willybaum

Picked up a Ghosts #48 CGC 9.8 WP from a ComicLink auction to add to my DC Bicentennial collection. An incremental increase in points from 60 to 96 (CGC 9.6 to 9.8) but every little bit helps! This brings my total of CGC 9.8 copies in this 33-comic set to 19 (15 in WP). Still got 8x in 9.6, and 3x each in 9.4 and 9.0. Really, really want to upgrade those in 9.0 I know there are 9.8 copies of Batman Family and Weird War Tales on eBay but the asking prices are, IMHO, ridiculous so I won't be upgrading those issues anytime soon.

Found yet another gem on eBay for my DC Bicentennial Set - Kamandi #43 CGC 9.8. Although it's Off-White to White Pages, I can't be picky since it upgrades my 9.4 copy and adds 60 points to my set. That brings my total of 9.8s in the set to 18 and my total points to 3,322. Yay!

Yay! After realizing that I didn't have to have CGC 9.8 copies right away in my DC Bicentennial Set, I've been able to upgrade my set twice so far. Last upgrade was from a 9.4 to 9.6 WP of Blitzkrieg 4 (adding 50 points to my set total) and now a 9.6 WP of Batman Family 6 (adding 52 points)! Wasn't sure about being able to upgrade from my 9.4 copy because the 9.8 versions have been listed at over $1,400 on eBay which is too much for me. But I saw a 9.6 WP version being auctioned on ComicLink and went for it and won. Of 33 comics in the set, I now have 17 at CGC 9.8 (three with OW/W instead of WP), 9 @ 9.6 (including two which are the highest-graded for that issue, and all are WP), 4 @ 9.4 and 3 @ 9.0 (really want to upgrade these!).

It's amazing what happens when you expand your vision — you see so much more! My main goal with my only CGC Registry set "DC Bicentennial Comics" was to collect all 33 comics graded at no less than 9.0. It took over a decade but I finally succeeded 3 years ago (yay!). My next, and ultimate, goal is to have each 1976 issue at 9.8 with White Pages. Of the 33 comics in the list, I've managed to get 14 in that state with 3 others also in 9.8 but with Off-White to White Pages. Of the remaining 16 titles, 5 do not have any 9.8 graded copies by CGC but I did grab 2 of them in their highest-graded 9.6 (both with White Pages). So far, I have 8 graded @ 9.6, 5 @ 9.4, and 3 @ 9.0. Quite a while back, there was a CGC 9.8 WP of Blitzkrieg #4 but the bidding ended at over $300 (too much for me to afford at that time) so I gave up ever seeing that copy again. But now, after figuring out that I don't really need to have 9.8 copies right away, there was a Blitzkrieg #4 CGC 9.6 WP (with an old school CGC label) on eBay for only $76! Scooping up this comic, which upgrades my entry from 9.4 to 9.6, was worth an additional 50 points and my total is now at 3,202. (Meanwhile, there are two CGC 9.8 WP copies of Batman Family #6 available on eBay but both are over $1K so way out of my price range!) I doubt I will ever accomplish my ultimate goal of all CGC 9.8 WP but this is a fun journey nonetheless and I wait patiently for my next upgrade.

My DC Bicentennial set seemed destined to be stuck at 3,027 points. I have only seen two CGC 9.8 copies that I needed for my set that were on sale at eBay but they were very expensive $$$$. However, one of them recently dropped in price almost by half and I had to jump on it. Snatched up The Joker 8 CGC 9.8 (White Pages!) and was pleased as punch Then, while looking through the registry for how many 9.8 copies of each issue that I needed to upgrade were available, I found out that 5 of the issues in my set did not have any 9.8 graded copies! I did a quick search and found out that there was a CGC 9.6 copy of Action Comics #461 for sale and it had White Pages! Bought it and now I have the highest-graded copy of that issue in my set! It's always nice to upgrade something in my set

It's been almost three years since I completed my set of 33 DC Bicentennial Comics but I wanted a challenge and a better set, all CGC 9.8 with White Pages. Just before I got the last comic for the set, I was able to swap out a couple of issues with newer CGC 9.8 WP (Detective Comics and Justice League Of America). And, after completing the set, I was able to pick up four more CGC 9.8 comics (Claw, Our Fighting Forces, Richard Dragon, and Our Army At War). The net result is six more CGC 9.8 comics, albeit one at OW/WP quality and +505 points for the set (I finally broke the 3,000 mark!) My total is now 16 x 9.8s, 6 x 9.6s, 7 x 9.4s, 1 x 9.2, and 3 x 9.0s There are two CGC 9.8 issues listed on eBay that I would love to get but the sellers are asking way too much so I'll just have to wait.

Don't really have a lot of room for a proper group shot so this will have to do for now! Mahalo!

Wow, last month I found out that my little niche set of 33 DC Bicentennial comics was awarded one of the Best Bronze Age sets for 2018, a very nice recognition I must say Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) to CGC! And, even sweeter, I just picked up a replacement for one of the issues in the set - going from a CGC 9.0 WP to CGC 9.8 WP and gaining 98 more points! Although it's unlikely I could ever make a complete set of all 9.8 WP issues, I'm hoping to at least upgrade all the 9.0 and 9.2 comics to a 9.4 or 9.6. Attached is a pic of Our Fighting Forces 168. On my way, slowly! Hope everyone is enjoying their collections!

At long last ... I've completed my DC Bicentennial Set! Started almost 10 years ago and I wanted to have a high grade set of the 33 comics that DC published in the summer of 1976 with a red/white/blue banner at the top of the front cover. Most of the copies were easy to find in high grade but as I picked up the issues, the last remaining ones became more and more difficult to find, either as CGC graded or raw. My criteria was simple: nothing less than 9.0 and no worse than Off-White pages. Eventually, it came down to two comics a couple of months ago. I picked up raw high-graded copies of Claw the Unconquered 8 and Our Fighting Forces 168 and submitted them to CGC. When I got them back, the Claw comic was a 9.4 with White Pages and I was ecstatic! But then I saw the other one and it was an 8.0! I immediately went online to read the Grader Notes and it noted foxing on two areas of the back cover. I was bummed. Since I wanted only 9.x copies in my set I couldn't add this one to my set Worse, I wasn't sure where I could find another high-grade raw copy. But I scoured the comic retailers, including those on eBay and finally found another copy months later that was graded by the seller at 9.4. Based on the scans, it looked really good although the cover was a little crooked. So, with much trepidation in my heart, I submitted this copy to GCC. If this one didn't come back at least 9.0 then I was really screwed. I watched the progress as it went from Received to Grading to Shipped/Safe. As usual, I didn't look at the emailed shipping document or the invoice online because I like to wait until it arrives to see the grade. Then it arrived ....

ComicLink comes through again! I was really wondering if I could ever complete my DC Bicentennial set. After collecting 30 of the 33 titles, I only managed to find a raw high-grade copy of Claw #8. Our Fighting Forces #168 and Weird War Tales #47 were not showing up anywhere and haven't for the last several years! Then I saw Weird War Tales #47 on a ComicLink auction! I was prepared to go as high as possible to win it but fortunately, like most of the titles in my prize set, it's not a comic most people would want and I got it for a steal. Anyway, there's only one title left for me - Our Fighting Forces #168. Crossing my fingers! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

30 down, 3 to go! Yay! Just got back my CGC submission of four raw high-grade comics to add to my DC Bicentennial collection. Now that I have them back - all 9.0+ and no worse than off-white pages (two were white pages) - I'm only three comics away from a complete set! Of the three remaining, I have a high-grade raw of Claw #8 and just need to find copies of Weird War Tales #47 and Our Fighting Forces #168, either raw or CGC. I have the last two on want lists with about half a dozen online comic retailers and I have them as saved searches on eBay but it's going to be really hard to pick up these last two in high-grade. Oh well, 30 out of 33 for a really obscure set ... just having fun here! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

My DC Comics Bicentennial collection nears its completion! Yay! Finally scored a CGC comic (Unexpected #174) via auction for my collection of DC Comics Bicentennial set. Haven't seen any of my needed issues on auction for several years. Out of 33 comics in the set, I was at 25 issues with 4 high-grade raw comics currently under grading by CGC so that gives me 29. And I also picked up a high-grade raw copy of Claw #8. Now I only need to find Our Fighting Forces #168 and Weird War Tales #47 in either high-grade raw or CGC and my primary collection will be complete: 33 comics, all CGC 9.0+ and none worse than off-white pages. Can't wait to see what my four at CGC will achieve! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

My second submission for grading! Okay, here we go! A couple of months ago, I submitted four high-grade comics for grading with my membership coupon. My wishes were fulfilled with all coming back at least 9.0 and no worse than off-white pages. With my last submission, my collection of DC Comics Bicentennial rose to 25 out of 33. Now, my next submission is ready and I'm crossing my fingers for 9.0 and up! With the Modern Tier being lowered to 1975 I can now submit for less $$! Only question is, how long will it take? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Really happy but .... Wow, anticipation can be stressful. One of my favorite sets to collect is the DC Bicentennial comics of 1976. 33 issues that were adorned with a red, white and blue banner at the top. I managed to pick up 21 issues through auctions, losing some along the way, but I haven't been able to secure one for a while. So, I thought, let's do what everyone else is doing and submit comics for grading! I bought four high-grade (NM) raw copies from four different vendors on eBay (ratings and feedback were the most important criteria for selecting the dealers). I received them and packed them off to have CGC'd and crossed my fingers. Hopefully, all of them would come back at least 9.0 and at least with white or off-white to white pages. Waiting for the comics to be graded was a nail-biting experience. Literally checked my invoice status several times every day until it reported shipped. BUT ... I decided to wait for the package to see the grades. I even filed away the email with the scanned images without looking at it. Finally, I received the books today and was pleasantly surprised. One 9.0, two 9.4 and one 9.6! Yay! And two had white pages although one was only off-white and not off-white to white. So I went back to the email with the scans and .... bummers. The scanned images, for which I paid $20, were so puny (478x750 pixels) and one had a huge glare on the image. And no back cover images. I do have a scanner but I can't fit the whole slab, just cutting off the bottom part of the comic. To sum it up: pleasantly surprised with the grading results from raw comics bought off eBay but not entirely thrilled with the paid scanned images. FYI, the four comics only cost a little over $70 (not including shipping) so this was definitely a labor of love. Guess I'll skimp on the imaging next time. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Submitting comics for grading for the first time! Aloha everyone! I've been on the CGC Collector's Society since 2008 but I'm only submitting comics for grading for the first time this month. My primary set of interest is the DC Comics Bicentennial: 33 comics in 1976 that had a red, white, and blue banner at the top. I've been able to buy 21 of the issues in high grade through various auctions but haven't seen the remaining 12 anywhere that I need to complete the collection. So, I thought, what the heck. I scooped up four supposedly high grade issues through several eBay sellers and figured I'd get them CGC'd myself. Crossing my fingers that each at least gets a 9.0. While I prefer white pages, I'm not adverse to either off-white or off-white to white. I'll be bummed though if they get graded lower :-( Nevertheless, I'm excited for this first-time experience and thought I'd also jump into the forums too! On a closing note, is it immoral to mail DC comics in a box that has a Marvel character on it? Willy B P.S. How do I get a CGC signature to appear at the bottom? I tried copying and pasting the code but that doesn't work. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.