The New Mutants 98 came out in 1991, so I guess it qualifies for Copper Age, right?

Do any of you own one of the CGC 9.9 copies? Do you think a 10.0 exists? I've seen some CGC 9.4 copies (at least one) that had a little bit of spine roll. How much does spine roll count off on a book like TNM 98? I have three copies of this book, and they are raw copies. When I compare the dollar sign at the top of my three copies, I can see a slight roll in my otherwise best copy. How would you define a spine roll? How severe does it have to be to start counting against the book? Thanks!!!

If the spine roll is affecting your comic then get it pressed. If you do not have any color break and the roll is the result of how it was stored then here on the boards you could find someone to fix it. Could you find 9.4~9.9 yes. Be prepared to haggle a bit because the Comic auction houses are always quoting rarity not by comic production or publication but by grade. So you see amazing dollar amounts moving from 9.8~9.9. You find a Hulk 181 in 9.6 for 1K~4K. A 9.8 form 4k~20K but when you reach 9.9 it touches 150K. Interpretation is all relevant. Question, if the 9.9 is improperly stored and a corner is bent how much do you lose. I watched the Bloomberg interview involving the Action comic in 9.0. The interviewer picks it up and displays it to the camera. She then, holding the case like a bunch of papers, bangs it down on the desk as if she was trying to organize papers. The comic moves in the case. It was actually funny to watch. I had to chuckle.

Super interesting stuff, PaulGC. Thanks for the information. I've been collecting comics since 1986, but I am always learning new things. I am honestly a little afraid to press any of my comics. What would that entail? On my best copy of The New Mutants 98, there really isn't any color break. In other words, you can't see any parts of the front cover showing up on the back cover. Yet, when I look close and compare that copy to my other two copies, especially the $ sign at the the top, I see just a slight difference -- the differnece being that the copy that has "rolled" is very slight. It is noticiable to a crazy-obsessive person like me, but I didn't know if it was enough to count off when it came to grading it. I know there is a big difference in price when it comes to a 9.4 to a 9.8.

I store my best, most valuable comics in mylars, and I store them lying flat instead of standing in a comic box. What is your opinion about storing comics flat? I also store them ten deep, meaning ten comics laying flat on another. Thanks!

I store my comics in comic drawers standing up and with dividers. I use Mylar 4mil with full backs (Acid free), Dark dry location. The goal is to not get into the habit of pressing. If one item needs it then try it. I believe Hero Restoration might do it. He features his stuff here all the time and it's great to read and see the progress. I don't believe Susan at the Restoration Lab does pressing as a single option.

You should get into the habit of learning the difference in grades. Plenty of 9.6~9.8 are really 8.5~9.2. This will allow you to make educated purchases. Sometime you see something you would love to have but are blinded to what you really have in hand. If you are buying then you need to decide what category you trying to fill. Collector, Investor, Merchant or something in between. Many of the collectors here buy, read and are happy with the find, sometimes rescuing something from heading to a garbage dump. The Investor wants the best so that it makes money for them, hopefully, one day. The Merchant is in the business of flipping the thing (buy low sell high).

Well, I'm guessing my comic collecting habits fall somewhere in the middle. I don't have an interest in Golden Age comics, and I'm only interested in a few Silver Age books. My collection is Wolverine-centric -- I only buy key Wolverine appearances and 1st appearances of characters who are closely connected to Wolverine in one why or another (e.g., Iron Fist 14 [1st Sabretooth], Captain America 110 [1st Madam Hydra], Avengers 66 [1st adamantium], X-Men 103 [1st time Wolverine is called Logan], X-Men 129 [1st Kitty Pryde], X-Men 98 [1st appearance of Wolverine without his mask], The New Mutants 98 [1st Deadpool], etc.).

I also get pleasure out of getting nice deals and seeing my books rise in value, not because I want to flip my books for a buck; it just makes me feel good to see my collection go up.

Back in the late 1980s I bought a Hulk 181 for $150. It was suppose to be NM/M. I got it from Gerry Ross, I think. Anyway, I got majorly ripped off. I'd said the book is about a 5.5-6.0. It makes me sick to this day, but I was only a 14-year-old kid when I mail-ordered it and really didn't know any better. The book should have been a 9.2 at least. Oh well, that's the way it goes, but I admit it still eats at me all these years later.

I forgot to ask you about the above statement. Are you referring to raw/unslabbed copies or CGC copies? If you are talking about CGC copies, I'd like to hear more about this.

Thanks.

Don't feel too bad. I haven't dealt with him personally but from what I've read Ross has ripped off a lot of people.

Back in the '80s though, NM meant something different than it does today. Grading standards were really still evolving then. The first grading guide from Overstreet didn't even come out until 1992. I'm not saying he didn't rip you off but you should also take into account what the hobby was like at the time it was purchased too, especially when you are looking at 20+ years ago.

Yeah, but at the time, their was an ad with all the grades: poor, good, very good, fine...all the way up to near mint/mint. I was able to select and afford the near mint copy, yet I didn't get one. I didn't know how to grade back then, and I thought, "Wow, I have a comic that is a year older than I am! It must be hard to find and other copies that are good or very fine must look worse than my copy." It was a time when the internet didn't exist. I found the ad in a comic and sent a money order for the Hulk 181. I didn't dare mail it back from Tennessee (that's where I live by the way). I just got ripped off. Instead of having a comic worth $2000 today, I have a book that is probably worth between $350 and maybe $400. Can you see how that sticks in my craw? It still bothers me to this day, but I can't do anything about it now. But there is no way a 15 year old comic ( I was 14 at the time) adverstised as NM should've been in as poor condition as the book he sent me.

Good Evening! I was making the comment because it is easy to meet folks selling comic books (Shop owners, comic cons, etc...) prepared to sell you supposed high grade comics because the column to the right in the guide has the prettiest number$ Anyway, buyer beware. When the price for items 9.0 and lower can fetch less than a C note, but bumping it up from 9.0 to 9.2 can fetch 10X that. The seller will most definitely try to move the needle. Just because they overpaid does not mean you should. I have only paid twice over market value for a comic, intentional. I wanted the books for my collection.

I can give you two pieces of info concerning the Hulk 181:

- Jerry Ross is known for selling restored books as unrestored. It doesn't surprise me that he would also overgrade. I would never buy anything from this guy. He is one of the most despised people in the comic business.
- The advent of CGC has really changed and tightened the grading standards. Over the last 10 years I have realized that my collection, which was once NM, in actually VF by the new, tighter grading standards.

Mike M

Thanks for the response, Monkeyman. For all I know, my Hulk 181 may have been restored. I don't know how common that practice was back in the late 1980s. There is no way I could afford a Hulk 181 CGC 9.4 now. I just don't have that kind of money to spend on a comic. It would've been nice if he had at least sent me an 8.0, but my 181 is no where near that.

Yup. It's a club with many members.

Spine roll is when the centerline of the spine starts migrating towards the front of the book and the only way I have ever seen this caused is by how one handles a book when reading it. I know may folks love to call any odd deformities on the spine "roll" but it isn't. Say you stack or misalign spines in vertical storage you can get something that LOOKS LIKE spine roll but that isn't spine roll. It is just one big pressure crease.If you evened out the pressure the book would be flat and the spine wouldn't look bubbled up any more. If you took one of these books out of storage and observed it you would see that the opening edges of the pages would still line up and the book would open and lie normally. The centerline has not migrated.

As for how much spine roll or pressure ridging counts against the grade? Any amount. Any defect that is either through manufacturing, shipping and handling counts and there is just no way around it. I don't play games like CGC. A defect is a defect.