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QUUUAAACCCKKKK!!!!!!!

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bagofleas

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No better feeling!!!

I have been an avid comic collector for nearly 30 years. In that time, I have had many fantastic collecting moments. You know, those moments when you find a copy of a book you've been dying to locate. This occurs as you dig through box after box in store after store or show after show. It's that super-excited, tingly feeling that overcomes you as soon as your eye hits the exact book you've been pursuing!

Once I started collecting CGC graded books, this experience became heightened ten-fold! I now peruse through dealer boxes at stores and shows looking specifically for only the highest grade-worthy copies of particular books.

When I come across a copy I'm in search of, I initially feel excited. I pull it from the box thinking, "Here's a possible copy that could reach my grade-worthy desires". I look it over in its bag first. I either dismiss it right there as not grade-able or I move on to the next phase, which is taking it out of the bag.

As I hold the actual comic book in my hands and look it over with questionable eyes, I scroll the spine, scrutinize the edges and corners, and repeat for the rear cover. I grow more and more excited as I can't find any noticeable defects. After this process is complete, I hold it at different angles using the light to reveal any surface imperfections. Once finished I move into the guts and examine the inner pages, until I feel it's a 9.8 worthy copy! When that happens, I start shaking. This is normally the time I feel I should put the book very carefully back into its casing. My insides become jittery and loosey-goosey. I'm ecstatic at having finally found a copy worthy of submitting to CGC and adding to my set!

After shipping the book to CGC I go through the waiting process. As soon as I see "Shipped/Safe" on the invoice, I can't help but look and see how it came out. I use a piece of paper to hide the grade on the screen and slowly move it out of the way until the grade is revealed!

If it doesn't reach the vaunted 9.8 I hoped for, I sigh and sag to the floor, shaking my head and wondering what I must have missed in my examination. Thankfully, this happens a lot less now than it did when I first started in this hobby. But ultimately, I'm still thankful for having a graded copy.

If however, it DOES reach the grade I expected, or even (dare I hope?) surpasses the expected grade, I once again get that jittery and excited sensation! I squeal with delight, dance a jig, jump up and down, etc... etc....

I've even done this at a convention with onsite-grading right at the CGC booth. My big brother and others present were in attendance watching and I must say I got a lot of smiles and laughs from everyone. At times like this, I feel like a kid in a candy store who was just been given the whole store's stock for free!!!!

Which brings us to the reason for this journal and what currently seems like rambling on my part. Why am I telling all of this to you now? Because there is a development in a year long process that has come to fruition and I can't wait to tell you about it!

Back in January, I decided it was time for me to really get down to business and try finding top notch copies of Howard the Duck #1 and #2 so I could get Frank Brunner's signature on them. I have always been a Mr. The Duck fan and these two particular books are nearly impossible to find in good enough shape to be worthy of getting graded (in my opinion). They are very pricey to buy CGC graded in 9.8, if they even show up at all.

I resolved myself to being ok with 9.6 copies if I could only find them raw without having to kill myself doing it. The first thing I decided to do was look around online, especially on eBay. I have become very adept (or lucky?) at finding top grade copies on eBay for some reason. I've had numerous raw Ebay purchases achieve 9.8s before, even with older comics from the Copper and Bronze Age.

It took some time, but I came across a couple of copies of Howard the Duck #2 on Ebay from the Tongie Farm Collection that the seller swore were 9.6 worthy. I looked the pictures over on both copies, and decided that they were worth a try. I picked the one I thought was a little better and paid $48 for it.

Once I had the book in hand, I was sure they were right, it was at least a 9.6. Perfect! I took it with me to Megacon, for Frank Brunner to sign and take advantage of CGC's onsite service. I got Frank's sig ($10) and submitted it along with a number of other comic books. I also had it pressed just to be sure of giving it the best possible chance.

I had thought in the back of my head that it could possibly get 9.8, but I wrote that off as wishful thinking on my part. I'm not perfect with grading comics from the Bronze Age and feel that I still have some practicing to do before I'm consistently accurate with this era.

My big brother was with me when it came back on the last day of the show. Astonishingly, it WAS CGC SS 9.8 OW/W!!!! This, along with a few other unexpected results, is what had me doing the aforementioned noises, accompanied with dancing while jumping up and down.

It didn't get white pages, but that's a minor issue compared to the grade itself. If it had received 9.6, I had planned on sending it with my big brother to ECCC the following week for Steve Leialoha to add his signature, but being graded at 9.8 had me rethink that notion. I wasn't going to risk it any further. I was perfectly happy with Brunner's scrawling on it at 9.8!! Who wouldn't be?

I was so happy with the results of this book that I contacted the seller that I bought it from and told him what had happened. This turned out to be a very fortunate event, because not only was the seller very happy for me, he then told me he had a copy of #1 of the same title, if I was interested. He convinced me by telling me the comic was in just as good of condition as the issue I already purchased.

Are you kidding? Of course I was interested!! I didn't even need to see it. I bought it without haggling for $100. When I received it, I once again agreed with their determination of the book at 9.6.

The only thing I saw that was detrimental to the grade was a wide area on the outside edge of the back cover, where it was bent hard over towards the front cover. It didn't break color or anything, and I wondered if a pressing could get it to smooth out. I figured it was worth the try.

It just so happens that Frank Brunner AND Marv Wolfman were both going to attend Tampa Bay CC in August. I decided to take it with me and get BOTH of them to sign it! Marv Wolfman was the editor of the book, and I love getting any signatures I can that apply to a comic if possible. He's there anyway, so why not, right?

I went to the show with my oldest godson, got the book signed by the aforementioned creators and submitted it along with a group of other books. This was not an onsite show, so unfortunately I've been having to wait and it's been killing me.

Well, the results are in and I will let the picture below speak for itself. Best copy in the world now! There is one other SS 9.8 WP, but it is only signed by Brunner.

I'm sure you can guess by now what I was doing when I saw the grade for the first

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