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Entries in this journal

Let's stop the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (and maybe MARVEL) VARIANT MADNESS

Have all become Variant slaves? Hello to everybody!   I decided to post about what I call the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VARIANT MADNESS. We have been seeing variants over variants of the same issues in the last few years... and I wonder: DO WE NEED THEM? 1. I HATE THIS HABIT OF ARTIFICIALLY MAKING A VARIANT BOOK "RARE" JUST BECAUSE IT COMES OUT AT A 1:50 RATIO 2. DO ALL THESE SO CALLED "NEW ARTISTS" DESERVE TO DRAW AN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN COVER? I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT AN AS COVER SHOULD BE
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A SOLUTION TO IMPROVE CGC TURNAROUND TIMES...

Why not suspending the submissions of post year 2000 books at least until the company can guarantee more reasonable turnaroud times? I wonder if CGC is trying to find a solution to improve the turnaround times.... Nowdays the VALUE and ECONOMY TIER turnaround is 100 working days (!!!!), the MODERN TIER is 45 days (!!!) instead of the forecasted 20 days... I have 103 books sitting at CGC facility.... Date No. of Comic Status 03/30/2012 28 Verified 03/30/2012 30 Verified 06/05/201
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 6 : 112 books just graded!

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 6 : 112 books just graded! Hello to everybody! CGC just finished grading my 112 books....let's compare their grades with my forecasts! MANY MONTHS AGO I submitted 112 MODERN books to CGC...they were received between 8/8 to 8/12 2011...and it took 2 MONTHS to switch from verified to graded status...As soon as I receive them I will add them to my numerous registry sets. Hey CGC...hire more graders please! Most of these come from my personal collecti
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SPIDER-MAN 1, DAREDEVIL 1, THOR 1 italian versions just came back from CGC

Are you curious to see some rare vintage italian Marvel variants? PLUS.... get some free vintage Marvel italian books if you join the competition....Hello fellow collectors...Probably few of you are aware that Italy is probably the 3rd/4th largest comic books market in the world...Still today i.e. Mickey Mouse (Topolino) sells 700.000 copies per week(!).99% of the comics sold in the country are italian editions and are very different from their american counterparts.For what concerns Marvel co
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 4

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 4 In march I sent to CGC 30 books...They received them on the 16th of March, and in almost exactly 40 working days (12th of may 2011) they were finally graded. Most were modern plus a bunch of Eternals (I want to build a set in high grade asap!). This time I am quite satisfied ...with my forecasts being met for most of the books or within an acceptable "grading range".   One comment about the eternals must be made though...I bought them raw 3-4 m
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AVENGERS THE MYTH - EXHIBITION MILAN (ITALY) 28/3/2015 - 31/5/2015

AVENGERS THE MYTH - EXHIBITION MILAN (ITALY) 28/3/2015 - 31/5/2015 Hello Avengers fans! With great pleasure I would like to announce that in occasion of the release of the new movie "Avengers age of Ultron", a fantastic exhibition devoted to the Avengers is being held from the 28th of march to the 31st of May 2015 at the prestigious Museum of Cartoons of Milan - ITALY And ... with great pride I wish to announce that many prestigious vintage pieces on display (MEGO and Marx Toys, 60/70s pos
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 1

CGC just graded 30 of my books....let's compare their grading with my forecast! Hello to all! I have submitted 30 nice modern books to CGC...and this is what I got! 1x 8.5, 1x 9.0, 4x 9.2, 10x 9.4, 10x 9.6, 4x 9.8 My forecasts did not go that far a part for a couple of book I had graded 8.0 (the authentix Romita sr DF books) that CGC graded 9.4 and 9.2 and for 6 books that CGC strangely graded much lower than my predictions... Anyway I am quite happy both for the grades and my grading sk
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 3

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 3 CGC just graded 3 more of my SILVER AGE books....let's compare their grading with my forecast! This time I was VERY unsatisfied. All books were purchased from very reliable dealers few years ago...but 2/3 of my books were graded one full grade below my forecast when I got them! TITLE ISSUE FORECAST CGC Amazing Spider-Man 29 9.4 CGC 8.5 Amazing Spider-Man 32 9.2 CGC 9.2 Amazing Spider-Man 43 9.4 CGC
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I submitted AF15 and AS33 for the private Stan Lee signing and this is what I got..........

read read read HELLO fellow collectors... last month I received an email from CGC with the opportunity to submit books for a private Stan Lee signing. I thought it was a great thing so I bought a relatively cheap Amazing Fantasy 15 on ebay and took out from of one of my boxes my favourite book: Amazing Spider-Man 33. The AF 15 had been badly restored in an amateur way decades ago so I decided NOT to have the book PRO-restored... The book was effectively not worth the pain of being PRO exte
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SILVER & BRONZE AGE MARVEL COMICS IN ITALY

Did you know that..... HELLO overseas friends! Few american collectors are aware of how many international editions of Marvel Comics exist...and even less are aware that Italy has been and still is one of the largest comic books markets in the world... Did you know that comics like Tex and Mickey Mouse still sell 750.000(!!) copies per issue in the Italian version nowadays?! And now ...some MARVEL-IN-ITALY-INFO for dummies! 0) The first Marvel comic book was published in Italy only in
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 5

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 5 Hello to all! CGC just graded 30 of my books....let's compare their grades with my forecasts! MANY MONTHS AGO I submitted 30 modern books to CGC...they were received on June the 23rd 2011...and it took 2 MONTHS to switch from verified to graded status... Hey CGC...hire more graders please! This is what I got! 4x9.2 3x9.4 13x9.6 10x9.8 I am VERY happy both for the CGC grades and my grading skills!!! TITLE ISSUE FORECAST CGC Avengers
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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1 ...FROM A DARK CLOSET TO A 9.0 SLAB!

When dreams come true! I can't believe it...my AS 1 was CGC GRADED as a 9.0 with WHITE PAGES!!! How many books in such a nice shape still exist? This copy has an almost unbelievable story? My father travelled to NY in 1963(!) for a business trip. He saw some superheroes comics at the newstands and bought a bunch of them. The cover of Spider-Man 1 looked so intriguing to him that he carefully placed the comic in the middle of his papers and brought it back home to Italy. Once there he p
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 7 : 58 books just graded!

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 7 : 58 books just graded! Hello to everybody! CGC just finished grading 58 books....let's compare their grades with my forecasts! MANY MONTHS AGO I submitted 58 MODERN books to CGC...As soon as I receive them I will add them to my numerous registry sets. Most of these come from my personal collection. They were all purchased as NM books before the CGC era...Anyway you can easily guess how hard it is to build a high grade comic book collection with t
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SPIDER-MAN THE MYTH - EXHIBITION MILAN (ITALY) 19/5/2012 - 29/7/2012

SPIDER-MAN THE MYTH - EXHIBITION MILAN (ITALY) 19/5/2012 - 29/7/2012 Hello fellow collectors and Spider-Man friends, With great pleasure I would like to report that in occasion of the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, a fantastic exhibition is being held from the 19th of May to the 29th of July 2012 at the prestigious Museum of Cartoons of Milan - ITALY (sponsored by the city council, the Mexican and U.S. consulate !). And ... with great pride I wish to announce that many prestigious pieces
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 11 : 90 (!) books just graded!

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 11 : 90 (!) books just graded! Hello Collectors Society friends! Several weeks ago I submitted a big lot of books I had purchased raw off ebay or from www dealers in 2012. I find so challenging to hunt and select books to submit for my registry...it's much more interesting than purchasing them already graded! The majority of the submitted books comes from the late bronze / early copper age. I find this period particular challenging because books wer
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 12 : 60 (!) books just graded!

...and How I acquired my 900th CGC comic!!! Hello Collectors Society friends! Several weeks ago I submitted another large lot of books I had purchased raw off ebay or from www dealers in 2013. I find very challenging to hunt and select books to submit for my registry...it's much more interesting than purchasing them already graded! The majority of the submitted books comes from the late bronze / early copper age. I find this era particularly though because books were not immediately bag&
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94 working days later...CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 10

MODERN Books and the rare X-MEN vs Micronauts! Hello to everybody! CGC received my books on the 24th of August 2012 but were graded on the 4th of January 2013: approx 94 working days later....let's compare their grades with my forecasts! Most of them were purchased off Ebay recently as NM/M...The X-Men and Micronauts miniseries, instead, remained buried in my collection in mint condition for 2 decades...and CGC agreed with me: these four books are real treasures in CGC 9.8 9.8 9.6 9.8. O
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 2

CGC just graded 6 more SILVER AGE /BRONZE AGE books....let's compare their grading with my forecast! I just noticed CGC finished grading more books I submitted... They were some very nice Spidey early annuals + a Silver Surfer (1st series) 14 + a what if 1977 1... Once again I was quite satisfied ... no books below the 9.0 and an average 0.2 difference between my forecast and their grading... Modern age books are much easier to grade, but when I submit bronze or silver age books, due to
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED .... I have just completed the X-Men #94-#143 SET !!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED .... I have just completed the X-Men #94-#143 SET !! YEAH! I did it!! It took years and years to complete this CGC graded X-Men #94-#143 SET... One of my favourite runs EVER, E V E R !...and now I am so proud to own them all in high grade: 94/105 in 9.2-9.4 , 106/142 in 9.6! http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/PeopleSetDetail.aspx?PeopleSetID=32404 In 2005 I was smart enough to buy GSX1 in CGC 9.4 + X-MEN 94 in 9.2 at a decent price...then in 200
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XXXPHOENIX HITS 100.000 !!!!

XXXPHOENIX HITS 100.000 !!!! Just to let the CGC Collectors society know that....I finally HIT the 100.000 target. I am so excited! When I joned this community I thought that this rank in the registry was close to impossible to achieve....but I did it!!!!!! Considering I live in Italy it's a huge success... 371 MARVEL COMICS cgc books in my collection .... 353 made it into the registry! AND...no book grades below 9.0!! CIAO FEDERICO
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 8 : 30 books just graded!

CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 8 : 30 books just graded! Hello to everybody! IT TOOK A LIFE .... CGC received my books on the 5th of June 2012 CGC but graded them early this week....let's compare their grades with my forecasts! All of them were purchased thorugh internet, mainly on ebay as NM/M... This is what I got! 5x9.8 8x9.6 6x9.4 3x9.2 4x9.0 2x8.5 1x8.0 1x7.5 I am quite disappointed this time. Considering I bought them as NM/M (mostly uncirculated)and that I thought of hav
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103 working days later...CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 9

103 working days later...CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 9: MARVEL TEAM UP & ETERNALSHello to everybody!CGC received my books on the 29th of May 2012 but were graded today: 103 working days later if I am not wrong (VALUE tier)....let's compare their grades with my forecasts!Most of them were purchased thorugh internet, mainly on ebay as NM/M and from Metro... The Eternals books, instead, were found inside a VERY old ETM/American Entertainment unopened package I had forgotten in my pa
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CGC vs XXXPHOENIX grading contest PART 13 : 60 (!) books just graded!

...once again no 9.9 HI Guys! In February I submitted 60 more comics (mostly late bronze/early copper age) to CGC. Most of these were selected during 2013 and 85% of them came back in 9.4(the minimum grade I usually accept for post 1980 books) or better... 17x 9.8, 23x 9.6, 11x 9.4, 4x 9.2, 4x 9.0, 1x 8.5 Not many key books this time but i filled many holes in my sets. The gem is surely a NM+ DD179 I paid $20 that came back in CGC 9.6. Unfortunately after 34 submissions to CGC for
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MARVELMANIA POSTERS at MOTORSHOW!

What if Marvel invaded motorsport?! It has passed a while since my last post... Last week I loaned my precious Marvelmania posters for a show called MOTORSHOW being held in Bologna (Italy) from the 6th to the 14th of December... www.motorshow.it This is one of the greatest MOTOR shows in Europe with hundreds of racing cars on exhibit (Rally, F1, FCART, NASCAR etc etc...) and racing for the joy of the public(!!), simulators and various entertainment events for the automotives-addicted.
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VALENCIA - SPAIN - GREATEST MARVEL UNIVERSE INTERACTIVE EXHIBIT EVER !!!

MARVEL SUPERHEROES - THE SCIENCE OF THE SUPERHEROES ...loaded with pics!!!Hello fellow collectors!Last week, while visiting the beautiful city of Valencia, Spain, I took my wife and my two children to the fantastic City of Arts and Science and to my surprise I found a pseudo-scientific exhibit of over 1000 square meters inspired to Marvel Superheroes .The exhibit is temporary and will last only until 15 September 2013.I decided to document it because the level and quality of the show is so high
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