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‘One-man crusade’ against CGC grading, slabbing

Started by Black Lantern,

118 posts in this topic

Gunnz

Gunnz

Posted
Posted

I don't see what the big deal is. I have just started collecting graded books, but 95% of my collection is raw. If you don't like slabs, don't buy slabs.

I think its good to have choice.

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jimbo_707

jimbo_707

Posted
Posted

I prefer some books slabbed and some raw. I prefer to keep books that are VF and above slabbed because those are books I likely wouldn't want to handle anyway. (I collect GA; naturally I wouldn't bother to slab a VF Copper-Age book.) I do think it's overkill to slab mid-grade or low-grade books.* Carefully handling isn't likely to change the condition of those, so they might as well be enjoyed fully, interior art and all.

 

*I'd make an exception for books like this one, which is mid-grade primarily because of the back cover but which has a nice front cover that I wouldn't want to damage.

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Sqeggs

Sqeggs

Posted
Posted

comicbookresources.com/

 

 

Comic books are made to be read. But along the way they’ve grown to become a collectible in the minds of some, leading to an interesting bifurcation of fandom: collectors and readers.

 

My Friend Dahmer cartoonist Derf Backderf is a longtime fan who, while downsizing his collection, wandered upon the uniquely placed Certified Guaranty Company (CGC). The avowed comic fan who followed his hobby into a career was shocked at the degree to which comics collecting had subsumed the readability of comics, especially given that “true collectors” would hermetically seal their comics in CGC “slabs,” leaving them unable to be read — you know, the original intent for the comic.

 

“For someone who has devoted his life to making comics, and who takes several years to painstakingly craft each one … to be READ! … this is an abomination,” Derf wrote in a long post on his blog. “For baseball cards, fine. because you can still read everything on the card. With a comic book, 90 percent of the contents are lost forever! Most of these “collectors” wouldn’t know the difference between Wally Wood and Wally Walrus. They’re just collecting a number. It’s an affront to everything I hold dear.”

 

Derf, who has been reading comics since the mid-1970s, covers the growth of the secondhand comics market and the rise of collectability through the Overstreet Price Guide and now through CGC. Because of this severe leaning toward collectability limiting the readability of comics, the cartoonist has started what he calls a “one-man crusade against slabbing” by buying CGC books and “then free[ing] them from their plastic coffins.”

 

Needs to look up the meaning of "subsumed."

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MedicAR

MedicAR

Posted
Posted

I have to admit though, after reading his strip "The City", "My Friend Dahmer" was clearly the exception rather than the rule. I can't discuss the strip because of the politics rule and that is all his strip is. I will say this, I am sorry I ever recommended his book, he clearly isn't the kind of person I would ever want to support.

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Erndog

Erndog

Posted
Posted
When i see a group shot of raws my heart warms :cloud9:

 

Why then do I never see you posting any to warm the hearts of others? Have I just been looking in the wrong threads?

 

???

 

 

Maybe you should re-read the sentence before that.

 

I clearly state I chose my side (slabs)... yet sometimes envy the raw collectors.

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DeadpoolJr.

DeadpoolJr.

Posted
Posted

Shannon Luchies

January 21, 2014 at 10:26 am

 

Good for him.

 

If a insufficiently_thoughtful_person wants to buy a sealed book, tho, you can’t really stop them…. and they ain’t gonna be the type to read the book ANYWAY.

This comment just really erks me. All because I buy a slab doesn't mean I don't read comics? Wonder who the real insufficiently_thoughtful_person is? :eyeroll:

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Sal

Sal

Posted
Posted

The use of the "I'm going to review this before I push Submit" policy has been really diminishing around here as of late.

 

 

Also, someone can please inform Mr. Backderf that collecting funnybooks isn't a zero-sum game and that people can choose to protect or commodify their possessions any way they choose. Just as he can choose to not purchase slabbed books, or even look down his nose at people who do without actually spending even a minute's time doing any sort of research or analysis beyond the immediate formation of said opinion

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted

Shannon Luchies

January 21, 2014 at 10:26 am

 

Good for him.

 

If a insufficiently_thoughtful_person wants to buy a sealed book, tho, you can’t really stop them…. and they ain’t gonna be the type to read the book ANYWAY.

This comment just really erks me. All because I by a slab doesn't mean I don't comics? Wonder who the real insufficiently_thoughtful_person is? :eyeroll:

 

lol Completely ignorant comment from that person.

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USArmyParatrooper

USArmyParatrooper

Posted
Posted

Shannon Luchies

January 21, 2014 at 10:26 am

 

Good for him.

 

If a insufficiently_thoughtful_person wants to buy a sealed book, tho, you can’t really stop them…. and they ain’t gonna be the type to read the book ANYWAY.

This comment just really erks me. All because I by a slab doesn't mean I don't comics? Wonder who the real insufficiently_thoughtful_person is? :eyeroll:

 

lol Completely ignorant comment from that person.

 

You would be amazed at how common and that "thought" process is on other comic book forums.

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