Book Review: "The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics"

I got the book and it is a disappointment . Gives one page of general outline how to grade . For high grades , subtract defects backwards from 10.0 . For mid grades , one or two paragraphs about narrowing method . Says mid grades grading are more of art than science . Majority of book is describing defects and what grade range they belong . Spine split falls between 1.8 and 9.4 . Oh Thanks .
Some of the pictures are awful . The ones showing page quality is a joke . Dark and poorly taken photos . White pages look tanned . The rest of the book is fluff that I don't care about . Like all the labels CGC provides blah blah . Totally disagree with your review .

• Tucor
  
  Welcome to the boards!.
  
  I reviewed it and I am glad because it provided some insight in the grading process. There were some things I wished were better. I wanted certain sections to be better and others not there at all. I liked that the mid grades would take a lot of experience because it is hard to differentiate the grades. this is good to know because mid grades are where a lot of disputes exist between buyers and sellers.
  
  Remember this is a first edition and I am glad it came to fruition because for years what went into the grades was a mystery. Even this reveal is beneficial. If you get 20% from the book that is more than was available before it was published.
  
  As you can see, I value on insight and comments on all topics. Your comments were great because you would hope that CGC reads them and takes them into consideration for a 2nd edition. I liked the book because I value references as an attorney. Many books we buy have flaws but there might be other books that fill in those flaws. This is a book though in my opinion is a must buy because we live in a world where grading is very important and this is a book on grading. The other 3rd party grading services missed the boat and CGC filled in the void. The next step will thus be important: 2nd edition by CGC or entry level by those other companies. Until then this book is a must have in my opinion.

Coil binding would be awesome. Not just from the wear aspect on the guide, it can actually affect the wear of the subject being graded. If the guide lays flat, it frees up both hands to manipulate the comic being graded. No more juggling!

• Marc
  
  Welcome to the boards!. I never thought of that but you are right. It would free up the hands more. The less you have to worry about the guide the more you can focus on the book you are evaluating. That is what you want for a reference book is to make it easy to use. Who knows but maybe CGC will read some of these comments and think about them if they do a second edition.

He's referring to ALL pressing, and CGC's pressing specifically. There's plenty of pressers out there that will vehemently disagree with him.

1) They should of offered a way to have it slabbed for collectables.

2) From an educational standpoint, an ecopy should be supplied or available

• Grayson
  
  Welcome to the boards!!!
  
  I love the idea of an e copy. Makes it much more user friendly to the tech savvy hobbyists....

OK, it's my opinion that CGC is a joke and a scam, and here's why:

When CGC first started grading comics everyone knew they were not following Overstreet grading standards. Overstreet was the standard bearer and sole authority on comic book grading up until CGC came along. CGC does not recognize printing defects such as badly miswrapped covers. Overstreet did not allow for such a major defect in the 9.4 grade. But CGC totally ignores major printing defects that should be downgraded. Even in 9.8, CGC allows for miswrapped covers. Ironically, they seem to make a big deal out of staple placement. Isn't a miswrapped cover far more noticeable than one staple not being on the spine like the other? If one staple is out of place that doesn't bother me at all. But a miswrapped cover sure does.

Second, CGC's 10 point grading scale is ridiculous. CGC grades conics like coins and baseball cards but comic books are a diferent animal entirely and cannot be graded the same way. Comics have historically been printed in no better than 9.8 condition, so WHY is CGC using a grading scale that wasn't meant for comics? From tbe start, CGC has been a joke. And everyone knows their grading has not always been tight at all. CGC has made many grading mistakes, so why does the public consider them to be "professional graders," especially when CGC has never made such a claim? GCC has skewed public perception into thinking comics of the 70's and 80's were 9.9 and 10.0 when they came off the printing press when such a thing would be an extremely rare exception and anomaly rather than the norm. So, why the 9.9 and 10.0 grades on CGC's ridiculous 10 point grading scale?

Another thing about CGC is they participate in and encourage the mutilation of comics. Pressing comics is mutilation. The pressure from pressing paper causes the paper fibers to break down and a comic is actually thinner as a result. CGC performs this "service" even though it's bad for comics. And the collecting public ia now heat pressing comics themselves, not knowing what they're doing, to achieve a higher grade from CGC. Everyone knows heat, moisture and heavy pressure is not prefferable to a comic that has not been subjected to such extteme conditions. Pressing also makes the page edges fan out, thereby changing a comic from it's original appearance. And it also makes staples dig into the cover, thereby causing harm that may not be noticed, but is there. This is why i say CGC is a joke. They're like a doctor treating a patient who doesn't know what he's doing because a specialist is needed. These people at CGC are anything but specialists at comic book preservation. I don't claim to be a specialist but i've been into comics since i was 4 years old in 1973 and have common sense enough to see what CGC is doing is barbadic and more about making money rather than actually preserving comics. All that matters nowadays is the number grade and the actual comic can be locked away in a plastic case for all anyone cares rather than keeping comics in their original, unmutilated state.

The collecting public is also to blame for feeding the monster that is CGC. Yes, CGC can be good for getting an idea as to what a comic's grade is, and yes, their holder can protect your comics. But that doesn't excuse all the harm they've done to comics and the hobby.

• Sean
  
  Nice post because many feel the way that you do. The problem is that Overstreet was the standard bearer in much the same way like KMart and Sears. Overstreet had the market and it was what everyone, including myself, used to grade comics. Then what happened is that they never evolved and the market passed them by. Some may not love it but CGC is in fact the leader. If another 3rd party grading company put out a grading book they may have passed CGC because then they may have established the standard but they did not. Many say they harmed the comic book market while others say they made selling books sight unseen more acceptable. Maybe someone though will read your post and make some changes to make it more user friendly but who knows. No one will love everything about CGC but because most books are now sold by the internet CGC is a necessary tool for many
  

Sean, it's clear you have no idea what goes into properly pressing a comic. None of those things you mention happen if done correctly. Instead of making a bunch of assumptions, you should do your homework first.

• What I would add is that there is a distinction and trade off between the structural defects Sean is mentioning and the aesthetic improvement gained from pressing . Even if pressing does cause some damage , it is surely mostly unseen at a microscopic level . And yet there is benefit to the look of the book . There is a trade off . For SEAN , I guess this trade off is not acceptable but I think to most of us it is . And that is if there actually is any damage at the microscopic level . I am just taking him at his word and I don't know that there is any studied evidence of this . CGC bothers me for other reasons , but allowing pressing is not one of them .

• Mark
  
  The key is PROPERLY pressed. i have seen many a bad pressing and if done incorrectly you will have flaws. The book actually discusses some flaws created by improper pressing. Remember that Sean may have seen those bad pressings and that may be what he is basing his position.

  • Yes, i've seen images of pressed CGC graded comics with fanned page edges posted on the internet and that's partly what i based my opinion on. If the so-called "experts" have pressed comics improperly in the past, how can they be trusted to do anything right? My point is if CGC are not really "professional graders" then they have prepetrated one of the biggest scams on a trusting public. Many decades ago, restoration used to be seen as a postiive. Now, it's the "kiss of death" for collectors. No one wants restored comics today. Most everyone would prefer a comic that has not been tampered with and painted to look better. I think there will come a day when pressing will be seen in the same way and pressed comics will be avoided if evidence of pressing can be detected (such as fanning of page edges. I saw the before and after photos of an Avengers #1 pressed by CGC with that defect online. It may look better than a spine roll, but if ithe fanning is not how the comic would naturally look, it may warrant a "qualified" grade bump rather than unqualified).
    
    We seem to be in an era now, where collectors are not as discerning. When a reprint of the first appearance of Groot or an ad for the first appearance of Wolverine commands a premium almost like an actual appearance, the former unwritten rules of collecting that used to be recognized among collectors no longer apply. And i think pressing comics is more of the same questionable judgment that i suppose newer collectors don't care to question and those who should know better, ignore because they don't mind the pressing if a comic looks nicer in a sealed plastic holder and they get more profit as sellers of "professionally graded" comics (that may or may not be pressed since the pressing is often not disclosed to the buyers. It seems to me that CGC encourages shady selling practices in that regard as all that matters in the end is the number grade and pressing is not noted as restoration on the label).
    
    Plus, a comic could be put in a 140 degree heat car or kept in a very humid enviornment after it's been CGC graded and sealed in the holder. The idea that a certified grade on the label can be completely trusted is fallacious. And yet many sellers on the internet act as such. And who would know if those "off-white to white" pages have not yellowed if a comic is sealed in a holder and can't be examined without breaking open the sealed holder?

I bought a comic brand new off the rack when it came out. I feel that it was well cared for and not subjected to poor storage conditions. This fanning that is supposed to be a result of bad pressing aroused my curiosity. I took this comic and according to CGC they showed how to check it for fanning and a bad press. I tried it with this comic I spoke of and it fanned the same as described by CGC. Funny thing is the comic never was pressed.

• Ken
  
  Many other factors can attribute to fanning...Remember in the past pressing meant putting it between objects and then providing force like from an actual press. The same can be true in how they were shipped from the distributor or put on display. Years ago one comic book store that has since closed had an owner that would put the comics one on top of each other so they were stacked together when he was making the display. Creases and spine roles were always present from this poor handling of books. You and you could see page fanning in more extreme cases and these were for books released that week.
  
  I saw some thing in the book that could be attributed to other circumstances as well. The book is a good one to use as a reference but again it is only a reference. I loved it in that I finally could get insight into how they were calling game (baseball season LOL). The both of us though can extrapolate the basics and find additional means to duplicate those defects. Do you know how many people I talk to who still think a book right out of the box is a 9.8 LOL.