Oh, probably somewhere in the F-VF+ arena.

The cover on X-Men 88 is not only unique, but it is a beaut! and
I’ll show you that in a moment.

The Search For A High Grade X-Men 88 Begins

Anyways, I put in a saved search on ebay to notify me by e-mail
if it finds any items matching X-Men 88. Lo and behold, a couple
of days later, I received an e-mail with a few listing of that very
comic.

I found one in a high grade that I was interested in. Matter of fact
I was going to just purchase it but I looked at the scans a couple
of more times and hesitated, because I saw something on the
comic that looked like a dirt spot (on the back cover).

Of All The Hairbrained Ideas, I Lept Before I Looked

So, ended up e-mailing the seller but before I ever received his
response I went ahead and purchased the comic (my mother
always told me patience was a virtue).

About a day later, I received a response and to my dismay, the
seller told me that the issue I was asking about was not a
dirt spot but a 1/16th inch tear!

My heart sunk…

Why? Because that would prevent this book from grading out in
the high 9’s if I were to CGC it (which I was planning to do).

Well, I thought, hey, I already purchased it and he had already
shipped it out so let’s wait and see how it looks when it gets
here.

About a few days later I received the comic in the mail and
exictedly opened the package to check out my find. Once out
of the protective sleeve, I looked it over and found out that
this was still a very nice comic and I decided to keep it.

The first thing I did with this comic is prep it. Yes,  I walk the
talk when it comes to prepping comic books by prepping some
of my own.

Here is picture of the front cover of X-Men 88 after I preppped it:

Look at the white border on the spine (that’s what you want when
you pick up a comic book) and the color on this book. It’s a beauty
I say! Off White to White pages, with only a couple slight creases on
the spine.

Here is a picture of the back cover after I prepped it:

Wow! I couldn’t believe how clean this comic was on the back as I
didn’t have to remove any dirt or marks.

Can you tell me where the slight tear is on the back cover?

The point of this article is to show you that when are looking
to purchase comic books, be patient, and make sure you know
if there are any major defects (like tears, water damage, oil
stains, etc.) that will cause the grade to significantly drop if
you were to grade the comic through CGC or PGX.

Of course, if you really like the comic then go ahead and buy
it and enjoy it – like I did with this one!

One other thing, the main reason I wanted to find this book
in a high-grade is because they are hard to find in those
grades.

It just happens that if it weren’t for that tear, this would be
( in my opinion) one of the highest graded issues, and
frankly I’m going to say that it is.

For now though, I’m going to keep it nicely protected and
enjoy it in my own personal collection.

Have fun out there finding those gems for your own collection
and don’t forget to stop by and tell us what some of those
are by leaving a comment below.

Patrick

I have another case study for you, so I hope you enjoy it.

A new customer e-mailed me in late September the following:

Greetings Patrick…long story short  I’ve been intrigued about
you and your methods for a while.  I’m just coming into
possession of a Hulk 181 that to put it bluntly I overpaid for.
My mistake and I won’t bore you with the details but
if you’re interested I’d love to send it to you to take a look at
to see if your services might make sense for this particular book.

Without having it in my hands I think it might grade out in the
4.5 – 5.0 range (general dirt, corner creases) etc.  You might be
able to help it along and lessen my blunder…

This customer ended up sending me the comic book along with a
couple of other ones, but he decided in the end to put his money into
the Hulk 181 as it would be worth it if I could improve the grade even
a 1/2 or 1 point.

Good Grief Batman, Look At The Improvement
On That Comic Book

Here is a video of the before and after shots of the Incredible Hulk 181
that I prepped for this customer:

Incredible Hulk 181 Comic Prepping Case Study Video
(I re-uploaded the video to keep the customer name private)

Now that you’ve seen the video, what do you think of the comic
book after the prep has been applied?

I appreciate your feedback and comments below about these
results and if you believe that this is a valuable service to the comic
collecting industry.

Here is the end result of the comic safely protected in a mylar bag
backed with an acid-free backing board (every prepped comic that I
do I place in a new bag and back with a new board):

It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it!

I’m looking for 10 comments before I make another post, so please
leave your comments below on your thoughts about comic book
prepping, collecting or anything related to that.

Thanks to all of my customers for making this a joy in improving your
comic books.

Patrick “the comic collector” Guy

Take a look here:

(Click the image to enlarge)

What villain would you say sticks out the most in your mind either from
your days of reading spiderman or just enjoying the image itself?

Let me know by leaving a comment.

Patrick

The comic in questions is a Giant Sized X-Men #1. Sent to me
by a customer who wanted some comic books cleaned and
pressed.

Here is an image of the back cover before prepping:

Take a close look at the spine. It has many creases, indents and
wrinkles (the shaded areas) and to many collectors, this book
would not be considered a viable book to grade.

Let’s see what a little prepping can do for this awesome collector
item. Here is the comic after prepping:

You can clearly see a significant difference in how prepping has
greatly improved the cover and spine. Do take notice that there
is still some minor wrinkling by the form graphic of the back cover.

This does happen, especially with heavy wrinkling and indentation
but does come out sometimes with a second pass. Definitely a
senses-shattering example of how prepping improves the grade
of your book.

This customer will definitely be satisfied!

If this were your comic book, would you be satisfied with the results?

Leave your comments on your thoughts on this topic.

Patrick Whitson

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