Valiant CGC books.... does it lead to the dark side ?

[Cyberstrike]

My serious answer - since I have sold all but two of my CGC books (Solar 1 and 2):

I don't like having CGC books. In my mind, I know when I have good books. I know some of my books are NM/Mint, and I don't need CGC to tell me that. In fact, CGC might not agree for some reason, and a book that to ME is a 9.8 might to CGC be only a 9.6. Their opinion is valid, and so is mine. The difference between 9.6 and 9.8 is splitting hairs as it is.

That said, I can see the appeal of CGC books. You know they are recognized by others as being in great shape (if they are 9.6/9.8), and they make for a spectacular collection. The CGC collections of some of the guys on this board are amazing, and beautiful to see.

The best thing to do is to try it. Buy a couple books, or submit a couple books, and see how you like having those slabs. They might be the prize of your collection, or they might just be other books in a funny plastic holder.

Great post! To throw one of my in here, it is NEVER a bad thing to buy "slabbed" books at or below the cost of the same book in "raw" grade. My personal story, I have an Uncanny X-Men #135 that I bought for less than $20 shipped, CGC 7.5. That's less than it costs to slab it, and a few bucks less than it was worth at 7.0 raw. I looked at this book and looked at this book, and I can't see anything wrong with it. I even called CGC for grader's note but they didn't say anything in particular, SO - I cracked this thing out of the slab, look it over inside and out, and SWEAR that it's an 8.5-9.0, easy. I can't find any hidden stains, no nothing. So... there is that. I'm not saying it happens often, and I'm not trying to sell anyone a 9.0 that CGC said otherwise on, but they aren't perfect. Take that either way you want.





-slym

I think that some of it is that graders are people too and have opinions about the titles they're grading. It might be that the person who reviewed your copy of Uncanny X-Men #135 and just doesn't like that issue for some reason.

I'm not a collector I'm a reader of comics so while condition matters only to a certain point (if I'm buying a hard to find book then I want the best condition for my money) it's safe to assume that most of my collection is at best 5.0-7.5 range I might have a few books in 8-9 range but frankly I was to busy reading them that I never bothered to properly take care of them.

What annoys me is that when I was shopping on eBay for comics in general is that I would stumble upon a book that I wanted to read and the only copy that I could find was a CCG slabbed copy. But the thing that REALLY annoys me is a CCG slabbed comic going for lot of money when you can get a raw copy for less than the book's cover price.

[400yrs]

I don't like having CGC books. In my mind, I know when I have good books. I know some of my books are NM/Mint, and I don't need CGC to tell me that.

That's my thoughts as well. I've sold most of the Valiant slabs that I've owned.

If you are getting into Valiant slabs, don't think lowly of 9.6s. When you compare values, I've been much happier with 9.6s that I've bought than 9.8s. Many of the 9.8 slabs that I've bought, I would consider lower than a 9.8 in my collection. I'm still not certain if it's because of transit or what, but I've been pretty disappointed with too many modern 9.8 slabs that I've bought.

I would say, that I do like slabs for silver age mid grade books. You can often get them at the same price as raw copies and CGC is pretty tough on them (most of the time). So a slabbed 6.0 Avengers 12 is going to look alot nicer than 95% of the ebay even 8.0 raw copies.

As far as submitting to CGC, I've only done it once, but I received exactly the grades that I expected. I didn't like that one of the 9.8 books came back with a spine ding in the slab though.

[slym2none]

I would say, that I do like slabs for silver age mid grade books. You can often get them at the same price as raw copies and CGC is pretty tough on them (most of the time). So a slabbed 6.0 Avengers 12 is going to look alot nicer than 95% of the ebay even 8.0 raw copies.

And don't forget, the restoration check!





-slym

[cooper99]

when i was a young'un bagging and boarding comics wasn't even an option. just roll em up and stick them in your back pocket and read them later at home. then in the 90's when i started to collect comics again this was absolutely the only way to go. read them once and carefully put them in plastic and wait a couple of years, sell them and retire. for me these were pre-internet days and the only info i could get on valiant was from the blurbs inside the comics themselves and perhaps wizard had some info as well.
when i got back into collecting a couple months back, believe me the whole scene had shifted again. it really wasn't good enough just to have the old back issues, but to have them in as near perfect condition as possible. and i was really fine with that. it was a worthwhile goal to put a set together in nm/m shape. when cruising ebay i kinda figured out what a cgc book was (i'm not that dumb) and the whole idea really, really intrigued me. man i just had to have one just to see what they were all about. i saw pictures of them but i wanted to hold one, own one, feel it in my hands, examine one. so i went ahead and bought my first one, a rai 9 gold cgc 9.8.
and my life probaby changed right there. boy was i impressed, lemme tell ya. what an incredible rush when i finally got hold of one. just the presentation of the book kinda changed my whole outlook on the idea of collecting comics. solid, clean, bright, hefty, and that beautiful 9.8 up in the corner. i was absolutely hooked on the idea. the first thing i said to myself after wow was.. this is my first, but it sure ain't gonna my last (i think i said the same thing after having sex for the first time).
well i guess you can tell that i'm all for the concept and i really have to resist the urge to buy up every one i see that comes up for sale. gotta save some money for groceries. there are certain covers i love, most of b.w.s.'s and bob hall's art really does it for me. the wrap-around covers are cool too for obvious reasons.
anyways there's my two cents on the idea. like i've stated it's all in the presentation that cgc books give that impresses me. there's no guessing involved anymore, it is what it is. 9.8, 9.6 whatever, a near mint copy and it should stay that way unless you want to use it for something like skeet-shooting. and that's my take on that issue.....

coop