kevin75

what with the advent of professionally graded comics, i am curious as to what everyone's opinion of them is? has anyone had any graded by CGC and if so what was the process like? i don't know about everyone else but i am kinda hesitant to forge into this territory. now if this was 10 years ago when the speculation craze was running rampant but now i am just into comics for the pure joy of reading them. plus, if i read right it cost anywhere from $15 to get one graded so that would possible incure more debt but i guess that it might pay off in the long run.

The Antipodean

I think CGC pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with comics. But then again I am 100% in the "it's the story, not the condition or value" camp when it comes to comic books. Sure I don't mind making an extra buck or two selling valuable originals on eBay but I almost never buy a comic because I think it'll be worth more money.

What particuarly strikes me as despicable about CGC is they way they've totally overinflated the back issue market, where you get their fairly meaningless "certification" and suddenly a $10 comic goes for $100 on eBay. I'm sorry, but paying someone to get them to "certify" my comic and stick it in a plastic case forever doesn't strike me as sound. I'm sure a 9.8 grade CGC comic is in very fine condition and all but frankly it all strikes me as a big scam for CGC and speculators to make some money. This kind of stuff is terrible for comics and it was back in the early '90s too during the last "speculator" boom. I particularly love how Wizard is utterly in the pocket with these guys, giving them tons of press and "legitimacy" -- kind of makes you wonder if they get a back end of the deal.

Anyway. Didn't mean to rant. I do suppose if I had an "X-Men #94" or something like that that I wanted to unload for mucho bucks I might invest in their scam just to get some more of some fanboy's allowance money out of him but otherwise I consider them beneath contempt. Glad you asked!

madcougar

I see this as a service for serious collectors more than anything. I for one don't have any interest in owning a perfect 10.0 grade of anything. I just want to read the damn thing. While I certainly wouldn't purposely destroy a comic book, I don't go nuts trying to ensure each and everyone of my books is mint to near mint.

This is the same type of service that many companies perform for coin, stamp, and card collectors. The difference is that you can put one of these items in a case and still enjoy it. You can't put a comic book in a case and enjoy it.

I remember reading a story that mentioned that only a few comic books had earned a perfect grade. One of the books that had this grade was like issue 27 of Warrior (Guy Gardner book). I couldn't for the life of me understand what the guy who sent this in was thinking. "Hmmm, this issue of Warrior sure looks good to me. Think I'll pay $15 to have it graded. Then I will sell it for big bucks!"

Liquid Death

I collect comics to read them and in very few situations do I sell them. Extras that I end up with I usually pass on to friends. I really can't forsee using CGC in the future, as if I was buying a comic, I'd want to be able to read it and that kinda defeats buying a high graded CGC book.

Having said that, I appreciate CGC being around. For people who collect comics for value or those who want a particular condition (esp for Gold/Silver Age stuff) and want it unrestored, CGC serves a valuable purpose.

Josh-da-man

I think it (in theory, at least) provides a valuable service, especially in the Ebay age. It provides a standard grading scheme. One of my problems with Ebay is that sellers often over-estimate grades or have no clue on how to grade. When someone says something is in "good" condition, I'm not quite sure what they mean. "Good" as in like new, or "good" as in complete but very well-worn? (This applies not just to comics, but to everything from books to CDs to DVDs to record albums.)

That said, I think there is a problem with CGC being abused. There is no reason to CGC grade most "modern" comics. There are so many copies of things like Spawn #1 floating around that it's essentially worthless. Yet we've all heard the stories of early Image comics being CGC graded and selling for revolting sums of money. Unless a recent comic -- like Miracleman #15 -- is particularly scarce and valuable, CGCing it serves no purpose whatsoever. Fact is most post-DM comics are in NM condition because they were produced for a collector's market. I think CGC was being used to pump up the prices of lots of worthless comics, and an attempt was made to create a new speculation frenzy. Which is the last thing the industry needs -- the last one almost killed it.

AgtFox

Much like other people have said, the CGC is both good and bad. It's good if you are a collector and plan to sell a bunch of your comic books in the future as the CGC grading will get you more bids than a non-graded comic book would more than likely.

The bad part of CGC is the inflation of prices once something is GCG-graded. Technically for the amount you pay to have it graded it gets paid back to you in spades once you sell it on eBay. I don't think they would be inflated as much if eBay wasn't around. But if you're looking for quick and big money (and have a semi-worthy comic book), CGC grading is the way to go.

Sessa17

I'm in agreement with all the above posts that think it is both bad & good except for Sierra's rant, b/c CGC is definitely not a scam however he is right for wondering about the CGC/Wizard connecton as they are both owned by the same people.

However I actually have a lot of experience with CGC as I have about 10 CGC books of my own but I've sent in a lot more & one of the customers at the comic book store I work at & help run use to work for CGC until they move & my comic book store was in Wizard & couple of other publications b/c we had the very first CGC grade 10 comic book ever.

The 10 or so books I myself kept after CGCing I did so only for myself, I don't ever plan on selling. I did this b/c they are my all-time favorite comics that are all in what I thought was amazing condition & I like that they are incased/ labeled with the signifincance of the issue & I like to display them. Sometimes it backfires as I sent in my Giant Sized X-men #1 which I thought was absolutely perfect & it only came back a 7.2, which is still pretty good but I thought it was better.

On the other hand I have also sent books in just for profit but I rarely do this. I went to a Marvel retailers rally & got 7 copies for free of the nude misprint of Elektra #3. I sent them off, they all came back at 9.7, 9.8. & one 9.9 which I kept for myself since I love the cover. At the time I was the only person on ebay with them that were graded so I sold 3 at a little over $100 bucks a pop, one of the 9.8s went for much more. The only time I usally do this is working at a comic book store I can get a lot of rare variants for pretty much nothing so why would you not want to profit from that.

It normaly costs $15 bucks an issue & takes about 4-6 weeks to get back. Sometimes less sometimes longer. Or you can pay like $30-$40 to get them back faster but I have no idea why anyone would do that.

The Antipodean

Rant? Moi? OK, "scam" may be a bit harsh but your comment about the fact that Wizard and CGC are owned by the same people just kind of underlines my point that this is mostly a big hype. Wizard is ostensibly a "comic journalism" magazine yet they give CGC tons of free press in the 'zine without stating in neon letters "Oh by the way, we own this company " To me that's a HUGE freakin' conflict of interest but then again when has anyone ever considered Wizard to be ethical? Sigh...

whotony

it seems to me that it is just a way to gouge buyers out of more money then a book should really sell for.

when buy a back issue i want to look at it myself and judge what i think it's worth.
then i want to take it haome and read it ,then put it in a bag then file it away.

but i still want to be able to open it whenever i want without ruining the hermeticly(sp) sealed portable vault they put it in.

i am a collecter but i am also a reader. because reading comics is fun. it's not fun to own a comic if you cant look at the artwork inside the book.

if i ever bought one of the cgc sealed books it would be because i couldnt find it anywere else and i would open it as soon as i got home.

i suppose this is only for people who really have no interest in comics other then to buy and sell them without admiring the art or the writing.

Sessa17

I could not disagree more & honestly I don't even understand how someone could say that, it seems that if one says such a thing they are just bitter about the situation, maybe b/c they can't use it. I probably love comics more as much if not more than anyone here, I work in a comic book store that one of my best friends owns. As I posted earlier, I have sent dozens of my books to CGC & kept about 10 of them for myself with no intent on selling. The one thing I would never do is buy a book that is from CGC. But to me the one thing you are right about is that comics are fun, & I love comics. The books I sent to CGC for myself are my favorite comics, & extremely hard to get issues(Giant Size X-men #1, Fantastic Four #41, Dardevil 168) that I have in amazing condition & I want to keep that way, plus I wanted to display them in a way they would not get damaged, this are amazing comics I didn't just want them sitting in a long box. I love the storytelling in these comics, the characters that they introduce, & most importantly the art. Every single comic I have sent to CGC except one I can still read & enjoy all of that in the trade paperbacks that I have containg the same issues or the reprints.

whotony

sessa i understand your point about an expensive comic and wanting to keep it sealed up to keep it in its present condition.

i also have bought some trades to read some books that i can't get. but i would not buy a book if i couldn't open it.

i know you can open a cgc book but gthen the value falls on the floor.

so i would still only buy one if i couldt find it any other way.

whotony

sorry to bring this up again but everytime i go into a comic store or read comic buyer guide and see books that should be worth 30 or 40 dollars and are selling for 200 or 300 dollars c=because they are sealed in one of those things with a number like 9.6 on it i get totally disgusted because a book that i need for my collection is completely out of reach due to the overpricing by thE CGC process.
i know long sentance but i am really ticked by this pricing scam.

kvrdave

I have only sent in one comic because of the expense (Star Trek Gold Key #1). How prevalent is the use of CGC? I have picked up a few on ebay because the service is often more costly than the comic (slays me). I also picked up a Star Wars #1 9.6 for under $80. I figured that since the service itself was around $40, it was a bargain.

Anyone bother with these, or do you reserve it for the big names?

CaptainMarvel

Not a chance. If you buy comics as an investment, you've lost your money already, basically. The only reason I even still bag and board my comics is out of pure force of habit (and I'm actually probably doing more harm than good... some bags and boards can degrade comics over time, so it's recommended you change bags every few years; I'm not shelling out a few hundred dollars to rebag/board several thousand comics though).

The only people I know who actually CGC are:

1) A friend of mine who travels around the southeast doing mall shows... for some reason, parents and non-collectors just love to buy that nifty, slabbed comic. I guess it's the whole Nascar-cheap-card-on-a-slab-of-wood thing. If you wrap up crap to look purdy, people will buy it. And for some things, it's actually a plus that you can't open the comics and read the pages (*coughJohnByrnecough*).

2) Serious collectors who are only CGC'ing for themselves; I know one guy working on a complete run of all things Spider-Man, and he CGC's everything.

kvrdave

Yeah, there looks like a lot of "crap shoot" similar to having cards graded. I do like having a few high grade comics slabbed, but I couldn't see doing many. If I did a series, I would be too anal and have to have them all be the same grade.

CaptainMarvel

The only time I'd even consider it is if you get a coupon for a free grading. They give those out to retailers occasionally; my friend got one of those coupons, slabbed a white covered copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (a couple weeks after it came out), and ended up selling it for close to $200 on eBay. That sort of thing isn't a bad deal, but it's also rare..

But anytime anything is free, it's pretty much of a no-brainer anyway, isn't it?

JasonF

For Goldern or Silver Age books, it might be worthwhile, particularly in this day of eBay and internet purchasing. It's worth it to have some objective grading of that copy of Police Comics #1 before I spend tens of thousands of dollars on it. For Ultimate Spider-Man, though, it's laughable. $200? The comic is what -- two years old? It's available in abundance, and most of the copies are in relatively good condition. CGC comics priced significanly higher than non-slabbed comics is a specualtive bubble, and it's going to pop sooner or later, same as any other bubble.

kvrdave

Agreed. Same happened with most card grading. What I find interesting is when copies of books sell for less than the grading cost. I understand it, but I wonder why those people bother grading a copy of some random new comic.

CharlesC

You got to hell! You go to hell and die!

el_jer

I wondered the same thing. I have a few boxes of comics from the 70's and very early eighties. While I don't consider them a goldmine I do have some books that are priced over $100 based on the overstreet book. I was thinking about getting a few graded and put away. Does this make any sense? Since the majority of them are Spiderman and Xmen I thought about selling while the iron is hot or before the movies sequels become like the Batman series!

CaptainMarvel

It was the variant white cover, so it isn't quite so abundant. Still not worth it though.

This is what I was talking about.

kvrdave

Man, that guy doesn't look like he actually sells anything. Starts too high and has BIN prices even higher.

You usually get more starting at $.01, but maybe he figures it is worth the occasional sucker. I would get tired of paying insertion fees, etc. for stuff that never sells.

CaptainMarvel

I just pulled it up b/c it was the first one I saw; there are several completed auctions for $200+.

I always start my auctions at around $0.01 also. It's been successful so far.

hypeiv

no way... i have a few comics worth like $100 but no one is going to buy them, they will just get the reprints to read... i would never sell them anyway...

BinaryTB

I personally believe that CGC should only be limited to silver/golden age comic books. If they're that old and in very nice condition, I would be very hesitant to read it myself because of my old habits (I still bag/board my books, habit and I don't like have 100s of them just lying around my room).

The very rare silver/golden age books (Amazing Fantasy #15, Action Comics #1, etc etc etc) are available in TPBs or reprints and the non-so-rare ones can be bought _super_ cheap (around a couple dollars or less) for reading purposes, usually in horrible condition though.

Here is a link for the oldest 10.0 CGC graded comic book, EVER (1968!): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...item=741829080

It's being sold by Mile High Comics and all proceeds go to the CBLDF (a VERY good cause).

-Spooon69