There's a lot of unnecessary snobbery in the comic community concerning slabbed books, and I have to admit that I used to be one of those bores who went around decrying the practice: "What's the point of entombing comics?" I'd whine "They're for reading".
Bah. What a cock!
It took a nasty accident with a cup of tea and my mint condition copy of Alpha Flight #1 to convince me that encasing the more valuable comics in my collection made sense. I'm still looking for an adequate replacement for my tea-stained treasure, I doubt I'll ever find one with the same sharp corners and snow-white pages :-(. Still, at least the experience persuaded me that I had to take action with some of my other high grade comics. I've had around 30 books graded and slabbed by CGC now, and I've been so satisfied with their service that I plan to send off more as soon as I can afford it.
The first book I ever submitted for grading was Magnus Robot Fighter #1, Jim Shooter's bold reboot of the old Gold Key property for Valiant comics...
The art by Bob Nichols and Bob Layton is sensational, while Shooter moves the story along at a cracking pace. It really is one of my favourite books from the early 90s and one which is becoming increasingly hard to find in high grade. I believe my copy, (which received a 9.8 from CGC), is the second highest graded copy in existence. It's worth around £3 ungraded, but I've seen a 9.5 go on ebay for $50 so I'm guessing mine could fetch around double that - not that I'd ever part with it.
Buoyed by the impressive marks for my Magnus, I submitted several other of the high grade books in my collection for grading and was delighted to find that not one came back any lower than 9.2! Sadly, none of my books received the elusive 10 out of 10 which I craved.
Beautiful isn't it? Set me back $75 + shipping, and finally satisfied my itch for the perfect comic! I've yet to buy a reading copy of the book, although I understand from friends who know about these things that it's based on a popular video game of the same name. Not my cup of tea, but a solid investment nonetheless.
Hopefully it won't be the last perfect 10 in my collection. I'm hoping to do a deal with the man at the new shop for some of those Obama Spideys he has on his wall. I know I've said that I'm not a fan of all these Obama variants, but he reckons he can get a few 10.0s out of the ones he's got left, and that for a modest fee (£300) he can guarantee me one. If I take it and sit on it for a few years, I reckon I could make a killing on ebay. Happy days! GOD BLESS CGC!
Bah. What a cock!
It took a nasty accident with a cup of tea and my mint condition copy of Alpha Flight #1 to convince me that encasing the more valuable comics in my collection made sense. I'm still looking for an adequate replacement for my tea-stained treasure, I doubt I'll ever find one with the same sharp corners and snow-white pages :-(. Still, at least the experience persuaded me that I had to take action with some of my other high grade comics. I've had around 30 books graded and slabbed by CGC now, and I've been so satisfied with their service that I plan to send off more as soon as I can afford it.
The first book I ever submitted for grading was Magnus Robot Fighter #1, Jim Shooter's bold reboot of the old Gold Key property for Valiant comics...
It's a fantastic comic in which Magnus, the strongest man on Earth Colony 10, is kidnapped by the evil robot warlord AF-1 and forced to breed with the half robot half woman cyborgs of the factory planet Chroma. AF-1 hopes to produce a near indestructible race of super robots, but Magnus has other ideas and escapes the Chroma hatchery to embark on a revenge mission that plays out over the course of the next six issues.
The art by Bob Nichols and Bob Layton is sensational, while Shooter moves the story along at a cracking pace. It really is one of my favourite books from the early 90s and one which is becoming increasingly hard to find in high grade. I believe my copy, (which received a 9.8 from CGC), is the second highest graded copy in existence. It's worth around £3 ungraded, but I've seen a 9.5 go on ebay for $50 so I'm guessing mine could fetch around double that - not that I'd ever part with it.
Buoyed by the impressive marks for my Magnus, I submitted several other of the high grade books in my collection for grading and was delighted to find that not one came back any lower than 9.2! Sadly, none of my books received the elusive 10 out of 10 which I craved.
Being the fucknut that I am, this irked me slightly. To tell you the truth, I got mildly obsessional about owning a perfect 10 and, when it became clear that none of my books was ever going to receive this grade, I began trawling ebay for affordable copies of MINT CGC books. I almost bought a Civil War #1 10.0 for $500, but eventually settled on this Graham Crackers promotional copy of Bloodrayne #1...
Beautiful isn't it? Set me back $75 + shipping, and finally satisfied my itch for the perfect comic! I've yet to buy a reading copy of the book, although I understand from friends who know about these things that it's based on a popular video game of the same name. Not my cup of tea, but a solid investment nonetheless.Hopefully it won't be the last perfect 10 in my collection. I'm hoping to do a deal with the man at the new shop for some of those Obama Spideys he has on his wall. I know I've said that I'm not a fan of all these Obama variants, but he reckons he can get a few 10.0s out of the ones he's got left, and that for a modest fee (£300) he can guarantee me one. If I take it and sit on it for a few years, I reckon I could make a killing on ebay. Happy days! GOD BLESS CGC!
8 comments:
That is comic book collecting in the extreme! I salute you sir, and all those that choose a similar path.
April Fool!
Obv
I mean AF-1, that gave it away, right?
haha, few. i was about to call you seven shades of madman. iam very hung over though. what is true in this?
You got me! I did think it was a little odd, but the part of me that tries to see the good in everything took over!
"what is true in this?"
Nothing I'm afraid.
Wait, does this mean my carefully-preserved-in-lucite Magnus isn't worth £75? WOEZ.
Wait, does this mean my carefully-preserved-in-lucite Magnus isn't worth £75? WOEZ.
If only the existence of CGC were some kind of April Fool.
Still...a grade 10 Bloodrayne...
Post a Comment