Edge of Spider-Verse #5 (2014) 1 1

[Pixarlover273]

I finally got the courage and gloves to take this recent eBay buy out of the bag and take pictures. I was able to catch some pretty standard stuff. (I did a ton of YouTube research, because this is my first comic I want autographed and graded.)

The cover is wavy, typical modern Marvel; the spine is white and doesn't appear to have any ticks to my eye, and there's a crease in the lower right corner. These are the best I could take with my phone. I was worried enough putting it back in the bag let alone to scan it, and I know I don't have a scanner good enough anyway. I apologize in advance.

Edited July 18 by Pixarlover273

[scburdet]

Your pictures are not really good enough to make an accurate grade. See the guidelines at the top of the thread. Seeing as you can buy a 9.8 graded copy of this book for under $125 right now, I would look for better copies since a since a sign/grade is going to set you back somewhere around $75 (at least). You'd be underwater just on grading/signing fees with the slabbed book that graded anything less than 9.6. I don't think this is a 9.6/9.8 candidate.

[Pixarlover273]

On 7/18/2024 at 8:42 PM, scburdet said:

Your pictures are not really good enough to make an accurate grade. See the guidelines at the top of the thread. Seeing as you can buy a 9.8 graded copy of this book for under $125 right now, I would look for better copies since a since a sign/grade is going to set you back somewhere around $75 (at least). You'd be underwater just on grading/signing fees with the slabbed book that graded anything less than 9.6. I don't think this is a 9.6/9.8 candidate.

I know the pictures are , and I kinda figured I'd be in the hole, but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. When I get something autographed, I usually just do JSA at the con. Since this is a comic, not a toy or print, I figured I'd use the CGC authenticator instead. Mostly it's about the experience, not potential money from the grade. I guess I just wanted to show it off and see what people thought. 😞

[scburdet]

Getting a book signed in-person is half the fun. It still might be worth looking for a nicer copy if you want to encapsulate. I don't think there's quite the incentive there used to be to have the witnessed signature since you could get it authenticated at any time at CGC now. You could get it signed and decide later. Just thoughts of someone who's occasionally gotten a book back from CGC that wouldn't have been sent if I'd accurately pre-graded it 

[Pixarlover273]

On 7/18/2024 at 9:39 PM, scburdet said:

I don't think there's quite the incentive there used to be to have the witnessed signature since you could get it authenticated at any time at CGC now. You could get it signed and decide later.

Really? I was told on another board here: "a witness sig, which is a regular yellow label, would be sought after more than a JSA yellow label. Witnessed signature is the regular process for that, JSA is where you have an unwitnessed signature, and they analyze it at CGC and critique whether they 'think it is authentic.' Which mistakes 'can happen.'" That gave me the impression that even if my book wasn't graded "high enough to be worth it," the fact that the signature was witnessed would balance it out, adding enough perceived value on its own. If I needed to sell it at some point in the far future, someone would say, "Sure, it's not a high grade, but at least I know the signature is 1,000% real." Then again, I'm just a noob trying to learn for the next 5 months or so

Edited July 19 by Pixarlover273

[scburdet]

I don't think witnessed vs. not witnessed matters here. Sure, a witness signature is guaranteed authentic, but I suspect most forgeries are of "high value" signatures. I do not subscribe to Stan Lee's signature boosting a book's value by hundreds of dollars (unless he actually wrote the book in question), but some do. Unscrupulous people try to take advantage of that market with raw books. Even some pretty amateur forgers. A highly skilled forger might fool the authenticators. IDK how easy this is. In contrast, someone like Chris Claremont does a lot of signings. Just as one data point, recent sales on ebay have X-Men 101s CGC 9.4s going for basically the same price Universal vs. Signature. It would be kind of silly to try & forge CC's signature as a money making scheme IMO. Just spitballing, but maybe a collector is will to pay 10% more for a witness vs. authenticated signature, a reasonable guess for most creators. If the book sells for under $100 your talking about $10 difference give or take. Not big money.

Everything here should be about what you like/want, unless it's your business. Collecting isn't about profit. I am a collector, so I don't mind "losing" (a little) money in pursuit of building a fun collection. I do hesitate to invest more on a book that I, or whoever inherits my collection, could get reselling it someday. Basically making the threshold for deciding to sign/grade/both whether or not I would break even. I do have a few books that I don't think would turn a profit, but they mean something to me. I read a copy of this one to death as a kid & it was great to have Al sign & sketch this copy. There's nothing special about the comic itself, other than the fact that I like it.

 

[Pixarlover273]

On 7/19/2024 at 11:56 AM, scburdet said:

Everything here should be about what you like/want, unless it's your business. Collecting isn't about profit. I am a collector, so I don't mind "losing" (a little) money in pursuit of building a fun collection. I do hesitate to invest more on a book that I, or whoever inherits my collection, could get reselling it someday. Basically making the threshold for deciding to sign/grade/both whether or not I would break even. I do have a few books that I don't think would turn a profit, but they mean something to me. I read a copy of this one to death as a kid & it was great to have Al sign & sketch this copy. There's nothing special about the comic itself, other than the fact that I like it.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm the same way when it comes to my other collectibles, like action figures and Funko Pops: collect what you like and enjoy experiences; don't do it for money. I guess my being a noob to comics made me buy into the hype of "Witnessed over not." If CGC was really going to be at my con, not just a facilitator, I probably would get it graded, because they don't charge witnessing fees or nickel-and-dime nearly as bad as at least One Stop Comic Shop, my con's facilitator, seems to. In addition to CGC's submission fees, they charge $10 to witness non-celebrities, $20 for celebrities, and they don't explain which is which.

So I bought this book for $28.94 including shipping, and want to have it signed by Kimiko Glenn, the voice of Peni Parker in Into the Spider-Verse. That's another $50. I could go to the JSA booth at the con, where they charge $10 to give your item a sticker with a number and a matching COA, but for some reason, I guess buying into the hype, I was only ever against doing it for the comic. I'm just now realizing how ridiculous that could sound, but I don't know, I think I was against the idea of the sticker distracting from the cover, and not wanting it on the back either. You know CGC's graded cases are really cool looking, and CGC is also the most prestigious. 😅