Comic Book Collecting

I know, the title is a little…odd, but it will all make sense in a bit – so stick
with me.

I received an e-mail from an avid comic book collector a couple of months
ago in which this collector explained to me that he had near complete runs
of Avengers, Captain America, Hulk, Weird War, and a couple of others.

Who wouldn’t want a collection like that?

He went on and said that he keeps them in mylar sleeves and prefers them
raw and unslabbed – meaning he doesn’t grade his comic books. Hey, that’s
great, more power to him.

For you collectors out there, whether you want to grade your comic books
or keep them raw, such as this collector, is a personal decision. If you like
to pick your comics up, smell them, flip through them (although do it gently)
and/or admire them then grading your books is going to make you crazy.

On the other hand, I know collectors that have “reader copies” and they slab
a high grade copy of the same comic and keep it safe and sound in a storage
comic box (hopefully in an air conditioned room or, even better, a basement
with a dehumidifier).

Sorry about the rabbit trail – back to the topic at hand.

Well, this collector realized that pressing and cleaning will improve the
appearance of his comics as well as the grade of them – but there was one
caveat to this whole e-mail that he sent me…

He wanted me to show him how to do it himself, as a favor, from
one comic book collector to another!

Of course, he guaranteed he would not turn around and compete with me
doing this service. Now, this guy seemed genuine in his request but his
request was off target.

Just because you have a hobby that is the same as someone else and they
know or have a niche/specialty in that hobby, does not mean that person is
going to share their trade secrets with you – just because!

Plus, it’s not like I’ve known this collector since my childhood.

Pressing and cleaning comic books is something I enjoy doing for fellow
collectors, and yes, it does cost to do it – because it works to improve the
appearance of your comics and increases its grade.

What I do to improve the appearance and grade of comic books is a trade
secret – and for now will stay under wraps. One day, when I don’t want to do
it anymore, I may teach others how.

One last thing he came back and asked me was “Can you tell me how you
learned to prep comic books?” (I have to admit, the guys persistent).

My reply:

“That will remain secret as well, but all I can say is that I
“stumbled” upon it.”

I received No more e-mails after that reply.

I didn’t explain all this to bad mouth this collector or to ridicule him, but to
make a point that some things are best kept secret because it’s a source of
income and livelyhood for those that provide it.

What would you do if someone out of the blue e-mailed you and asked you
to share your trade secrets or knowledge of something that not many people
know about?

Would there be a price that was high enough for you to divulge your trade
secret?

Let me know your thoughts and opinions on this subject by leaving a
comment on this post. In the words of Stan Lee, “Nuff’ Said”.

Patrick Whitson

Tags:   prepping comic books · Stays a Secret3 Comments

Hello comic collectors,

It seems I get to writing something on here every couple of months or so BUT I do want to bring you original content and information that you can put to use to help you in your comic book collecting. As many of you know, one of my specialties is prepping comic books and I think it is imperative that you see some results of what this process can do for high-grade comic books.

“I Wanted To See What Your Work Could Do…”

Back in Setpember of 2008 a client sent me a few books to prep for him so he could get them graded by CGC. I wrote an article called 5 Defects That Prepping Can Fix To Increase The Grade Of Your Comic Book and near the end of that article I mention the client and I display the end result of his prepped comic book. Take a look at that article and refresh your neurons.

Last week, I received an e-mail from this client and here is what he had to say about my service:

Hello, Patrick. Several months ago I sent you a copy of Spider-Man #103 which was an 8.5. I wanted to see what your work could do. After you performed your process, which was done at a very cheap price, I received it back and sent it in to be graded with my last CGC order. I just got my CGC books back yesterday and amazingly enough.. the Spidey #103 is now a 9.4!! Wonderful! I will now begin to search the comic shows for higher end books which will benefit from your services. I’m impressed.

I couldn’t of said it better myself, but of course, it’s best to come from a satisfied customer. That’s all for today.

P.S. Want to get high grades for your comic books. Sign up for my CGC Prep Service today!

Great success in your collecting,

Patrick Whitson

Tags: No Comments.

Hello comic collectors,

Once again, it’s been awhile since I posted here and I apologize for that. Today I have some New Years information for you that, I believe, you will be excited about.

First, I hope that all had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy and Exciting 2009 ahead.

How To Improve Your Comic Book Grade By Two To Three Points

I have a client who specializes in collecting Pink Panther comic books. Yep, that’s all he collects. One of his focuses is to put together the highest grade collection of Pink Panther. He e-mailed me one day asking if I would prep a couple of books he just had purchased off of eBay. I, of course, obliged.

Now these books were in the condition I speak about once you follow the steps in the article 7 defects to look for before prepping your books for grading. Meaning, they were in the range of 9.2-9.4 when he purchased them.

My client went ahead and had the eBay seller send the books directly to my address so I could prep them for him. Once I received them, I prepped them and then sent them back to him to be shipped out to CGC for grading.

NOTE: It’s important for me to receive your input and comments on my service. This gives proof that this service works but also helps me to improve my service to you as my client.

Ok, onto the rest of the story…

So, what kind of grades did my client receive from CGC, you may ask?

Take a look at the pics he sent back to me once he opened up the package from CGC:

Pink Panther 85

Check out the grade – A 9.8 White Pages

Pink Panther 87

Another CGC 9.8 White Pages

My client was ecstatic to receive those grades (originally he didn’t think it was feasible) and add these gems to his collection.

I hope this helps you to see that receiving a high grade on your comic book by prepping them IS possible.

Make sure you follow my defects articles to know what to look for before having your books graded.

Want To Know How You Can Get One Of Your Comic Books Prepped For Free?

As an end of year special to my site readers and comic collectors who have been hesitant to try my services – you can get one comic book prepped for FREE!

Here is how to participate:

1. Post a comment that you want in on the End of year special. You MUST mention “End Of Year Special” in your comment. Please leave me your e-mail address written out like this “patrick AT comicbookcollecting DOT net”.

2. Those who comment will receive an e-mail from me on the details of the special and where to send your comic books.

3. Send those comic books that were prepped to CGC and enjoy them as my above client did.

4. Give me a testimonial, and send me your pics of your graded books so I can add you to my list of satisfied clients.

That’s it. Number 4 IS NOT required to get your FREE prepped comic book but is a way for you to get exposure for your high grade comic and give my service a boost for those who haven’t or are new to comic book prepping.

Oh, I almost forgot – this is a TIME LIMITED OFFER and will only last until January 4th, 2009. Get your comments in by 11:59 PM January 4th or you lose out.

Yours For High Grade Comic Books,

Patrick Whitson

Tags: 2 Comments

Hello comic collectors,

I haven’t been posting here for awhile as I’ve been busy working on other clients web sites. Yes, in my spare time I help small to mid-sized businesses to improve their sales and follow-up process as well as gain a web presence, or improve their existing web site.

Although I focus as a Internet Marketing Consultant for Lapeer County, I also work with small businesses abroad. Ok, enough about me, let’s get to the good stuff, eh?

Last time, I wrote an article on the “7 Defects To Look For Before Prepping Your Books For Grading“. If you haven’t read that article yet (shame on you!) then please go read that one first.

Now I will be showing you what defects can be “fixed” or “corrected” on a comic book that you would like to have prepped before having it graded. But, I am doing this a little different this time.

…Jeopardy music playing in background…

I run a comic book prepping service and one of my customers (Brian Maton) has allowed me to “Showcase” his comic book here. I will explain to you what things can be corrected along with some pictures. Here we go…

5 Defects That Prepping Can Fix To Increase The Grade Of Your Comic Book

The comic that I prepped for Brian was an Amazing Spiderman #103

This is the back of the comic before prepping.

This is the back of the comic after I prepped it.

Defect # 1. Dirt on the covers.
The most common problem with decent comic books when I prep them is, dirty covers! Dirt can make your comic book look older than it is and can reveal wrinkles and creases more profoundly. Take a look at the above picture. You can see that there is plenty of dirt and wrinkles on the back cover of this comic.

Be careful when determining dirt on your comic book, some of it could be soiling or some type of stain – which in most cases cannot be removed.

Dirt can be easily cleaned up with prepping, making your comic book look fresh from the news stand.

Defect # 2. Wrinkling on spine, cover or inside pages.
Look for shadowy areas on your spines and covers (especially white covers, as shown above). This will let you know that you have wrinkles. They usually are obvious to catch, but some may actually be gouges from a sharp object such as a pen, pencil or something that scraped along the spine. See what you can detect on the back cover above. Are they wrinkles or gouges?

Most wrinkles can be removed with prepping. Deep gouges and even tough wrinkles may not be able to be removed.

Defect # 3. Bumped corners.
A bumped corner often extends to every page in the book, it looks like it was hit against something and the book tried to correct itself. Here is an example (not my customers comic) of a comic with a bumped corner:

Bumped corners can be pressed to original condition, bringing the grade of your comic up significantly.

Defect # 4. Stress along the spine.
Look for areas on the spine that are similar to a wrinkle, but smaller but they don’t break the ink. The bumped corner example to the left has a good example of this.

It’s a deep shadowy area, but does not break the ink.

Stress along the spine can be pressed out making your spine look like new.

Defect # 5. Ragged edges.
Look for this type of defect on the underside of the front and back covers. It can also show up on the internal pages of your comic books. If you open your comic and look straight down the edge of the cover or page, it will look jagged instead of seeing a crisp clean line.

Ragged edges can easily be pressed out to make those covers and pages look crisp and straight.

If you’ve read my first article 7 Defects To Look For Before Prepping Your Books For Grading and determined that the comic books you want to submit for grading are free of those defects listed there, then your next step is to determine if you have any of the defects listed in this article.

Why do you need to do that?

Because you need those defects corrected in order to get the best grade you can once it is submitted to CGC for grading. I’ve had customers send me comics that, at arrival, estimated at 7.0 and found out from them later that it graded out at a 9.4. That’s a huge upgrade!

Here is the finished product after I prepped Brian’s comic book (It’s a beauty!). Your comic books can look the same:

Would you like to improve the grade of your comic books?

I offer a comic book prepping service that improves the grade of your comic books. If you would like to get more information about how this service works, please send me an e-mail using my Contacting Me page. Please let me know if this article was interesting or if you have any other topics you would like me to cover on this site.

Patrick
The Comic Collector

Tags:   prepping comic books6 Comments

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

Tags:   prepping books CGC · prepping comic books9 Comments