If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Sorry about the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks. I have been on vacation for 10 days and am now getting some time to put some time into some articles.

I received an e-mail from a passer by to this site, Charles Graham, who asked me when I was going to do my article on prepping books for CGC. Some time back I promised to do this and Charles gave me the kick in the butt to start it. So, without further ado here is the first of a few articles to help those of you who want to get your comic books graded.

7 Defects To Look For Before Prepping Your Books For Grading

As comic book collectors we want our comic books to be in the best condition they can be, especially if we are going to spend the money to get them graded by CGC. CGC is a company that “slabs” your comic books in a sturdy plastic case and attaches a grade (a point system from 0.5 - 10) to the comic. This process is pretty intense and they carefully look over each comic for defects which, when found, will determine the final grade of the comic.

SIDENOTE: Take a look at CGC’s site and review their process in grading to get a much better understanding of how this is done.

What Exactly is Prepping?

In a nutshell, comic book prepping is a way to clean up a comic books non-damaging defects which improves the grade of the book and makes it more presentable.

The following seven defects will help you determine if your comic book can be prepped before sending it into CGC.

Ok, here we go…

Defect #1. Spine creases that break ink.
Look for creases (similar to cracks) on the front and back of the spine of your comic. You can determine if the crease breaks ink by looking for the paper showing through the ink (it will typically reveal a white color). The more of these there are, the less the grade of your comic book.

Typically, if all other things are good (see list below) and there is one crease that breaks ink, I automatically set the grade of that book to a 9.4. Of course, there are exceptions, but usually that will be the grade you will receive.

Can this defect be fixed with prepping? No

Defect #2. Soiling or mold.
I’m sure many of you have seen what paper looks like when it is soiled with oil, some type of condiment or mold has grown on it. Due to the paper comics are created with, the same things can happen to them. Look for darker areas on the inside of the covers and pages. You can also spot mold by smell - similar to must and wet.

Can this defect be fixed with prepping? No

Defect #3. Water damage.
When water finds it’s way onto a comic book, it can cause some damage. You can tell water damage by the dis-coloration and are shaped like clouds, lakes or some form of circle. Here is a picture of a comic that has water damage:

Can this defect be fixed with prepping? No

Defect #4. Rips, tears or pieces missing.
This kind of defect is typically easy to spot if they are a 1/4″ or longer but be careful to not pass up those that are smaller in size. Even the slightest tear, rip or piece missing can knock the grade down on your comic drastically.

Defect #5. Rusted or loose staples.
The staples of your comic book should be tight and clean. It’s fairly easy to see if your staples are lightly rusted, have heavy rust or they are loose. To check for loose staples, look at the outside of the spine and see if the cover has any movement by the staples. Also, hold the comic in your hand and open it to the center.

Very carefully, touch the staple to see if it moves around or has any play. if so, It’s a good sign that the staples are loosening or are already loose. This eventually can cause damage to the cover and inside pages.

Can this defect be fixed with prepping? No, but it can be fixed as a restoration to the book.

Defect #6. Ink marks, gouges, fading on front/back covers.
When I prep comic books, I don’t fret too much about date stamps, especially if it’s in an inconspicuous spot on the cover. Ink marks are usually when someone writes on the cover or inside pages of the comic and if they wrote too hard it causes gouges. Pencils can also cause gouges when the comic is written on.

Although the pencil itself can usually be cleaned up, the gouges remain and will drop the grade of your comic book.

Fading is not a grade stopper unless the comic has been sitting out in the sun for a long period of time. It is still beneficial to keep an eye out for it on your comic books.

Can this defect be fixed with prepping? Yes/No. As I explained, pencil can be cleaned but if gouges remain it will affect the grade of your comic.

Defect #7. Subscription crease down the center of comic.
I’m sure we have all seen one of these before. A sub-crease happens when the Post Office delivers your comic book and folds it in half to place it in the mail box. This creates a vertical crease from the top to the bottom of the comic. If the comic was folded too much it could cause the ink to break.

Can this defect be fixed with prepping? Yes/No. The front and back covers most likely cannot be fixed but inside pages can be pressed out but would be a lot of work.

There you have it. You can greatly improve the grade of your comic books by first determining if they are free of most or all of the defects above and get them prepped before you send them out to be graded by CGC.

My next article will cover those defects which CAN be fixed. Keep an eye out for it.

P.S. I wrote this article today because I will be getting my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday (oh, it is Friday already) and I will probably not be up to posting anything this weekend.

Patrick
The Comic Collector

• 1 Comment

Here is an awesome picture of The Amazing Spiderman’s villains. Which villain is your favorite?

Mine are:

- Green Goblin
- Mysterio
- Rhino
- Sandman
- Hydroman

• 3 Comments

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am upgrading my site to WordPress 2.5 as I want to install a really cool theme. If the site seems to be down for a little bit, don’t worry, I will have it back up shortly. Thank you for all of your cooperation.

Happy Collecting.

Patrick
The Comic Collector

• 0 Comments

Hello comic collectors.

I know, I know… It’s been awhile since I last posted but I am working on putting some good content together for you. Recently, I received this question from “Angela” a fellow collector:

“I have some old Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom Comic books that I have had since I was a teenager. They are still wrapped in plastic. They were limited editions. How would I find out what these would be worth today?“

First, thank you for the question and it is definitely a question that many collectors ask quite often before they determine to sell their comic books or maybe determine worth for their collection. Let’s get started shall we. (Thanks to my good friend Sean over at comicbooksecrets.com for the outline for this - go check out his site after you read this.)

Step 1: Gather Titles and Issue Numbers

If you have an “Amazing Spiderman” collection, what you would do is list all of your issue numbers on a piece of paper or in a text editor such as notepad. Here is an example:

Amazing Spiderman 300
Amazing Spiderman 316

Step 2: Determine Condition or “Grade”

A quick note here, grading your comics is subjective. As an example, I prep comic books for collectors to increase the grade of the book before they send them into CGC or PGX for grading. They may send me a “Wolverine 1 Limited Edition”. That collector may have graded that book a 9.2, but when I review the book to determine an estimated arrival grade, the grade may actually be a an 8.0.

That’s a huge difference when it comes to grading. So, what’s the best way to determine the condition or “grade” of my comic books? First, acquire for yourself the Bible of the industry, the “Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide” along with the “Official Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide” (you can find these in the right navbar under the blog signup form. Look for “Recommended”).

The basic comic book gades are:

For more details and descriptions of these grades, visit my good friend, Seans site and watch his video.

Mint (MT) and Near Mint (NM)
Vefy Fine (VF)
Fine (F)
Very Good (VG) to Good (G)
Fair (FR) to Poor (PR)

Step 3: Find The Value of your Comic Book

We have a couple of ways to find the value of our comic books. First, we can use the Overstreet Price Guide but, as my good friend Sean has said, this is really only good for research of first appearances, villains, etc. as the pricing is a year or more behind and can be biased as they receive a lot of data from dealers.

The best way to find values for your comic books is on eBay! Yes, you’ve read that right - the famous eBay site has the most up-to-date pricing on what you could get for your comic books.

So, what I’m going to do is a video for you guys on how to research your comic books on eBay. Keep watching this site as I will have this coming up soon.

Happy collecting.

Patrick
The Comic Collector

• 0 Comments

Hey comic collectors,

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend as much as I’m enjoying my 4-day weekend. Weather has been real nice here in Michigan, although we did have a little rain today. Before I get to my main topic today, can you guess who is turning 40 on June 2nd?

Please guess who it is by leaving a comment to this post - I’m really interested in the answers that will be given. No hints though - sorry!

Ok, for those of you who have been following my site and what information I’ve been putting here, there is a link at the top of this page named “Back Issue Picks” which is a page that gives you picks of comic books that are under the radar and/or will be on the rise because of the comic book movies coming out.

The back issue picks page has been updated with some new comic books to keep an eye out for.

Why would you want to keep an eye out for them?

One reason is because if you buy these comic books before their prices hit a “high” you can either flip them for profit or grade them and increase your return on investment. I will be covering this more in my review of Sean Jones’ Movies, Comics and Cash program. I’ll give you the link to his site once my review is complete.

In the meantime, before you have to venture back to work, check out the back issue picks for some gems to add to your collection.

Happy collecting.

Patrick
The Comic Collector

• 1 Comment