Totally Shameless (but true) Suck-up Post

[HooDeeDoo]

Lost in all the keening, carping and caterwauling that cacophonously cascades whenever a new CGC "controversy" crops up is the fact that Steven Borock and the Supremes are doing an amazing job.

 

IMHO, there are three seminal events that have forever altered the hobby:

 

1. The Overstreet Guide.

2. The discovery of the Edgar Church collection

3. CGC

 

CGC could have been a train wreck - easily. However, it's now the gold standard for the hobby, and it's going to outlive us all. Although many people are responsible for CGC's success, the lion's share of credit goes to The Borockinator. I've witnessed Steve at shows taking withering abuse from insufficiently_thoughtful_persons who thought their sorry Spidey #14 (or whatever) was REALLY an 8.0 and not the 6.5 it was given. The Borockinator was always a gentleman when the offended party really deserved to have his arm ripped off and then be clubbed to death with it.

 

Is CGC perfect? No - and it never will be. So get over it. However, as a collector, I feel lucky to have Steven Borock and the Supremes at the helm of GCC.

[aardvark88]

Now Borock needs to run out & update his business card as Defender of Liberty like Chuck has.

[dam60]

I've witnessed Steve at shows taking withering abuse from insufficiently_thoughtful_persons who thought their sorry Spidey #14 (or whatever) was REALLY an 8.0 and not the 6.5 it was given. The Borockinator was always a gentleman when the offended party really deserved to have his arm ripped off and then be clubbed to death with it.

 

Steve really is a great guy and deserves his share of credit. I met him first at a NYC church show and then had the opportunity to partake in the first ever forum dinner at Philly (which was simply awesome) and now through the Philanthropy gig, I have worked closely with Steve.

 

Unearthly patient, approachable and easy to talk to, unbiased with his advice, and a true fan boy. Honest and trustworthy, he gets the DAM60 forum approval!

[drbanner]

I've witnessed Steve at shows taking withering abuse from insufficiently_thoughtful_persons who thought their sorry Spidey #14 (or whatever) was REALLY an 8.0 and not the 6.5 it was given.

 

Yep, after protecting buyers against overgraded books (and fraud in the form of undisclosed resto), the biggest benefit of CGC is that people now can see what accurately graded books look like. The existence of thousands of books with BIG GRADES on the labels (as opposed to simply BIG PRICES) will help educate newcomers to the hobby as to what G's, F's, VF's, NM's, etc.,. look like. (Commentary on the absence of alpha grades notwithstanding.)

[Rickdogg]

So true. Steve is a great guy and truly cares about the hobby. If any of you guys ever meet anyone from the CGC staff, you can see that they truly love comics to the core.

[500Club]

[musicmeta]

I look forward to meeting Steve B. when he comes down to Dallas in November.

[mr_highgrade]

Steve is a class act. Nuff Said!

[FlyingDonut]

Steve is a class act. Nuff Said!

 

Well, I think Steve is a heartless money-grubbing weasel who is only out to RUIN the hobby by bringing in Speculator Money and is part of a vast conspiracy run by CGC, Metropolis Comics, Tom Brulato, Pacific Coast Exchange, Heritage Comics, Chuck Rozanski, the Illuminati and the Freemasons to artificially pump up the value of essentially worthless comics. He's also sitting on a giant stack of Hulk 181s fresh from the factory that have been in a giant box since 1974, and is slowly grading them, selling the 9.8s and 9.9s to fuel his ever growing empire.

 

Damn that Steve Borock! Damn him all to hell! And that Haspel fellow too. And, come to think of it, that Litch guy. The whole bunch of them. Except Gemma.

 

[ArAich]

Steve is a class act. Nuff Said!

 

Well, I think Steve is a heartless money-grubbing weasel who is only out to RUIN the hobby by bringing in Speculator Money and is part of a vast conspiracy run by CGC, Metropolis Comics, Tom Brulato, Pacific Coast Exchange, Heritage Comics, Chuck Rozanski, the Illuminati and the Freemasons to artificially pump up the value of essentially worthless comics. He's also sitting on a giant stack of Hulk 181s fresh from the factory that have been in a giant box since 1974, and is slowly grading them, selling the 9.8s and 9.9s to fuel his ever growing empire.

 

Damn that Steve Borock! Damn him all to hell! And that Haspel fellow too. And, come to think of it, that Litch guy. The whole bunch of them. Except Gemma.

 

My feelings exactly...it's a vast bi-partisan conspiracy...

 

Actually...Steve...I have never met ya (heck I still have yet to call ya about the pedigree thing) but it's not hard to see that you are a credit to this hobby...and so is that Haspel fellow, and come to think of it, that Litch guy...

The jury is still out on Gemma...although she has very nice phone etiquette...

[Lantern]

the Illuminati

 

[Foolkiller]

Steve is an extremely knowledgeable and passionate fan of comics. Also, he's an incredibly nice guy. I had met him through Mark Haspel when CGC first formed and later at the Philly comic show. He couldn't have been nicer to basically a complete stranger. Also, Mark is a great guy who knows about as much about comics as anyone I've ever met. Kudos to the whole CGC team... i agree, they've done a world of good for the hobby.

[PovertyRow]

However, it's now the gold standard for the hobby, and it's going to outlive us all.

 

I'm not sure I understand what that means. Can you elaborate?

[HooDeeDoo]

However, it's now the gold standard for the hobby, and it's going to outlive us all.

 

I'm not sure I understand what that means. Can you elaborate?

 

"Gold Standard": no matter how many grading services pop up like mushrooms in a dank forest, CGC will be the leader and the one all others are compared to.

 

"It's going to outlive us all": it's here to stay and will still be around even after we've all bought the farm.

[valiantman]

IMHO, there are three seminal events that have forever altered the hobby:

 

1. The Overstreet Guide.

2. The discovery of the Edgar Church collection

3. CGC

Good list... but I think history will actually say:

 

3a. eBay

3b. CGC

 

Those two combined make the hobby totally different than it was even 5 years ago...

eBay did wonders for collectors... but without CGC, we'd be spending a LOT more

money on return mail for overgraded books.

(Not to mention the restoration cover-ups that would still be happening regularly...)

[joe_collector]

Personally, I think EBay has had a much greater impact on comic collecting than CGC.

[valiantman]

Personally, I think EBay has had a much greater impact on comic collecting than CGC.

It's hard to argue with that, since only a small fraction of the comics on eBay today

are CGC'd books... but when it comes to the "key issues", there's definitely

been a revolution for both the buyer and the seller... price-wise and trust-wise due

to CGC. And those books don't necessarily trade hands on eBay...

but the impact is obvious no matter what site/location they're sold through.

[HooDeeDoo]

Personally, I think EBay has had a much greater impact on comic collecting than CGC.

 

eBay impacted the market - it didn't impact the hobby itself.

[joe_collector]

eBay impacted the market - it didn't impact the hobby itself.

 

Speak for yourself. Comic shows and stores had pretty well dried up around here after the Big Crash of the 90's, and since the few stores I frequented had the same stock week after week, I was pretty well out for back issue buying.

 

Then when EBay came online and comic books really started appearing in real numbers, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. If not for EBay, I wouldn't be buying comics right now, and I know there are many others just like me.

 

If you don't think the HOBBY would be much, much smaller without EBay, then you're the only one. That's a huge IMPACT in my book.

[valiantman]

eBay impacted the market - it didn't impact the hobby itself.

There's probably a thin line there... I'd say it's an impact on the hobby

to be able to complete collections (and start new ones) much more easily

due to the variety and quantities available on eBay... regardless of the market price.

 

In principal, this has always been possible with mail order and catalogues,

but in practice... eBay has definitely impacted the hobby for "comic availability",

many times over compared to pre-eBay options.

 

(Whoops! Looks like Joe beat me to the punch... not that anyone ever beats dead horses around here.)