By Terrence J. Brady
April 2003
Greetings fellow fandom fans and welcome to the latest
installment of the CGC Hall of Shame. The month
of April starts off with a time-honored day of foolish
escapades known as April Fool’s Day. And what better
way to celebrate that day with a trio of truly
fool-hardy deals?
This first auction didn't have a winning bid but I had
to include it to, once again, show the level of
absurdity some sellers are under when assuming they
can pass off slabbed books for whatever price they see
fit.
To the left: We have us one of those "perfect 10"
comics - CGC 10.0 Mint GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #39 -
which had an opening bid of $499.99! Isn’t that a bit
outlandish considering this comic can easily be picked
up for a trivial 99 cents? What makes it worth a
half-grand? The CGC encasement? The perfect 10.0
grade?
Even supporters of CGC have stated that a book graded
X on one occasion can be given a Y grade on another.
Why? Because on any given day, a grader can be having
a good day or a bad one. Illness, stress, etc. can
affect an individual’s performance and/or attitude. A
trivial defect that is overlooked on one event might
be noted on a second going over.
While the CGC attempts to maintain a non-biased approach, and have comics reviewed by multiple
parties, grading is still a very subjective practice.
Their FAQ states: "CGC realizes that comic book
grading is an art that comes from years of experience,
and while a consistently applied standard of grading
eliminates much of the subjectivity and risk, grading
itself IS NOT an exact science and remains
subjective."
And (returning to the auction) to add insult to injury
.... what's up with that shipping cost? $9 for
Priority Shipping? "McFlyyyyyy! Hellllooooo!!" That's
twice the cost a priority package runs. Guess the
seller figured if they could dupe someone out of five
Benjamins for this worthless book, why not scam a few
bucks on the shipping as well. (Thanks to Erich S. of
Pompano Beach, FL for submitting this auction.)
WHOAAAA! STOP THE PRESSES! (Does anyone really say
that anymore?) I was just informed that the above
mentioned auction was relisted but only received a
meager winning bid of $178.50 (plus a lower s/h fee of
$5). Well, thank God someone had the sense not to fork
over 500 bones for this book. I mean... doesn't it
make much more sense to pay only $183.50 for a 99 cent
comic?? This buyer is one shrewd cookie! (hahahahaha)
Up next, can it be... More perfection from the CGC?
(Hmmmm.... there's gotta be an oxymoron joke in there
somewhere.)
During the early 90's, Frank Miller cranked out some
impressive tales for Dark Horse including the SIN
CITY: DAME TO KILL FOR mini-series. While hardly for
the "kiddies," Miller once again proves his adeptness
as both artist and writer.
This copy of SIN CITY: DAME TO KILL FOR #5 received a
10.0 Mint grade from the CGC and someone was so
impressed that they forked over a staggering $176.00!
Why is that so mind-boggling? Perhaps because this
comic can be picked up for less now (in 2003) than its
(1994) cover price. The sad thing here is "some
comics" deserve to be encapsulated from the world - as
their contents aren't worth the time it takes to read
them. Not so with any of Miller's output. (Thanks to
Gregg C. of Casper, WY for submitting this auction.)
Now ... the moment you have waited for. Time to crown
our "KING FOOL of SHAME" - so break out that ol' air
guitar, dust it off and sing along....
