In response to David Swan

[Clouded9]

David since you did not select the box to post your journal to the message boards I will place my reply here and leave it open on the chat boards for others to reply to as well.

 

David,

 

I understand your frustration and I am also from the school of thought that, in my opinion, there are many books out there that I can not justify being graded due to market value, intentional "low print runs" like variant covers, etc. However, I find this is true for silver and golden age books as well. Just because it is old does not always mean it is valuable. There are some golden and silver age series that are simply not desired by collectors and thus the market value is low (regardless of what a price guide says - it is only a "guide" after all). Also keep in mind that books that have only been graded 6-8 times by CGC are not reflections of their scarcity or value. It could be that no one simply cares to get those books graded based on popularity or value. There are many Golden and Silver Age books that can not hold a candle, in regards to market value or popularity, to more recent books such as X-Men 94 1970s, Giant Size X-men 1 1970s, and the legendary Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle series from 1984 to name only a very, very few. Also, keep in mind that many people collect comics because they LOVE comics. Not everyone is looking for an alternative to the stock market for investing.

 

Everyone wishes their books could be graded faster, but policing submissions based on perceived value or age and shutting out comic book lovers from submitting books they cherish because you don't care for them is borderline to becoming a comic book Nazi "No SLAB for you!" (I hope someone appreciates this Seinfeld reference) I know for a fact that Tnerb (everyone has surely read at least one of his posts on here) loves his New Mutants set from the 1980s (it is a great set) and they hold a personal value to him that is far more than any price guide can estimate. We would be doing a disservice to our great hobby by implying that his books are not worth slabbing because of age or "guide" value. I have no desire to collect the New Mutants series, but I appreciate and respect his passion for them.

 

I appreciate your journal David as we are ALL entitled to our opinions. I hope no one sends you any hate messages or anything as it is completely uncalled for. I just wanted to provide an outlet for discussion on the topic you started with your journal and if anyone is truly sick of the wait time for CGC slabbing... maybe raw collecting only is for you.

 

Thanks and good luck to all with your collections! Whatever the focus may be!

 

James V. aka clouded9

 

See more journals by clouded9

[mcfly]

Two excellent journals on my favorite topic,slow service,with frustration the key word. Venting is not enough for most so we must attack the person ahead of us in line? ouch! It's the company? They really are working as fast as they can,it's the comic-con slam. I did talk to an employee awhile back and no they are not closed on friday's during "the season" and it's business as usual for most of the staff even during the bigger conventions.The only days off are actual legal holidays. It takes a big support staff to keep the wheels turning and allow the graders to grade.the whole company doesn't pack up and go to comic-con. Yes,there are alot of books most would consider not worthy of slabbing, but your trash might be my treasure even if it never goes up in price. It's easy to compain but without actual turnaround numbers documented and presented often, they are not about to adjust there estimate days. If they said 60 days and it took 50 we would be thanking them! There is always the quicker tiers,money talks..... Thanks.....Mcfly

[Triskelion]

I agree with mcfly, these are both excellent journals and each position would have its own merit. The only common denominator is everyone's frustration at the cycle times. I'd tend more to be on the side pressurizing CGC to get cycle times faster, as its frankly difficult for anyone to critique anyone else' collection/slabbing interests and tastes - but that said I have no idea how CGC's current internal business and profitability model works right now. Very easy to say something like 'CGC should hire more graders' etc - but honestly not sure if the hobby/business is large enough to support this long term. I guess the competition brought about by having a really viable alternative to CGC would help raise CGC's game, price and service standards-wise, i.e. PGX which is a far second at the moment and to date still doesn't have a registry, but I don't know if the rather niche market we're all in can support having two players.

 

In any event, issues on cycle times aside I'm pretty happy with CGC's work, and especially the responsiveness of folks like Gemma and Eric. And when I look back at the ~ 1 dozen separate submissions I'd sent in to CGC over the last 2 years I could see that the delays if any averaged around ~2 weeks which I thought wasnt all that bad I guess (have two submissions in 'verified' mode at the moment also, fingers crossed they aren't delayed, or if so delayed too much). Hoping they can continue to sustain this (not get any worse), and progress towards a step change improvement...

 

 

[MarkDAnderson]

An economy submission I sent in on 5/31 is still marked verified. A modern fast track order I sent in on 8/11 has already been graded. So you tell me,I don't think the problem with turn around time is caused by newer books. It must be because they are so inindated with older books that take more time to check out for restorations and stuff.

To tell the truth I really have no idea what the hecks going on or why it's taking so long, but i do know one thing. There is nothing quite as satisfying as signing for that box the post man deleviers that has my comics from CGC in it.

I'm as mad as the next guy about the slow turn around times.

Maybe we need to come to the conclusion that WE'RE the problem. We're the guys flooding them with comics. We're the guys who can't wait 'till we get our comics back. We're the guys on this web site pitching a fit because we've screwed stuff up and can't do a thing to fix it. I've come to the conclusion that if takes three months to the job right, when they've promised me it would take one, so be it.

It is what it is. I know I'll eventually get my comics back. I have every time.

[DoctorWyoming]

His journal entry amounts to: My comics are worthwhile, yours aren't. Why does anyone take him seriously?

 

 

[Stevenrams]

David since you did not select the box to post your journal to the message boards I will place my reply here and leave it open on the chat boards for others to reply to as well.

 

David,

 

I understand your frustration and I am also from the school of thought that, in my opinion, there are many books out there that I can not justify being graded due to market value, intentional "low print runs" like variant covers, etc. However, I find this is true for silver and golden age books as well. Just because it is old does not always mean it is valuable. There are some golden and silver age series that are simply not desired by collectors and thus the market value is low (regardless of what a price guide says - it is only a "guide" after all). Also keep in mind that books that have only been graded 6-8 times by CGC are not reflections of their scarcity or value. It could be that no one simply cares to get those books graded based on popularity or value. There are many Golden and Silver Age books that can not hold a candle, in regards to market value or popularity, to more recent books such as X-Men 94 1970s, Giant Size X-men 1 1970s, and the legendary Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle series from 1984 to name only a very, very few. Also, keep in mind that many people collect comics because they LOVE comics. Not everyone is looking for an alternative to the stock market for investing.

 

Everyone wishes their books could be graded faster, but policing submissions based on perceived value or age and shutting out comic book lovers from submitting books they cherish because you don't care for them is borderline to becoming a comic book Nazi "No SLAB for you!" (I hope someone appreciates this Seinfeld reference) I know for a fact that Tnerb (everyone has surely read at least one of his posts on here) loves his New Mutants set from the 1980s (it is a great set) and they hold a personal value to him that is far more than any price guide can estimate. We would be doing a disservice to our great hobby by implying that his books are not worth slabbing because of age or "guide" value. I have no desire to collect the New Mutants series, but I appreciate and respect his passion for them.

 

I appreciate your journal David as we are ALL entitled to our opinions. I hope no one sends you any hate messages or anything as it is completely uncalled for. I just wanted to provide an outlet for discussion on the topic you started with your journal and if anyone is truly sick of the wait time for CGC slabbing... maybe raw collecting only is for you.

 

Thanks and good luck to all with your collections! Whatever the focus may be!

 

James V. aka clouded9

 

See more journals by clouded9

Excellent Post! My wife spent a couple of years completing the entire run of The Witching Hour. Aside from one or two of the books none are in high grade. She just enjoyed tracking them down. As a birthday gift I bought her a slabbed copy of the only 100 pager. She already had the copy but she thought it was a cool gift. Most of all she just enjoys reading the books. And she is also proud of her complete run of Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children. Those are great reads as well.SLR