Is the smudging on the black Memorial covers driving anybody else nuts? 0

[GlennSimpson]

I really didn't want to have to start wearing gloves just to read my comics, but I got fingerprints on two different Chadwick Bozeman comics and one True Believers book that i recently bought.  I certainly am in favor of the spirit of the all-black covers but I am finding that they smudge really easily.

Edited October 30, 2020 by GlennSimpson

[Qalyar]

On 10/30/2020 at 2:01 PM, 333 said:

Aren't the True Believers books those $1 reprints? If so, why care? 

 

Because condition also matters to people who collect things for more than just their flippable dollar value?

Black covers are always tough for attracting defects. That's true for any Age and nearly any title.

[The Lions Den]

3 hours ago, Qalyar said:

Because condition also matters to people who collect things for more than just their flippable dollar value?

Black covers are always tough for attracting defects. That's true for any Age and nearly any title.

Sounds like a good lesson was learned for a reasonable price...

[Qalyar]

40 minutes ago, 333 said:

I don't want to live in a world where people care about the condition of dollar reprints 

I'm not saying people should slab dollar books (generally speaking). But it's perfectly reasonable to collect full title runs that include variants and later printings, especially when those predate what "variant" means right now. Or to collect by artist or author of character or whatever else might include books that belong in a collection for completeness despite a lack of monetary value.

And I, for one, want whatever books I collect to be the best copies I can realistically acquire. I'm in this hobby to collect comics, not as some sort of colorfully illustrated investment holding. And I've never been comfortable with the idea that there's some minimum FMV for books, below which I should just stop caring about defects.

[joeypost]

1 hour ago, 333 said:

I don't want to live in a world where people care about the condition of dollar reprints 

While I am not going to focus on the monetary value of the books, I will draw on past experience. The “worthless” reprint books of my day, are some of the hardest books to find in any condition, let alone ultra high grade. Due to that, when they do come to market, they command premium prices, especially the ones with black/dark front or back covers. 
 

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by joeypost

[steveinthecity]

1 hour ago, 333 said:

I don't want to live in a world where people care about the condition of dollar reprints 

This comment made me take a look at some of these $1 reprints.  No fingerprints, but the back cover ink is rubbing off onto the backer board on this one. Less than a year old.  

[joeypost]

11 minutes ago, 333 said:

We're talking about $1 reprints where the original books are worth about $100 in CGC 9.8, so your example is apples and oranges to me.

While you are entitled to your opinion, I am going to respectfully disagree. 

Time to make an apple pie. 

[Qalyar]

37 minutes ago, steveinthecity said:

This comment made me take a look at some of these $1 reprints.  No fingerprints, but the back cover ink is rubbing off onto the backer board on this one. Less than a year old.  

This is actually a significant problem with high gloss inks on modern cover stock. Heavily inked books (like, well, black back covers) show it first, but in general, this is going to be a source of a lot of grade failures when people start paying closer attention to these books in future.

[theCapraAegagrus]

14 hours ago, 333 said:

Let me know if any dolts send in a $1 True Believers reprint of MTU #62 or X-Force #1 for pressing 

[revat]

this sounds like a shill from the glove lobby.

[GlennSimpson]

FWIW, I only included the True Believers because it was an example of it happening on a non-black cover.    But we had a few #1's come out during the Stan Lee memorial period, and a couple of mine got ruined.  And I had two Chadwick Bozeman issues get knocked down to 6.0 or whatever would apply.