lpersky

this is one of the first books I ever really wanted to buy... but I never did. Until yesterday. Back when I was in college, I had a pretty good job. Money was good for a kid my age and that was when I started to take collecting to the next level. Before then, my collecting consisted only of what my pops handed down or what comics I had managed to save since my childhood. My college years was when I began to hunt issues down and shape my collecting habits into more refined laws I still hold to this day. I remember being in college at a computer once, with ample money to burn, thinking, what book should I buy? I knew I wanted a high end book, but I couldn't decide. However, one book that caught my eye was Fantastic Four 48, the first silver surfer and galactus appearance. It was something about the cover that captivated me, maybe it's the impending doom that is off panel we can't see that sparks the imagination, but once I saw the book I knew I had to own it some day. That day was not then though. Back then, somehow, I convinced myself that a case of 03-04 UD Exquisite basketball cards was the better choice. Money wasted, and nothing to show for it in the long run. opportunity squandered. Years and many comic books later, one book, one book, has all these years never passed back my way. Not even a beater copy. But all that changed yesterday. What do they say about luck? That luck is when opportunity meets preparation/skill? Well as "luck" would have it, a buddy I do business fairly regularly with sold me the best looking FF 48 I have ever seen (in person) for pennies on the dollar. It comes from an original owner collection (of which most now belongs to me as well) but man, I'm stoked to have this one in particular in my possession because now after all these years I can cross it off the comic book bucket list. this one will definitely get the cgc treatment real soon. now it's on to the next one. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Ok, so officially it was called San Diego Comic-Con International... but might as well been called Walking Dead Con 2012. Everywhere you looked, there was something Walking Dead related, so it was only natural that my largest CGC submission of the year would be Walking Dead heavy. 2 submissions, all signature series, 33 books in all. Thankfully, both invoices have been graded and the grades appear online. Won't know when i'll actually have the books in my possession, but i'll be patient. So, was it worth it? 33 signature series books aren't cheap? But honestly, all year I have been to every major show on the west and have submitted hundreds of books, so now I don't have many surprises as to what the results are, because I keep my estimates conservative (some people and regular customers of mine think i'm the tightest grader around), so yeah, I think its worth it. And after I saw the results, I think it was the best $1000 I spent at the show. Of the 33 books, the grading break down went like this... 3 CGC 9.6s, 29 CGC 9.8s, and 1 CGC 9.9! Highlights included: Walking Dead 100 chrome signed by Kirkman CGC 9.9 Walking Dead 100 chrome signed by Kirkman CGC 9.8 x2 Walking Dead 100 SDCC variant signed by Kirkman and Adlard CGC 9.8 x3 Walking Dead 94 Image Expo MVP variant (limited to 200) signed by Kirkman and Adlard CGC 9.8 Walking Dead 94 Image Expo variant signed by Kirkman and Adlard CGC 9.8 x2 Walking Dead Weekly 1 Amazing AZ variant signed by Kirkman CGC 9.8 x2 Thief of Thieves 1 ComicsPro variant signed by Kirkman CGC 9.8 Blindside 1 Campbell variant (limited to 100) signed by Mychaels and Campbell CGC 9.8 x2 New Mutants 98 signed by Liefeld CGC 9.6 and I also got some Jim Lee Batmans signed and graded, and also some other things as well. Definately my best invoice to date and a reinforcement of my confidence in CGC. Can't wait to get these in my hands! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

I buy a lot of books... As someone who buys and sells comics on the side and runs a small comic business, I have to keep buying in order to keep selling. As such, I come across a lot of books. Some you see all the time, others not so much. Because I am a huge Batman fan, my personal collection currently consist of Batman books (among other things and keys) and my personal goal is to eventually obtain every Batman book ever published. So far, I have every Batman book from 250 - current, save one. I had an opportunnity to purchase my missing book years ago, but at the time, $250 was too much for me and out of my budget, so I passed and never had another opportunity to get the book in high grade at a reasonable price, until yesterday. I was making my daily craigslist rounds when my "Batman" search lead me to a post from a seller looking to sell his lot of DC RRP variants. The lot included Superman 204 RRP, Superman/Batman 1 RRP, Identity Crisis 1 RRP, and my modern Holy Grail, Batman 608 RRP all for $500. I couldn't believe it. Here, on craigslist of all places, is someone who is willing to part with this key book for a price that falls well within my budget, not only for the Batman 608 RRP, BUT FOR ALL FOUR! Immediately I was skceptical, but after some quick communication with the seller, we arranged to meet up a few hours later. At the meeting, as he brought out the four books, I kept thinking, "please be the real deal Batman 608 RRP... no Euro or double feature variant please please please". Plus, the books were described as being in great condition. As the seller wasn't an avid collector, he didn't know how to accurately give a grade or description to the books, so I didn't know if they were beat up copies or what. Once he laid them out on the table, I immediately focused on the Batman 608 RRP, sure the others are great books and hold their own, but for me, nothing comes close to the Batman 608. Just to hold the book in my hands was worth the trip. I started my inspection on the book and it was beautiful. The edges maintained its deep solid black border and the corners were still sharp. I could tell this book was never opened or read. It laid completely flat with very little surface wear, minute stuff. The back cover was just as clean as the front save one small hairline spine stress. For a moment, as I looked at the back cover, I thought Tom Brady winked at me. This book was a solid Near Mint copy. Such a key book and notoriusly difficult book to find in high grade, and finally, after all these years, I have it, in my hands, and it is going to be MINE! I learned more back story about the seller and the book next. Turns out, the seller back in the day worked for DC and somehow received these copies over the years from DC. Pretty neat to have fringe benefits like that. Anyways, I settled up and carefully put the books in my bag and headed home (had to pick up the girlfriend first though, and she was just as excited about the book and buy as I was). When I got home, I gave the Batman 608 RRP one more look over before I placed it in its rightful place among the other Batman books in my collection. 250 - current now complete. Will the 608 get the CGC treatment, probably, but for now, I am content with just owning the book. Modern Holy Grail checked off the list. Next up, Bronze Age Holy Grail)....

anyone else notice the subtle but significant change? went online today to see what ship date they were on and I noticed that there is now a new column in the services and fees section titled "Current Turnaround" right next to the "Estimated Turnaround" for each tier. Boy oh boy oh boy. Who comes up with these things? So you can estimate that your economy tier will be done in 40 days, but actually it'll take 100 days... at least they're being honest, right? you know, I like that they are at least trying to put as much notice about the turnaround time on the web as possible, but what they really need is a column that reads "Grading Books Received As Of" column... then you could replace both the current and estimate columns with one much simplier and more accurate. I no longer believe its an issue of just additional graders. This to me is a sign of something more problemattic. CGC it may be time to rethink your tier structure itself on top of adding staffing in order to meet your consumer base's demands.

why should I pay for this again? while I think that making the grader notes available is a good service to the consumer, as many of us are curious to why a book received a particular grade, I believe paying for the service is a little obsurd when I see the fees. First, as someone who pays the $109 membership fee every year, I think it should be FREE with paid memberships. Otherwise, where is the bang for my buck? Yeah I get four free submissions but what else? Shouldn't CGC be looking into more ways to make the membership fee more attractive? It's not like I have to be a member to submit to CGC anyways. Second, this used to be a free courtesy service. From time to time, you could have called the toll free number and received the grader notes over the phone (so long as you didn't abuse it). That was cool. I guess those days are now gone. Third, older books cost more for the notes? Why? What makes the notes different if it's a silver age book versus a modern book? I assume its the same process to retrieve the notes, so why are the associated cost different? It should be a flat fee for the notes regardless of the book's tier it was graded under. Forth, why should I really care about the notes anyway? Once the book is graded and receives a numerical value, that's all I really care about. A 9.8 is a 9.8 and a 9.8 again. I don't care if it has a micro tear on the 3rd page. It's still a 9.8. Besides, don't you use the CGC label to note significant issues on the book anyway? I guess I knida view this as one of those sucker bets in vegas. You know, the ones where the odds of winning are so heavily weighted in the houses favor that by the time you win it, you spent twice as much? Yeah CGC, this is that sucker bet. Thanks but no thanks. Unless it's free, I won't be using the grader notes service. Also, I sent you guys some books back in January, remember those? Can I get those back please... thanks.

received 3 of my 7 invoices back in the mail today yup, 3 invoices down and 4 more to go... 28 books in all (signature series and universal moderns)... lots of 9.8s, highest graded copies and OAKs... heres a small sample: Walking Dead 1 signed by Kirkman CGC SS 9.6 Walking Dead 19 signed by Kirkman (x2) CGC SS 9.8, CGC SS 9.8 Walking Dead 94 Image Expo MVP sketch variant signed by Kirkman CGC SS 9.8 Darkness 1 signed by Silvestri (x2) CGC SS 9.8, CGC SS 9.8 *these are the highest graded copies and the only two in CGC SS 9.8* Grendel: Devil's Vagary signed by Wagner (x2) CGC SS 9.6, CGC SS 9.4 *highest graded copies and the only two SS copies* Hack/Slash 1 (x3) 9.8, 9.8, 9.8 *these are the only universal 9.8s that exist and highest graded copies* Kick 1 (x3) 9.8, 9.8, 9.8 Batman: Harley Quinn (x2) 9.8, 9.6 plus a lot more goodies... only one 9.4 in the bunch, ALL OF THE REST WERE CGC 9.8s OR 9.6s!!! now only waiting on the other 4 invoices! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! i finally had one of my CGC invoices mailed out on 03/05/12 and received the confirmation email from CGC with the invoice's tracking number. i checked the package's status today on USPS.com and to my horror, the status shows as "Missent" and the description that the package was misrouted. WTF!!! this is not at all what i wanted! so where is it? on a plane to kilamazoo? did the train it was on derail, thus incenerating the books? did space aliens come down and abuct my books? where they stolen? did they deliver the books to someone else? all you can tell me is missent? this is BS USPS.com!!! gimmie my books! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

waiting... they have been scheduled for grading since Tuesday (3 days), fingers crossed that they get graded today. 17 signature series books with comissioned sketches, Liefeld, Kirkman, and Capullo signatures. i'll be waiting... would be nice to know the grades before Image Expo this weekend. thanks ***UPDATE*** I called in, and while status still Scheduled for Grading online, it appears they have already been graded (although not finalized). Here are the results: Walking Dead 2 (2nd print) signed by Robert Kirkman - 9.6 Walking Dead 3 signed by Robert Kirkman - 9.4 Walking Dead 61 signed by Robert Kirkman - 9.8 Walking Dead 80 Amazing AZ variant signed by Robert Kirkman - 9.6 Walking Dead 87 SDCC variant signed by Robert Kirkman - 9.8 Haunt 1 signed by Robert Kirkman & Greg Capullo (x2) - 9.8, 9.8 Haunt 2 variant signed by Robert Kirkman & Greg Capullo - 9.8 New Mutants 87 signed by Rob Liefeld - 9.8 New Mutants 98 signed by Rob Liefeld (x2) - 9.8, 9.8 Deadpool (2008) 1 Liefeld variant signed by Rob Liefeld - 9.8 Batman 1 signed by Greg Capullo (x2) - 9.8, 9.8 Incredible Hulk (2011) 1 signed, sketch & colored by Marat Mychaels (Hulk sketch) - 9.6 Avenging Spider-Man 1 signed & sketch by Marat Mychaels (Spider-Man sketch) - 9.8 Avenging Spider-Man 1 signed & sketch by Andy Carreon (Carnage sketch) - 9.8 All and all pretty happy with this bunch!

what to do what to do... while going through our massive warehouse buy, I came accross a significant amount issues of Hack/Slash #1 from the 2007 DDP series. they are all in really high, untouched grade, and I decided that I would seperate some out for CGC to grade and then try to sell some of the others since it seems to be a popular series. I've sold a handful and still have many more, but I finally got around to sending in a test run of 3 issues with my last invoice. I don't have the grades back on those, but, it got me thinking... what if they come back 9.8s? I looked on the CGC census and there are only 2 other copies of this book graded, one in 9.6 and the other is a SS 9.8. If mine come back a 9.8, could I be in a position to corner the market on this book and dictate its value? I started thinking about it for a few minutes and some funny stuff came to mind, like what if there was a simialr pile in a wherehouse but they were Action Comics #1? would I grade 5 or 6 for profit and burn the rest to ensure demand greater than supply, or flood the market thus creating a crash in the price? Of course this is all hypothetical but on the Hack/Slash book I have options... if the test 3 are 9.8s, I think more will get submitted and most likely be 9.8s, but how many end up getting submitted is the question and will that be detrimental to its value in the long run... it'll be fun to see how this plays out.

the wait is over, kinda... just recently got back my Long Beach Comic Con and Nuke the Fridge Stan Lee signing submissions back. 10 books in total, thought I would share: Stan Lee signed: Amazing Spider-Man #122 9.4 Amazing Spider-Man #194 9.2 New Mutants #98 9.4 Venom: Lethal Protector (Black Error cover) 9.4 Long Beach Comic Con: Flash #1 1:200 sketch variant signed by Brain Buccellato 9.8 Uncanny X-Force #1 Deadpool sketch by Marat Mycheals 9.8 Amazing Spider-Man #606 signed by J. Scott Campbell 9.6 Amazing Spider-Man #607 signed by J. Scott Campbell 9.8 Uncanny X-Force #1 variant signed by J. Scott Campbell 9.6 Wolverine #1 "Deadpool in Wolvie's Clothes" sketch by J. Scott Campbell 9.8 pretty happy about the grades and the books, they look really nice. I already put some of these books on eBay and the others will get locked away in my personal collection. Still have 3 invoices pending with CGC (1 from the Amazing Az Comic Con that is 17 signature series books and 2 invoices submitted from Yorba Linda show that include my really high grade JLA #9, 9.0 or better on that one please), plus I should be getting my Walking Dead #1 9.8 back this week (got that one re-slabbed because I bought it with a cracked in the case). So yeah, I've been submitting a lot lately and more to come, now it's back to work getting the next 3-4 invoices lined up.

Not a fan of them... If you don't have the money for an item, why bid on it or submit an offer? You are wasting everyone's time, not to mention, that there is probably another person that would purchase the item and actually pay for it! What really sucks is that now FeeBay no longer penalizes buyers they way they used to for non-payment. In the good ol' days, you were actually able to leave negative feedback for non-payment, now you can't, and the buyer's rating is no longer affected. If you were a third party looking at the seller's and buyer's feedback, it's like it never happened, thus you would think the buyer is reputible. How could you tell that the buyer doesn't pay for items? In closing, stop wasting people's time. If you don't have the money or the means to pay then and there, you shouldn't commit to things you can't fulfill.

really? aw man... I called CGC today to get an update on where the graders are with modern submissions since I am still awaiting my signature series invoice from Long Beach Comic Con, and the last time the website was updated was on 11/07/11. Per Nicole, they are on 11/01/11, not the 10/18/11 that is posted on the site. So most likely Monday/Tuesday I'll at least know the grades. The bad news... that means the books will ship sometime next week and I used the office address, which will be closed 12/22/11 thru 01/03/12, which sometime inbetween is when central mail and documents will receive my package. I won't have these suckers in my possession until 2012! Great.... Happy Holidays everyone.

it's not just a price hike people.... Since this is the new popular thread, here's my input. I understand a revision to the grading fees: $1, $2, and such to the grading teirs. that's understandable since it's been a while since they revised it and they probably need the additional funds to support operating fees and to hire additional staff (per the careers section of cgc's site they are currently hiring). However, the handling fee makes no sense. that's a slap in the face. its a charge "simply because they can" fee, similar to what Bank of America tried to pull on their customers, and we all know how that went. as much as PGX would like to say that they are a competitor in the market, they are not and the people at cgc know this, thus the greedy are showing their greed and the consumer has to pay as a result. cgc is undermining its consumer base by assessing this fee, and many will jump ship believe it or not. if PGX was smart, they would capitalize on this moment and show that they can be a force and reliable company in this market. i guess the biggest reason why the handling fee makes no sense is because i already pay a $99 membership fee for direct submission privledges. shouldn't my handling be included in that? i'm already ticked that certain signature series opportuntities are barred to me for direct submission via exclusivity deals cgc has made (ah hem, ask them to witness a Stan Lee at a show and see what happens) thus costing me more and preventing me from tracking my books on the collectors society site, but now you're telling me you need your hand in my pocket even more? so what is my membership fee for anyways, can you explain that to me again? oh, 3 free submissions. lets look at that a little deeper too: you shortened the turnaround from 20 to 15 days (ok, thats kinda cool). but what's this, the value has dropped from $3000 to $1000 on the books i can submit? so the really expensive books i had been saving to get graded for 2012 i can no longer submit with my coupon... if i have to pay to get them graded anyways, please explain why i need to be a member and pay you my $99? i don't... i like to fast track for certain books i want back soon for various reasons. but you want $10 instead of $8 for that now too, please explain why? was $10 a rounder, more even number? honestly, i don't think people should be able to fast track (even though i use the system). I only use the service because its available, but in theory, its a disservice to everyone else in line. you are basically saying, "because these people can pay more we need to grade these books first". thats a horrible philosopy to have, teach, and practice. my books are no more important than the next guy's books, but because i am a little better off economically and can slide you a little something something you'll take care of me? if they did away with fast track, i wouldn't mind. honestly i wouldn't and i only use it cause i can. but cgc needs to be honest with EVERYONE and finally guarantee turnaround times. if you can grade my books in 10 days, you certainly can grade someone else's in 20. maybe you should start counting these show fridays or put in some overtime hours like everyone else in America when the going gets tough. its called a responsibility to your consumers, ask SoCal Edison workers who had to work 24/7 recently when half of Los Angeles lost power because of the recent storms in the area. did they want to work those hours, probably not, but they knew they had customers that depended on their services so the work and overtime was necessary until the job got done, which by the way, it still isn't. so cgc, or should i say, "fee g fee", to roll out a new fee structure without so much as an honest and detailed explaination is an insult. you will not be getting as much of my business in 2012 until you guys come clean with what's goin on in florida from top to bottom. there are other alternatives to cgc and you need me and the like more than i need you.

you know what would be cool... if the CGC Census was modified to allow users to search for other criteria other than just title and issue number. Wouldn't it be cool if you could search the census by artist or writer? Or search the comments for key words like "1st appearance" or "Death of..". I think this type of feature would allow collectors to be even more intuitive with their collecting habits and would probably be used with frequency. just a thought CGC... you can have that one for free.

what have I created? When I started down the path of getting books graded by CGC, I initially had decided that I would get books graded for resale (obviously) but that I would also try to build runs for my own personal collections. I have held true to form on the first part but it is the second that I now realize I haven't been doing as much as I should. As I was cleaning house preparing for this season's thanksgiving get-together at my house, I started realizing that I have a lot of books in short boxes that I have been setting aside to one day get graded. When I started on the society, my first goal was to collect X Men books in 9.8... so I started a short box for that. Then I started also building a Deadpool run of the 97 series... so I started a short box for that. Then I found some sweet looking Amazing Spiderman books from the eightes... so there's a box of those. Then I came across a wherehouse find of the whole Harley Quinn series, so there's also a short box of those. There's also boxes of misc books that would grade out in 9.6/9.8, and the newest box, of Uncanny X-Force books... sessh. I took a step back and looked at all these boxes and thought, "what the hell am I doing?" and "When am I going to get all of these graded?". To be truthful to myself, I have no clue how long it would take me to get these thousand or so books graded eventually. I do know it would take me a ton of cash. I did a dummy invoice of 100 books just for giggles and it was just under 2 large!!! A pre-screen would help, but I know how to grade as well and I haven't been far off on any of my submissions, so I'm confident in how I do my own pre-screen... so it'll likely cost me 2 large per each 100 sent it. sessh... Therefore it might be time to abandon some of these goals. I would like to build the Harely Quinn set since it seems NOBODY has yet to build a significant one and per the census, there are multiple issues with only one or no issues in 9.8 at all. I think I would easily have the best set there and probably for some time to come. Also the Uncanny X-Force I am going to continue to build since it is new and would be easy to maintain and stay on top of. The Deadpool 97 series I think I will also continue because of its realitive size and I already have most of the key issues in 9.8, so the rest should be a peice of cake. That leaves me with Amazing Spiderman, X-Men, and the misc books. The misc books there's no rush on, and I can trim that down to focus on post graded value. If it's not worth it, then it's not worth it. So which gets the ax, spidey or the mutants? I guess I have to chop the X-Men because the Spidey books tend to have more post graded value. But who knows, maybe I'll eventually get them all graded at some point in the future. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.