Easy way to remove pencil mark from cover? 1 1

[Adulwulf]

I have a World's Finest #156, first appearance of Bizarro Batman, that I think can get a 6.5 or 7.0. But, there is pencil writing on the cover on top of the yellow ink in the "W" of the word "World's". Is there a way to remove the pencil without removing ink from the cover? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[LowGradeBronze]

It's an arrival date from a newsstand. Leave it as is, since it's part of the comic's history and wont affect grade. If you remove it you'll still have the indent from the pencil plus the likely rub marks left by attempting its removal and you'll be left wishing you'd left well alone and maybe start to dislike this particular comic. Right now it's original including evidence of its distribution history. Arrival dates in grease or other pencil become part of the comic and should in all cases be left alone. 

Whatever the grade would be, it will be less once cgc see that someone has been meddling with the book! 

Edited September 1 by LowGradeBronze

[Adulwulf]

On 9/1/2024 at 10:29 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

It's an arrival date from a newsstand. Leave it as is, since it's part of the comic's history and wont affect grade. If you remove it you'll still have the indent from the pencil plus the likely rub marks left by attempting its removal and you'll be left wishing you'd left well alone and maybe start to dislike this particular comic. Right now it's original including evidence of its distribution history. Arrival dates in grease or other pencil become part of the comic and should in all cases be left alone. 

Whatever the grade would be, it will be less once cgc see that someone has been meddling with the book! 

Thank you. I did not know about newsstands writing the date on the cover. That is good to know because I have another comic, Detective Comics #375, that has the same thing very small but in pen. Knowing some of this history is great knowledge. Thank you again for sharing. I'm glad I asked before trying to do anything.

[joeypost]

The writing is in a colored area. Any attempt to remove it will take some of the background color, which will drop the grade. 

[marvelmaniac]

Arrival Date - The date written or stamped on the cover of comics by either the local wholesaler or the retailer. The date precedes the cover date by approximately 15 to 75 days and may vary considerably from one locale to another, or from one year to another.

NM- 9.2 to NM/MT 9.8 - Small, inconspicuous, lightly penciled, stamped or inked arrival dates are acceptable as long as they are in an unobtrusive location. 

VF/NM 9.0 -  Several lightly penciled, stamped or inked arrival dates are acceptable.

VG/FN 5.0 to VF 8.0 - Stamped or inked arrival dates may be present.

VG 4.0 - Store stamps, name stamps, arrival dates, initials, etc. have no effect on this grade.