What is that weird bubble?

[Hepgwyn]

Daredevil #1 has returned

 

I filled out all the paperwork on-line for CGC and took my 10 books in for the last day of ECCC. Not being sure what to expect from the CGC receiving crew I headed there first and was able to hand off my books in about 10 minutes while all the I's were dotted and T's crossed.

 

My copy of Daredevil #1 was the highest price paid of any book in my collection a present from dad in 1989 for a great year of grades in high school. It was bought in a now defunct San Francisco store called Don's Com-X Exchange or something like that. I think $250 dollars was what he paid and it's always been my prized possession. So I submitted it as express and anxiously monitored the submission tracking link. I dropped it off on March 3rd, it was listed as received on March 6th and arrived back here on March 16th. Of course I didn't have the willpower to wait and be surprised and checked the grade as soon as the website would let me. Of course I saw the flaws, the small stress creases on the spine and the corner on the back but not having gone through this before I had no idea what the grade would be. I started worrying about overwrap and underwrap and rusty staples. In hindsight I probably should have taken the book out of its mylar before I dropped it off so I could see the page color and taken some photos. Alas I did not.

 

I think 9.0 OW/W is a fair grade it's not jumping for joy great, but it's respectable. When it arrived at the door I tore open the package and turned it over and around and then I said what is that bubble? On the backside there was what looked like a kidney shaped bubble that refracted the light in a way that I couldn't tell if it was pressing into the back cover of the book or simply distorting the text. I kind of just brushed it off for the day happy to have it back and happy to be able to let people see it with out worrying about them ruining it. When I took pictures of it the bubble started to look more obvious and ugly so I tried to research through the chat rooms to see if anyone else had seen this before. Couldn't find anything so I posted on the ask CGC registry and after 4 days of no response I tried one of the other forums and got good suggestions to contact CGC. Duh, right?

 

CGC responded to the contact email very quickly and said, "That is a by-product of the injection molds used to manufacture our inner wells and is more cosmetic than anything. That will not affect your book in any way." So I did feel better that it wasn't going to hurt my book, but worried that if mine was the only one that looked this way then someone might hesitate buying it especially if they only saw the pictures on ebay. So I wanted to wait until some more of my books arrived. 4 more arrived today and to some degree they all have a similar bubble in the back. Once again I felt better and worse at the same time. What do we pay CGC for? To give prospective buyers confidence in what they are buying, to protect the books and to enhance their value by making them look nice? Well this seems to me like a bit of a "fail" on 2 out of 3. Not sure if we have an alternative but I can say this doesn't thrill me at these prices. I hate to say it but I hope a bunch of other people are seeing this in their books as well so future buyers are prepared and don't ask what is that weird bubble?

 

See more journals by Hepgwyn

[kaholo1256]

hepgwyn,

 

That's an amazing grade on an iconic comic. You had one hell of an eye and an amazing father when you were younger as mine went from look at this comic its $200 to maybe you'll like something in the $20 dollar range. I guess my father sees what I do when my daughter reads them right now. Especially when I would go into her room and they aren't....gasp... boarded in mylar's and being read while eating Cheetos.

 

Anyways on to your second issue the "Bubble" I have to say I have never seen that happen but my understanding is somewhat limited with CGCing as this is my introductory year. Maybe one of the other greats will jump on and help out but it does seem a little distracting and honestly to me would mean it would warp over time. I guess that's simply my fears though.

 

Either way, its an amazing pick-up and I'm really looking forward to the grade your X-Men #1 obtains.

 

K

[SW3D]

I agree with you... i think CGC should have done a better job. You paid good money for their service and there should be a guarantee of satisfaction.

 

Because of the odd casting of the mold, it creates the illusion that the actual book's back cover suffered some kind of water damage and warped after drying.

 

Although it is purely psychological since we know the comic is not flawed in such a manner, only a cosmetic flaw to the holder, nonetheless it is displeasing to look at and may well adversely affect the value when it comes time to sell.

 

Pure and simple: it is a beautiful comic and deserves a better holder! I would resubmit it to CGC for a new holder. I would call them and plead my case, tell them i'm unhappy and dissatisfied, and talk them into reholdering it for free and to absorb the costs of shipping to and from.

 

Just my two cents.

 

Welcome to the journals... looking forward to reading more about your collection.

 

SW3D

 

 

[Tnerb]

I have my own story about Daredevil #1 and I will be reading this journal to my father because st one time a couple years before you purchased this book I had the chance to buy one myself, in short my father said no. You have a great book there, which one day I will own a 9,0 or greater, regardless if bubble.

 

If it bothers you I would either see if CGC will reholder it for free or pay the small fee to get it done, however doesn't thus fall under quality control. I think I would like that position. To be able to look over every single book and make sure that it matches up to the label. On one if my invoices I changed a book, scratched it out, and added another. My mistake was not doing it on every page, their mistake was not looking at book and invoice. I am curious how this will play out.

 

Whatever you do, good luck

[surfer99]

Great looking book, bubble and all. Heck, throw it in a frame and admire it that way so you'll never have to look at the back.

 

And Tnerb, don't give your dad a hard time.

 

 

[Udidar]

Wonderful book, but that is a horrible bubble. It sounds like CGC should have a bit of quality control in place, they are grading comics after all, so the end result should be what a person pays for. Its the inner well that makes the bubble effect they said, thats a bit concerning for me, as thats the closest to the comic, if you have it on a few other comics as well all that were sent in at the same time, they must have gotten a defective batch. I would definitly be calling and asking them to reholder that for free. Its a valuable comic and that is just very unappealing to me. I know if I saw that on a holder, I wouldn't buy the comic even if I was told its just a cosmetic thing. Really? did they open the case to see if it was actually just some kind of moulding injection reject or an actually bubble on the case? Or do they see the bubble when they are putting the case together and just go, ahhh, makes the comic unique, the person will like that. I know when we get shipments of stuff at work and there is a defect, it gets sent back to wherever it was purchased from.

Jeez, with the constant mis-labelling (Transformers 9.9 issue 19 labelled as number 14 comes to mind) and these bubbles now, they really ought to start having a quality assurance person do a final check.

There are quite a few people on these boards and I have never heard of bubbles like that before.

[XXXPHOENIX]

CGC 9.0 for a DD1 is fantastic!

That book is worth 4-5k$ now!

 

BUT....if I were a potential buyer for the book, I would ask for a 20%-30% discount ....that bubble is really....sinister!

 

Cmon...just ask CGC to reslab it for free. I own almost 800 slabbed books and I have never seen a bubble like that.

 

CIAO!

FEDERICO

[jackowick-migration]

This is an iconic, key issue, the type of comic that you would see on a CGC flyer or ad to "showcase" the service.

 

I know CGC reads these boards, this is really disappointing. Please help this individual to showcase YOUR service and provide a free reslabbing.

 

This is a high dollar book. We're not talking about a 9.2 of Cable and X-Force #3 here...

[Hepgwyn]

Thanks Kaholo,

 

my X-men 1 is pretty junky, so I don't have very high hopes for it, probably in the 2-3 range. I was not always very discriminating as a kid. Oh well.

[meshuggah]

I'm with the others. Especially sw3d noting you shouldn't pay for a reholder. I don't have a huge collection or a book as awesome as that but I've been submitting for a few years now and have never seen that. If I was a buyer and saw that it would bother me. Hope cgc hooks you up.