out that someone had colored in every single superhero costume on every interior page - it wasn't possible to spot from the scans as it was very well done (although you wonder why the person bothered to do it). 

Sent the book back but the seller refused to pay for all the shipping, so I was down $50 on the tranasaction. No apologies or mea culpas from him for missing the glaring defects. Ah, eBay.

[jimbo_7071]

I bought Fight #21 raw from Worldwide in 2013 as a VF/VF+. I didn't even make an offer; I just paid the asking price of $450 in order to eliminate the (low) risk of anyone else buying it.  It looked nice in the scans; it even looked nice in the Mylar. I didn't take it out of the Mylar until I was getting ready to send it to CGC several months later. I found that it had a full-length subscription crease that doesn't break color that was not disclosed. It did not come back as an 8.0 or 8.5.

Spoiler

 

Edited July 15 by jimbo_7071

[Jayman]

I got a copy of this book recently that I’ve always wanted.

Imagine my shock of finding writing on the inside cover! 

[Ken Aldred]

On 7/15/2024 at 1:18 PM, Jayman said:

I got a copy of this book recently that I’ve always wanted.

Imagine my shock of finding writing on the inside cover! 

That’s nice.

[Sauce Dog]

Yup, just recently I bought from Asheville Comics (@ashevillecomics on instagram, or CollectingEverything / gotta.loveit on ebay) before I was aware they were actually known scammers Hotshotcomics. I bought it from em on Instagram, and I even asked about the condition before hand to confirm (and confirm there was no restoration as well).

Advertised as 1.0 complete, with the main defects being the cover and centrefold detached. Unfortunately when it arrived I found MANY panels cut out of the pages - impossible to miss if you were even just casually flipping through the pages. No way was this ever 'complete' and absolutely no way did they actually inspect every page.

When I showed em a video of the damage (willing to work with them on a partial refund) they accused me of switching the book and trying to extort/scam them - then they blocked me. Still waiting for my CC to investigate and refund me.

 

Link to full post on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/C2NsPJXubvC/

Edited July 15 by Sauce Dog

[Ken Aldred]

On 7/15/2024 at 3:13 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Yup, just recently I bought from Asheville Comics (@ashevillecomics on instagram, or CollectingEverything / gotta.loveit on ebay) before I was aware they were actually known scammers Hotshotcomics. I bought it from em on Instagram, and I even asked about the condition before hand to confirm (and confirm there was no restoration as well).

Advertised as 1.0 complete, with the main defects being the cover and centrefold detached. Unfortunately when it arrived I found MANY panels cut out of the pages - impossible to miss if you were even just casually flipping through the pages. No way was this ever 'complete' and absolutely no way did they actually inspect every page.

When I showed em a video of the damage (willing to work with them on a partial refund) they accused me of switching the book and trying to extort/scam them - then they blocked me. Still waiting for my CC to investigate and refund me.

 

Link to full post on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/C2NsPJXubvC/

That’s ridiculous.

[Robot Man]

Got this with “very minor water damage”.  Graded good. Looked very presentable in the picture. From a well known dealer. Back it went.

[MAY1979]

On 7/14/2024 at 6:30 PM, MattrixAlien said:

Share an experience, including photos, of a comic you thought was ok, but when you took a closer look there was a nasty defect.

Here's my example. On the weekend I went to a closing down sale of a store over here in Brisbane, Australia. The shop was packed with people. As a Jim Lee fan I was happy to find an Alpha Flight 51, Jim Lee's 1st art for Marvel, while digging through the bins. It looked solid and for $4 I didn't bother pulling it out of the bag & board to inspect it.



When I got it home I found this on the back cover.



It looks a combined mould food stain. A shock twist 

 

I feel your pain. We've all had it happen

[MAY1979]

On 7/15/2024 at 8:18 AM, Jayman said:

I got a copy of this book recently that I’ve always wanted.

Imagine my shock of finding writing on the inside cover! 

Very nice!  

When I was a child the grizzled proprietor of my local newsstand added a copy for free to books I was purchasing. He said "thanks for being a regular, take it on the side".  He probably also knew 1.50 was way out of my league.

 

[dbcn]

Me and my trigger finger thought we were getting a steal on a mid-grade+ ASM 194 off of ebay - looked good in the pictures and didn't give it a second thought to sending it in for a signing... aaand...:

 

Lesson learned. I now ask the seller about restoration before buying.

[GawkHawk]

This is a purchase from around the mid-80s, so it predated the book in question's current worth and desireability.  It also predated CGC and how defects are graded.  But I bought a mid-grade Incredible Hulk 181 missing the MVS.  At the time, I probably didn't even care that much, as I said the book hadn't reached it's current collectibilty and I was glad to fill a hole in run.  I don't know that I'll ever try to find a complete copy at this point.