Oxbladder

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9/25/2016 Topic: The Poly Bag Oxbladder	As I said only the most anal will attach value or completeness to a poly bag. If you send a book to be graded they won't grade it unless you give them permission to open the bag. If you give it CGC will open it and chuck the bag and any non-comic contents. I think CBCS will send that stuff back. If all comics came in poly bags you might be able to pull off the toy comparison but they don't and the poly bags have never been more than containers like the third party bags comic shops and collectors use. I have no problem if some folks want to attach value to them but to attach them to the comic value is a bit off since they are not bound to the comic. Often neither are the loose items that were packaged with the comic that most of them held. edited by Oxbladder on 9/25/2016
9/25/2016 Topic: Marvel's ressurecting 70s bargain bin characters Oxbladder	As Aaron says Marvel makes no money off the secondary market but they can profit from it if they notice the reaction in the secondary market. Marvel has renewed interest in many a character because of their movies and they have profited as a result. Ant-man, Groot, Howard the Duck, etc have all seen revivals in their careers. You also have to keep in mind that many Bronze Age books are now 40+ years old and for 20-30 years they were treated with little care and as a result they not as common in high grade now. Now the 70 and 80s books are treated with care and a great deal of nostalgia. Ten plus years ago they were still "new". When I started in the late 70's 70's and much of the late 60's books were junk, then it was the 70's and 80's then the 80's and 90's now it is the much of the 90's to present. Funny how all books from the 70's to present are or were junk, eh?
9/25/2016 Topic: Batman from the 30's to the 70's....Help! Oxbladder	Keep in mind too that hard covers and trades appeal only to a small market and that it can be hard to get an accurate gauge on prices since those few people have differing assessments on the value of a book.
9/25/2016 Topic: CGC refuses to grade Jungle Fantasy nude variants Oxbladder	There are a number of reasons they may not grade books so unless you get an actual reason you cannot assume it it the nudity alone that they did not grade them. Boundless may have had an arrangement with them to get a certain number graded.
9/25/2016 Topic: NEWBIES Oxbladder	Welcome. Sadly the forum is mostly dead now. (It was self inflicted)
9/26/2016 Topic: NEWBIES Oxbladder	The entire site needs restructuring. What has been lost will not be recovered.
9/30/2016 Topic: To Many New Number 1s Oxbladder	Comic publishers only make money off the front end so they will do whatever it takes to milk the front end trends of money. Historically first issues always sell the best and after that lower numbers. As issue numbers climb there is natural attrition of readership until the base is set. that base can move up and down but if it moves too far down the title is canceled or, nowadays or if the character is a top tier, rebooted. Also, variant covers are now a huge source of front end earnings as they almost always mean selling extra copies of an issue. So far I have been fine with the changes Marvel has done. I have no major attachment to specific "people" carrying on forever in a mantle. If done right mantle changes can work really well. As far as I am concerned Marvel has done a great job of elevating the profile of many characters in their universe especially females and young heroes. It has, imho, created a much stronger and diverse Marvel U and one that reflects current society more appropriately. Don't like Tony Stark, never have never will so anything they do to eject his character out of the Marvel U I am fine with. Sorry.
10/2/2016 Topic: When searching: "&" and "and" should be synonyms.. Oxbladder	Searching has been "broken" for years. I think one word searches work best even if the results pulled up are numerous. Good thing I don't use the guide side of things.
10/3/2016 Topic: 10 YEAR MEMBERS Oxbladder	I might be one of the few left from the first forum incarnation. I think It was 2004 I joined.
10/9/2016 Topic: CGC Turnaround Time? Oxbladder	Yeah they have competition. The competition is behind too, 11weeks turnaround for modern right now but fast pass is about 4 weeks though it costs 9 dollars more.
10/27/2016 Topic: Where have all the peoples gone... Oxbladder	Love the new stuff. Well not all of it but this is one of the best times for new material. Keep in mind that almost no one at all would give a crap about old stuff if there wasn't new material to keep it in the spotlight. To keep interest you need to have current material to keep the spotlight shining. You don't like new that's fine but just keep in mind that there are lots of folks who DO like it and it sucks something fierce to always have what you enjoy being crapped on. If you don't like it don't buy it. I don't care what you collect but please don't crap on what I DO like. I could poop on a number of "classics" but I don't, unless you ask. So return the favour. (I could also go on about how the new tactics used that drive everyone nuts have been with us a LONG time) /rant
10/27/2016 Topic: Bag & Board Size for Gladstone Comics Oxbladder	The majority of regular comic sized Gladstones will fit in a standard comic bag and board (I would go one back from most sizes listed as modern/current). Now, Gladstone also put out several larger format books that collected classic stories by Barks and company. Those would have to either get a magazine bag or possibly a treasury bag. Most stores also carry magazine bags and boards not all carry treasury bags and very few will have boards for treasury-sized bags though they do exist out there.
10/27/2016 Topic: GABRIELLE DEL'OTTO VENOM #1 SECRET VARIANT Oxbladder	Del'Otto variants can Garner huge bucks. Take very good care of it especially if distribution numbers are low.
10/31/2016 Topic: Is it just me or is anyone else pissed at Marvel?? Oxbladder	While I am not a fan of reboots the cause has been past collector behaviours. As the issue numbers rise there is natural attrition and the read ship rarely grows except around milestone issues. Sadly, the numbers never rise because many collectors/readers would jump on a long running title because they found it "too hard" to get into the storyline (lol). Laugh if you want but this is absolutely true. People said as much on this forum before. Marvel's numbers have been good despite the grumblings. The reboots and variants continue to sell. If you want change then don't buy ... Mind you that will just bring a reboot. lol! For me I like a lot of what Marvel have been producing. Most of the characters I enjoy have been improved and have a more prominent roll in the Marvel U. They also continue to find some really good writers. DC on the other hand has been pretty stale though the rebirth reboot has created a bit more interest from me ... Probably because there are a few more Wonder Woman books and a few of my other female heroes are back or new ones have appeared.
10/31/2016 Topic: Delivery date on comics... Oxbladder	It can get a 9.6-9.8 but my guess would be that to get the 9.8 it would have the arrival date as the only defect. The best way to figure out what it may get is to find as many high grade graded scans as possible and see how yours measures up. 9.8 is not that difficult to get but you have to be pretty familiar with grading to have a good idea what the book may grade out at. The higher the grade the more anal you have to be. The cover gets most of the grading weight but DO NOT ignore the interior condition!
10/31/2016 Topic: Deadman and The Phantom Stranger Oxbladder	That would be in Overstreet too but you may have to look at the indica to get the "proper" title.
11/19/2016 Topic: Need some help guessing the grade of this comic! Oxbladder	A missing page is a big deal even if it isn't a story page. It may not be a .5 to some but to me it would be. By the way qualified grades from CGC are bull crap. What that grade on that qualified label is saying is not what the grade is but what it would be without the major defect. Put it this way are there any grades 2.0 and above that allow for a missing page? If not then it can't be that grade. KDS' suggestions on how to handle the situation are good.
11/29/2016 Topic: What to call those black streaks white covers get? Oxbladder	Those marks are from the rollers in the printing process. Ink may get tracked onto one or the ink my not have dried and it will track onto the books. What to call them? Whatever you want but production error is probably a really basic and encompassing term.
11/29/2016 Topic: Which grading company to use? Oxbladder	You are free to choose whichever company you want. However, I personally would stick with CBCS or CGC they are the most reputable and will give you the best returns should you wish to sell your books. While none of the companies follow a model that I would call "true" quality assurance CGC and CBCS are the closest to such models. None of the others come close and are either too expensive or too crappy. I will not touch a book graded by PGX, Vault or any other company. I also will not touch any CGC book graded after they changed their case/encapsulation. I use CBCS for a variety of reasons that most would not understand so just suffice it to say they follow a model that I can trust the most. They also have a great case and their service is top notch. If CBCS was not there and I was to use any other company it would be CGC. CGC still provides the best resale value in some cases, apparently. edited by Oxbladder on 11/29/2016
11/30/2016 Topic: Which grading company to use? Oxbladder	CGC Changed the design of their case and the way they encapsulated the book in it. It was still in a mylar well/sleeve in th ecase but it was held in position basically by pressure. This caused what's termed Newton rings (which are places where the Mylar enclosure were pressed together making it look like a water drop between plastic and there is an accompanying rainbow effect around the edges of these spots) which carried over to where the book sat and looked unsightly to some. Worse though was the pressure was basically only on one or two edges of the book which caused books to ripple. After much hooha on the web CGC claims they fixed a few time but now they have the old inner well in a new case not designed to hold that well which concerns me that books may still be at risk of damage. Basically, I don't trust CGC books with the new large number grade with the page quality data below. All those indicate books graded after the change. Things may be fine now so I may be overly cautious so do your own homework but definitely do your homework so you don't end out with a book graded in the period where they were damaging the books with their changed case and poor encapsulation. (As an aside back when CGC was starting out they had considered encapsulating with pressure holding the book but it was quickly proven to be an unsafe method. Why they went to it many years later boggles the mind. I also don't think they ever admitted that they ended out damaging book with this change!)