Mnuemonix

What to send next? Now that I've spent my free Express coupons, I'm going through the rest of my collection to try and decide what to submit next....All of these books of course, will all be submitted under Modern; hell my first submissions weren't worth being graded under the *free* Express coupons...The 3 of them only totaled $150 before grading, I think. My collection isn't all that rare or impressive, but I enjoy it, and I have some books I'm proud of...I don't think I have anything worth more than $300, though, and that's already finished and graded. But anyways, below is my list of possible candidates. I went through my long boxes, and I think these are all of my highest worth books. These are all the books I would wishfully thinking get graded over the next year; not in my next submission. I am but a humble warehouse flunky :-D. But I digress, onto the list: Astonishing X-Men (Vol 3) #1 - Variant Edition Gabriele Dell'Otto Cover Hulk (Vol 2) #6 - Variant Edition Michael Turner Cover New Avengers #3 - Variant Edition Oliver Coipel Cover (Wolverine) New Avengers #4 - Variant Edition Jim Cheung Cover (Ronin/Iron Man) New Avengers #5 - Variant Edition Adi Granov Cover (Cage/Spider-Woman) New Avengers #6 - Variant Edition Bryan Hitch Cover (Iron Man/Captain America) Uncanny X-Men #157 Uncanny X-Men #158 Uncanny X-Men #159 Uncanny X-Men #500 - Variant Edition Terry Dodson 1:30 Color Cover Uncanny X-Men #505 - Variant Edition Greg Land 1:10 "Villain" Cover Wolverine (Vol 2) #131 - Recalled Racial Slur Edition (initial release, I didn't go searching for it, and I never knew it was recalled until years later as I had read it in a stupor back in college while exhausted from studying, and didn't realize I had read a racial slur) Wolverine (Vol 2) $145 - Silver Foil Cover signed by Erik Larsen (which unfortunately will get "Qualified" since CGC doesn't accept photos for evidence; oh well - my own fault :-D ) Wolverine (Vol 3) #26 - Variant Edition Marc Silvestri 1:15 Cover Wolverine (Vol 3) #27 - Variant Edition Joe Quesada 1:20 Cover X-Men (Vol 2) #200 - Variant Edition Humberto Ramos Wraparound Cover X-Men (Vol 2) #206 - Variant Edition Simone Bianchi 1:15 Cover X-Men (Vol 2) #207 - Variant Edition Jim Cheung 1:10 Cover X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1 - Variant Edition Wolverine on fire cover Young X-Men #1 - Variant Edition Brandon Peterson 1:20 "Red Bricks" Cover

And I'm VERY Happy with them!!! My first 3 submissions from my Express coupons are now officially graded, and I must say that I am VERY happy with the grades they received: 1. Amazing Spider-Man #583 - Variant Edition Barack Obama Cover 1st Printing: 9.8 (Near Mint/Mint) I actually thought out of the 3 I sent in, this one would have been a lower grade. I bought this one from a seller on eBay the day the issue came out because a bunch of people sucked up all the copies from my store. I found this one before people started blowing the price up for this one, and I nabbed it for about $45 (plus shipping & insurance). I'm going to have to look up this seller again, and give him a VERY good feedback for the quality of his shipping. 2. Uncanny X-Men #492 - Variant Edition Marc Silvestri Cover: 9.6 (Near Mint+) Though a little disappointed it didn't grade as well as my other two books (I'm a total X-Geek), I can understand why. This particular book had a bit more love given to it by yours truly. I loved the cover art, and handled it more, so I can understand a slightly lower grade. But I still feel a 9.6 is nothing to sneeze at. :-) 3. Hulk #7 - Variant Edition Michael Turner Cover: 9.8 (Near Mint/Mint) I was also fairly surprised by this one as well. My store had this in the variant box sitting for god only knows how long waiting to be picked up. I actually picked this book up the day that the ASM I submitted hit the shelves. My store felt that I had gotten the shaft with the ASM issue, they sold me this one for under $5 (I love my store - great bunch of guys with quality service). Being that it was a Michael Turner cover, and since I have the regular edition, I thought it best to get this one slabbed "in honor" and memory of Mr. Turner. This first batch is really fun for me, and exciting. I like to think I take good care of my books, and this sort of proves that I do. :-)

I am scheduled for Grading!! And I do a little happy dance!!!! It's very exciting being a first timer and all. :-) Newbie's Guide To Membership: Pt 1 coming soon - I promise!!!

When I first joined CGC as a Premium Member, I was confused and overwhelmed. Here is what I've learned since then! I have only been a member of CGC/Collectors Society since February first of this year, however I think I have finally figured those burning questions I had at the beginning out, and learned my way around a little bit. I had really only JUST found out about CGC a couple of years ago, and last year acquired my first two CGC certified books at WW Chicago 2008. And I found them to be so much fun, I contemplated full membership for months. And then I finally took the plunge. But being a brand new member was a bit overwhelming, and a good number of the questions that I had at the very beginning I could not find the answers to on the CGC Chat Boards. But then again, I could have just been using very bad search words! Anyways, I thought perhaps there could be others out there who have recently joined and might have the same questions that I had, and could use some help from somebody who has recently gone through the same sort of initiation by fire. However, before I begin I will mention first and foremost that your fellow members (and CGC themselves really) are always there to help you! I didn't expect to have so many other members send messages, tips, suggestions, and assurances as I did when I first started (albeit being only a member for a little over a month I'm still a "newbie" myself). The members here have just been awesome, and if I've missed responding to anybody who has sent me a message (I've really tried to reply to everyone), I apologize, and please know I appreciate everything! The main thing that had me so confused at the start was the pure wealth of information located in just about every facet of the CGC universe. I hope to break things down, and make it a little more comprehensive, less overwhelming, and more fun. I'll be breaking down my posts individually so that nobody has to read a post that may end longer than my post about the Watchmen movie. In the meantime, if anybody would like to ask me anything pertaining to what the newbie process has been like, please feel free, and I will do my best to give you honest answers!

Went to see the movie yesterday, and I have absolutely no idea if I liked it. So a bunch of my friends and I went to see a matinee showing of Watchmen yesterday. And I THINK I didn't like it. I'm not entirely sure. I know I didn't love it. And I didn't get the same experience from it than I did the book. Which I guess makes sense as movies are entirely different from books. You don't have time constraints, budget constraints, and the like with books. But the movie gave me different feelings than the book did. Was it true to the book? Yes, very much so. Even with the change to the cataclysmic end, I don't think I've ever seen a more faithful movie to a book that I've read. But where after I was done with the book, I was lost deep in thought of moral ambiguity, wonder, and satisfaction over having read a brilliant story told by incredible images. However, those incredible images on page brought about a different thought on screen. My first reaction after the movie was over, was I didn't feel nearly as dirty after having READ Watchmen as I did after having WATCHED Watchmen. I guess ultra violent gore just isn't as appalling in pencils and ink than it is with actors and corn syrup. I felt like I needed a shower while leaving the theatre. Parts of the story which seemed integral to the book seemed boring and to drag on forever on film. Out of the 7 people with whom I went to see the movie with, only two of us had read it. Admittedly the majority who hadn't read the book didn't really care for the movie. At all. The general thought was it could have been an hour shorter, and again - some of the story which seemed to be so important in the book - they didn't care about in the movie and thought it had no purpose to be there. Mostly Silk Spectre II's relationship with The Comedian. I mean, that's a pretty big chunk of the story right there, but the average uninitiated movie goer didn't seem to care, and thought it was a really pointless subplot in the grand scheme of the movie. At least that was the opinion in my particular gathering of movie going friends. I'm also going to veer off track here for a minute and mention my total shock and dumbfoundedness at the fact that a row behind us was a family who brought their children to see this movie. The children had to be no older than 8 or 9. The parents can claim ignorance to the source material all they want and say they just saw super heroes and brought their children. The R rating should have told them SOMETHING. I consider myself a pretty progressive individual, but there is no way I'd bring a child younger than 14 to this movie. Call me a prude, but no 8 year old should see this movie chock full of murder, sex, rape, and god only knows how many gallons of blood. And no child the age of 8 is mature enough to even BEGIN to contemplate the incredibly adult, complex, and morally grey ending of peace through death and violence. The next time your child has a nightmare about his favorite superhero burying a meat clever into his head, or punching his mother into submission so he can bend her over a pool table, you have nobody to blame but your ignorant selves. My apologies to anybody who disagrees with this particular rant, but I needed to get that off my chest. I'm done now. So, back to the movie. Some things I've thought over since I saw the movie yesterday. The actors portraying Rorschach, The Comedian and Nite Owl II did extremely well with their parts and did it justice. Very impressed with the film makers for keeping Doc Manhattan's distaste for clothing in the movie. His blue glowy genitals got more screen time than Silk Spectre II's bare breasts. The restructuring of the end seemed to work really well, while still paying homage to the book. I was also very surprised to see the inclusion of Ozymandias' mutated tiger in the end. However, they did not include the explanation of what it was, and why it was there. My friends who hadn't read the book thought the poor kitty was pointless, and had no reason for being there. Again, the average opinion of the non-readers was that the movie could have also been an hour shorter, and should have focused ONLY on the main murder mystery, end of the world plot. They all felt the beginning was great, the end was okay, and the middle dragged on for eternity. While my opinion is still confusion over whether I liked it or not. I think I might have, but at the same time I think I didn't. Was Alan Moore right about his work being unfilmable? Was he justified by taking his name off of it, and signing all his royalties over to Mr. Gibbons? Will Warner Bros' Gamble pay off in the long run? I have no idea. I do, however think that Mr. Snyder the director made the best movie of Watchmen that could have been made. Having read the history of this movie's sordid past, and how the studio didn't seem to care about the source material, I'm glad it was he who helmed the direction. This movie would have been unwatchable and unrecognizable if anybody else did it in my opinion. Honestly, I think this is probably a niche movie where the only people whose interest it will capture will be those who have read the book, and get it. This is a very expensive movie that is not for the general movie going public. They just probably will not get the flawed story of dysfunctional super heroes with a doomsday plot. On top of that, Moore and Gibbons actually created an entire world within their pages. An expansive, complex, and COMPLETE world. So complete in fact, that it's a tiresome feat to even imagine TRYING to fit it all into a movie. And when you DO try to fit such a large world into a movie it tends to feel over crowded, too busy, confusing, or too boring. And here I sit still confused about whether or not I liked this movie. I do know that I did not enjoy it in the same way I enjoyed the book.

I'm apparently impatient & Anxious Simply wondering how much longer my order is going to remain in Verified Status before it moves onto grading. Been over a week now. I hope it's because there is just a long line in front of me, and not because I did something wrong. Of course then again I suppose if I DID do something wrong, CGC would have gotten in contact with me. I guess I should keep this particular rambling fairly short n' sweet.

And waiting I am, so here's a loooong entry if you care to read while YOU wait So about a week and a half ago I packed up and sent out what I considered to be my 3 most valuable comics for my first time grading submission. It seems I have something of a wait on my hands now, so here are some things I have done and some other things that have gone through my head during this whole first time experience. It seems as if so far I've done everything correct (hopefully). After I received my packet, I sat down and went through my collection database to try and decide what would be my best options to use for my coupon grading. I don't have any pedigree or vintage books, and if I do they're worth hardly anything. I started reading/collecting comics as a child (around 7 or 8 years old maybe), and I'm now almost 30 (still read/collect). I have 3 Uncanny X-Men books from the 80s featuring a Dark Phoenix story, but they're not in the best condition, so I decided to hold those off until later. I still actually read my comics and enjoy them quite a bit, so I didn't want to send in a book that I thought I may want to crack open again in the future. Now, my collection is probably only 1,600 books large; the majority being Marvel's Mutants. What can I say? I buy to read what I like. :-) ?Anyways, the older I got, and the more income that started coming in, the more I was able to afford to start picking up those variant edition books whose cover art I seemed to always enjoy more than the regular editions (which rarely if at all ever go by cover price). And when I DO buy variants, I always purchase a regular along with it. So it seemed a no-brainer that I'm really never going to have a need to crack open the variant again since I have the regular editions, that I'll just submit a variant. I have a small cache of variant covers, so I looked up as best I could what seemed to be deemed the most valuable out of all of the ones that I have. And I came up with: Amazing Spider-Man #583 1st Variant Edition Obama cover (LUCKED out being able to pick up one of these before they disappeared and skyrocketed), Uncanny X-Men #492 Messiah CompleX chapter 2 Silvestri cover art variant, and then Hulk #7 Michael Turner cover art variant. I have both the red and green Hulk variants from Michael Turner, but decided I liked the Green Hulk variant better, so I sent that one in first. I figure through out my tenure as a member, I'll eventually go through and submit all of my variants, but these were the first 3 I picked out. I don't know why I didn't opt to use the online submission form; I guess in some way I felt obligated to use the paper forms included in my introductory packet since they had taken the time to print off and send me some. So I sat down at the living room coffee table and started filling out as correctly (and legibly) as I could my submission form. Once that was finished, it was onto actually packing said books! I packed the books as best I could from the suggestions page on the website. Each one was bagged and boarded. Although two of which were in resealable bags, and I know the company says that they cannot open or grade polybagged items, and must be given written permission to do so. I wasn't sure how that applied to regular self-adhesive resealable comic bags, so just to be on the safe side, I included a small note explaining that if they need written permission to open them, I do give it. And then of course I signed the note, and printed my name below the signature. After I had the books in their bags, I cut apart a small cardboard box, sandwiched the books between two pieces of cardboard, and taped them together with some packing tape. I'll admit, probably not the safest material to use, but scotch tape just wasn't getting the job done holding the cardboard together. Then I cut and taped two more pieces of cardboard on each of the sides the same way. Went to the post office, purchased a mailing box, and some bubble wrap. Bundled the books together with my coupon, and submission forms, and then stuffed the box silly with bubble wrap. Nothing inside of that box was going to move in transit. I paid my shipping fees, and watched nervously as 3 of my beloved collection got sent off in the mail. I was nervous if I failed to fill out the paper work correctly?I was nervous if I miscalculated the return shipping fee?.Did I remember to include the coupon?....Did I pack them in such a way that the company wasn't going to be able to unpack them without damage?....Would the box get damaged in transit?.... Well, part of my paranoia was finally settled when my order finally showed up on the website a few days later with a "Received" status. Okay, one down. Now, did I do everything else correctly? Can they open them up okay? Not long after that - I almost want to say perhaps later that same day my order went from "Received" to "Verified"?Each book I submitted was correct, and even though I failed to notate in one way or another on my submission form, CGC has each book listed online as a Variant Edition. I must say seeing that put a my mind at ease. It's not that I ever doubted CGC's professionalism, and I kind of figured having the name that they have, they've seen many a similar paperwork error as my own. It's been about five days since my order status went to Verified, and it's still currently listed as in that status. I figure there's quite the line ahead of me, even if I did use a coupon for the Express service. But now the things going through my head are thoughts about what kind of grade I think I may receive. It's a weird feeling being nervous about a grade again. I haven't had that situation since I graduated college 7 years ago. I've been flipping through some other posts, and it seems more often than not people are getting lower grades than expected. And seeing so many, I've kind of lowered my expectations for my own grades, but still have a hope in the back of my mind for relatively high grades. I'd like to think I take really good care of my books. If it's a book that I do not plan on reading (such as my variants) they go straight to being bagged and boarded. And of course with most Variant purchases, they're usually already bagged and boarded upon purchase?But I usually transfer the books into my own bags when I get home. It makes me feel better having them in a bag that doesn't have a price tag label or it's adhesive residue on it. And of course all of my other books go straight to the bags and boards once they've been read. And due to a tragic mishap with my very first comic ever as a child involving a thunder storm (it's still painful to think about), I very rarely handle the books while reading them. I generally place them on a pillow on my lap and set the books there; or on a desk, etc. It's a big neurotic, I admit, but seeing the destruction of a beloved piece of fiction was just traumatic! Now that I've been able to surf around the various sites for the past couple of weeks, I've deciphered some things, and I'm thinking about typing up another semi-book of a post to perhaps give some insight to other newcomers to help them decipher some of things I had trouble with. I'll of course have to search through the boards again before doing so, but thought it could be fun to do whilst still waiting on my first submission grades. /ponders how much longer his order will remain in "Verified" status and if his home-made cardboard shield did a disservice to

Status Books made it safely to CGC, and everything was verified yesterday. I'm hoping my packing did work for the books' safety, and now I'm just int the waiting period hoping that they get a good grade. And they are listed as the variant editions that I failed to put on my paperwork. Much as I thought they've most likely seen the mistake I have made, and being the thorough professionals they are recorded appropriately.

Newbie Mistakes and Jitters Well, I sent my first submissions ever off in the mail last Wednesday. I'm fairly confident that my packaging was sufficient enough to survive the trip, but my mind keeps wandering on various things that could go wrong or I might have done wrong. Things like, did I remember to include in the package my introductory coupons? I'm pretty sure that I did, but being the rookie that I am, I psyche myself out with things like that. The other thing which has me sort of worried is something that just hit me over the weekend. Which is probably another reason why I should have filled out the online submissions form instead of the paper ones that were included with the introductory packet. The 3 books I submitted were all variant editions, and in the "Issue No." column, I only filled out the regular number. I wonder if failing to notate the variant edition somehow will negatively affect my submission. All I did was fill in the regular issue number, ie 583, instead of something like 583A. I imagine that isn't going to do too much damage, but I still have the newbie jitters, you know? I think failing to notate variant edition on my paperwork is my biggest worry right now. And it might not even be that big of an issue, but until I hear something I think that will always be in the back of my mind until I hear something. I imagine CGC has run into something like this numerous times, and being the professionals that they, will have little issues with it. I just hate making mistakes. /random blubber off

My 3 Free Express So I'm heading to the post office today at lunch to send in my first ever submissions! My previous CGC books were acquired at a convention. I'm kind of nervous about whether or not I filled out the submission form correctly, whether they're packed appropriately, etc. Hopefully everything is done correctly, and no damages occur in transit, and the way I've packed them is easy for the graders to open. I'll probably have my stomach churning until I hear something from CGC as my most valuable books are in this first submission.

My Packet Arrived Today Finally rec'd my welcome packet in the mail today! I've already flipped through the contents, and now I'm already flipping through my collection to see which 3 of my books I want to send in with my free coupon! /excited

Introductory Packet It's been just over a week since I decided to join, and I find myself each day walking to the mailbox with excitement for mail like I haven't had in a long time. It's almost like I'm a kid waiting for his secret decoder ring. I wonder if you're notified when it ships or if you just head to the mailbox one day and get the surprise.

Figuring Things Out After playing around through the various sites, and reading through lots of posts on the chat boards, I finally figured out how to manage my sets/collections/etc. Now that I actually know HOW it all makes a lot of sense, but for a newcomer it's not a very user friendly tool for which I had to kind of dig around for information. There should almost be some sort of a tutorial about getting started as the current FAQ page did not have any information I was looking for. However I DID find what I was looking for from searching around the chat boards, and I now have my puny 2 CGC Certs added. I am now anxiously awaiting my introductory packet which contains my coupons so I can really get a jump on my membership!

Rookie Collector / Beginner Member So here I am, now a Premium Member of CGC. I've been debating joining for well over 2 or 3 years. Pretty much ever since I learned about this place. How on earth did it take so long to discover such a wonderful thing? *shrugs* I pretty much just read what I read, and paid little attention to anything else. And then one day while I was surfing around on the internet, and came across CGC, and went through the website fascinated by everything that I saw. So then on top of THAT - last year I coughed up some dough for my first really big show. I had never been to a convention before, so I bought a VIP package to Wizard World Chicago and loved every minute of it. On top of loving the show - the schwagg bag which came with the package was unbelievable (well, for me anyways). And of course in the package came two CGC certified books. Nothing really spectacular - but to somebody like myself who's never had anything like that before they were really something. And after the show I decided perhaps I needed to sit down and really go through my collection of books which had been piling up for the past 20 some odd years and really take a look at what I had. And what I had surprised me a little bit. Now I wasn't sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars by any means, but like I said there were a few surprises in there. Enough for me to get a separate insurance policy on the collection, and after that was done, the next logical step to me was finally deciding to join CGC. I currently have only 2 CGC certified books, and have yet even hear of my introductory packet being shipped yet. But I'm going through everything which is now available to me online, and seeing what I can see. Almost everything is new and exciting, albeit quite confusing at times. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to do some things with the registry, but I imagine I'll figure it out before long. And if I don't - hopefully when I finally receive my packet - that WILL! I'm hoping to have a full and lively membership here, and really can't wait to take full advantage of it!