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Question about Cover Bleed
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9 posts in this topic

I was looking on ebay and saw a fairly nice copy of an old Amazing Spider-Man. The main issue that I see with the book is the advertisement on the inner back cover bled through, and is visible on the outer back cover. How does this effect the grade?

Thank You!

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I don't think it does. If they factored that type of thing into grading then grading would become even more subjective. I think that's a matter of "eye appeal" people would have to determine for themselves. That bleed through or translucency happens on front covers as well.

I once had an iron man #5 that was a 9.6 but had so much bleed through on the front cover that you could almost make out the words on page 1! I returned it because its something that drastically hurt its eye appeal imo. Considering that was a 9.6 with so much bleed through I don't think it's something graders consider. It would be helpful to have a definitive answer from cgc however!

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52 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

I don't think it does. If they factored that type of thing into grading then grading would become even more subjective. I think that's a matter of "eye appeal" people would have to determine for themselves. That bleed through or translucency happens on front covers as well.

I once had an iron man #5 that was a 9.6 but had so much bleed through on the front cover that you could almost make out the words on page 1! I returned it because its something that drastically hurt its eye appeal imo. Considering that was a 9.6 with so much bleed through I don't think it's something graders consider. It would be helpful to have a definitive answer from cgc however!

It's very likely you're not going to get a definitive answer on that, since every book is different and the overall grade is decided on a number of factors (including eye appeal) and how easy it is to actually see the defect or defects. For example, if a flaw occurs on the white portion of a book's cover, it's usually more difficult to see, and would likely be viewed somewhat differently than if it occurred in a dark area.

Also, 9.6 is usually the highest grade where a defect like the one you described would be allowable...  (thumbsu

Edited by The Lions Den
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On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 11:34 AM, Bjorne said:

I was looking on ebay and saw a fairly nice copy of an old Amazing Spider-Man. The main issue that I see with the book is the advertisement on the inner back cover bled through, and is visible on the outer back cover. How does this effect the grade?

Thank You!

The more appropriate term to describe what you're referring to is cover transparency. The cause of being able to see art elements of the inside cover appearing on the front or back cover can be varied. it can be caused in different degrees by a strong interior cover strike of darker inks corresponding to the same location of white or light cover color areas. The lighter the area of the outside and the deeper the strike and ink color of the inside strike will determine how much of a distraction the effect of the transparency will be.

The effect can also be made more severe by cover toning by off-gassing from the inside pages, the type that gives light color covers an almost "oily" look of greater transparency. Many comics have this effect, ranging from very little to severe enough to not simply be able to discern shapes through the cover, but actually read the inside cover (or a mirror image of it) through the front.

Now although transparency can affect the eye appeal of a light cover with a strong inside cover strike, here's an X-Men #1 CGC graded 9.8 that displays mild transparency over the entire area of the front cover. Note the white pages, and being the Pacific Coast copy, the printing mechanics and materials, as are on most, are the culprits behind the mild transparency and not elements of off-gassing due to deteriorating acidic pulp paper.

 

Xmen1PC.jpg

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14 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

The more appropriate term to describe what you're referring to is cover transparency. The cause of being able to see art elements of the inside cover appearing on the front or back cover can be varied. it can be caused in different degrees by a strong interior cover strike of darker inks corresponding to the same location of white or light cover color areas. The lighter the area of the outside and the deeper the strike and ink color of the inside strike will determine how much of a distraction the effect of the transparency will be.

The effect can also be made more severe by cover toning by off-gassing from the inside pages, the type that gives light color covers an almost "oily" look of greater transparency. Many comics have this effect, ranging from very little to severe enough to not simply be able to discern shapes through the cover, but actually read the inside cover (or a mirror image of it) through the front.

Now although transparency can affect the eye appeal of a light cover with a strong inside cover strike, here's an X-Men #1 CGC graded 9.8 that displays mild transparency over the entire area of the front cover. Note the white pages, and being the Pacific Coast copy, the printing mechanics and materials, as are on most, are the culprits behind the mild transparency and not elements of off-gassing due to deteriorating acidic pulp paper.

 

Xmen1PC.jpg

I've had a few books with this kind of mild transparency and after having them reholdered came back improved. The white areas looked more solidly white. One of them was IH181 with some transparency on the white "Hulk" title logo

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