CGC Unboxing with some TERRIBLE results: PART 1. Seriously, CCG should be embarrassed...

[@josephbarbera9220]

That was one wild CGC unboxing! You guys were cracking me up with your responses to the grades! I can’t wait to see the rest of them! 😂

[@SwarmofComics]

Thanks, man! We love to have a little fun, even with an 8.5!

[@TheSilverAgeComics]

CGC BABY! Lord knows I didn’t damage those books 🤫also, the thumbnail, good job 😂

[@SwarmofComics]

I know, brother! You know I appreciate everything you do!

[@RafaustComics]

I wonder if the slabbers accidently swapped the grades of the Secret Wars #1 and Punisher #1? It's great to see brothers getting along so well and having a common interest. Great video Swarm!

[@SwarmofComics]

Funny you say that, I thought the same thing!! Love having my brother there, we have a great time! Thanks for checking it out, bud!

[@bronzevillecomics2581]

You did get some good grades on those newsstands. CGC is always a rollercoaster

[@SwarmofComics]

I know, and I really should try to focus on some of the grades that were better than i expected, like the 9.6 Secret Wars books, and the Punisher #1. But you get caught up in that emotion in the moment! Keep your hands and feet in the cart, and get ready for the CGC roller coaster ride, indeed...

[@Moncomics]

Grades or no grades, seeing you enjoy these moments with your brother is awesome! Also, do you have your books pressed and cleaned before submitting? You mentioned a couple flaws that could (or should) have been rectified with a good press and clean. Regardless, awesome video and cool books!

[@SwarmofComics]

My brother and I do have a blast! I wish he had more time and lived closer to do more vids. I have my books pressed, but not cleaned. It's the guy that does my submitting to CGC. Some of these books were so good they didn't even NEED a press, but apparently CGC didn't agree! LOLSOB

[@finster72]

Thanks, I love coming up and hanging out with my bro, and these vids are super fun! I'm glad folks are enjoying them 🙂

[@Moncomics]

@@finster72 it’s great to see!

[@morbidtorture]

The sincerity of “Your books are doomed!” Made me get choked on my drink! Great video. I can even tell that Secret Wars 1 is in fantabulous condition. The grader must have a vendetta against that very issue or something haha.

[@SwarmofComics]

I'm glad to know we could entertain! :D

[@rodnicker]

When I was a wee lad buying and collecting comics. I used to hate books with the newsstand barcode in the corner. As a rule, they were typically replaced at a later time with a direct addition as I wanted a Spider-Man or Cap down in the lower corner. Who knew 30 years later that newsstands would be the more desirable of the two.

[@SwarmofComics]

HA! How ironic! I know when we were young having the cool Spidey head was WAY better to have!!

[@rodnicker]

CGC's grading has been brutal lately. It's like they're angry over all of their controversy lately and taking it out on people making new submissions. I had two old CGC slabs graded in 9.0 that were cracked, cleaned, and pressed, then came back in a 7.0. I even had a CGC 7.5 that came back the second go around in a 4.5. It was still pretty fun watching you guys unbox and talk about your old books.

[@SwarmofComics]

HOLY SHIT! WHAT?!?!? That's absolutely insane. I'm sorry, that's awful. Thanks for having fun with us! Comics are a big part of our childhood and we love reliving the memories.

[@DavidClark-vu3dw]

When they came out I bought four copies of DD 181, two newsies and two direct. I got a 9.8 on one of the direct copies about eight years ago. Still have the other three raw. I was that kid that pulled out the whole stack of ASM 252 from the spinner after the magazine guy filled it and picked out the two best copies. Sent them in around four years ago and they got 9.8's along with my Xmen 266 and New Mutants 26, all newsies. Reading about the mile high collection according to Chuck Rosanski in '81 really helped me understand the importance of condition. Sorry about cgc doing you dirty like that. I'm still holding back my submissions for fear of those idiots getting my grades wrong. 🤣

[@SwarmofComics]

I definitely recall being a kid and thumbing through the stack at New England Comics and finding the best copy...which is probably why those McFarlane ASMs did so well....but that fell off in later years, and I regret that. At some point I was just reading them and leaving them in piles. Congrats on the grades of those three KILLER books! AND NEWSIES!!!

[@scottjames9510]

Why don’t you 9.6 prescreen? Seems like it would save you anguish and $

[@SwarmofComics]

It's a GREAT question! I think it was because we knew some of the books were going to be waaaay under, and we were okay with those being what they were. But in theory, I should have broken out the Secret Wars books and submitted them on their own. I'm still finding my way and learning lessons, and this is one of them! I appreciate the feedback!

[@joyofcardboard3230]

Haha your Secret Wars #1 is like my '52 Minoso. Just completely unhinged.

[@SwarmofComics]

It's honestly embarrassing. I brought it to show the guy who presses and submits the books, just to see if I'm missing something. He basically said it looks like a 9.6+.

[@gregparker7163]

"Your books are doomed!" "Poor Secret Wars" LOL! Yea I had a book submitted recently and was disappointed with the grade and just like you, it's not worth the price to have it resubmitted, pressed, and graded. But the book means a lot to me so the grade is irrelevant. I've also recently bought some 9.6 copies and I can't find a single defect on them and the prices are WAY less. The range is crazy sometimes and makes me more hesitant to submit books and more open to just waiting and buying graded books if the grade really matters to me.

[@SwarmofComics]

Part of me is so steamed about that SW #1 that I might be willing to crack it open and resubmit, and make a video documenting it all. It would at least be good content! But it would definitely not be worth it, because the bump in price from an 8.5 to maybe a 9.6 isn't THAT big on that book. I love the feedback, btw! Thank you!

[@mephistophelesghost6712]

I am only submitting with prescreen going forward@@SwarmofComics

[@gregparker7163]

@@SwarmofComics Love the videos and content! And having your brother on there is so nostalgic of me and my brother. But yea, I would really be interested to see if it got a way better grade but don't want you to waste your monies!

[@SwarmofComics]

@@gregparker7163 it's a matter of principle now!!!! 😅

[@gregparker7163]

😂@@SwarmofComics

[@berkfamily54]

Did you not press any of these?

[@SwarmofComics]

I think the majority were pressed, and USUALLY I get great results. I guess the comic gods were not shining on me that day.

[@junkdrunk3160]

Your videos are entertaining. Keep it up!

[@SwarmofComics]

That means a lot! I never imagined people I didn't know would be watching and enjoying, and I think that's so cool!

[@pbales8951]

That's not a spine roll on the Punisher 1... it's a miswrap--which is production related (as is the printer's crease). Neither of these production defects will keep you from getting a 9.6. Spine rolls happen when the comic is read without being handled properly, and the edge of the spine actually curls up. I looked up the graders' notes on the Secret Wars 1... light finger bends to cover, light spine stress lines to cover. CGC has been known to cause the finger bends themselves when grading. I'd definitely press the book and resubmit. There's no reason it shouldn't be at least a 9.2/9.4 looking at CGC's scan of the book.

[@SwarmofComics]

It has a weird roll that's hard to catch on camera, but not a spine roll per se. It's more like a light fold vertically next to the spine. Either way, I'm not complaining for sure!

[@DavidClark-vu3dw]

It's called a stacking roll.

[@SwarmofComics]

@@DavidClark-vu3dw ha! I love it! And I love learning new stuff. It's been one of the best things about these videos and watching other channels.

[@Comicbookyoutubersrock]

Nah, come on. You people need to stop blaming CGC for your own errors. These guys clearly caused the fingers bends when they submitted, or missed it in pressing.

[@DavidClark-vu3dw]

@@Comicbookyoutubersrock too many people who have taken pics of their books before submitting them to cgc that appeared to be very high grade and then come back with corner dents like the books had been "dropped" and then cgc graded them anyway after the fact!

[@nandoworld]

Liked, commented, already subscribed 😎

[@SwarmofComics]

Gracias, Nando

[@dylanesque27]

Ok, I was on the fence, but this video convinced me that CGC is a racket, not much better than some yahoo eyeballing something on the fly in the local comic book shop. I really don't think getting anything I have graded is a good use of money.

[@SwarmofComics]

I'm still going for it with some books, mostly for preservation, like my golden age stuff. But this certainly put me off.

[@dylanesque27]

@@SwarmofComics on that note, am I making it up, or does it seem like wider disconnects between condition and grade happen more frequently in modern books?

[@SwarmofComics]

​@@dylanesque27 absolutely. And you'd think it would be the complete opposite. I find gold and silver age books are pretty consistent across the board. I've never come by or dealt with a book from that era that I was like, "That's not even close...".

[@dylanesque27]

@@SwarmofComics and yet, you seem to be uttering that all the time with stuff from the Bronze Age onwards...

[@SwarmofComics]

@@dylanesque27 exactly! uttering it WAY too much. Even if I'm 50% right that grades don't line up with commission (I know I'm not an expert), that's STILL way too high. I just got back a batch of moderns today....so stay tuned for that video and see how it went :D

[@junkdrunk3160]

I have a Secret Wars 8 CPV in a CGC 9.6.

[@SwarmofComics]

Beautiful! I wish mine was a 9.6 too! LOLSOB!

[@Comicbookyoutubersrock]

Whatever grades you got were correct grades. No reason to think you have more experience than CGC.

[@SwarmofComics]

But to me, that's saying that CGC is perfect and can't be wrong. I'd say there are enough books cracked by youtubers that are resubmitted and get higher grades that says that this MIGHT not be true. And listen, I do honestly think your points are mostly valid in your comments, but the username sort of makes me think that it's some schtick to be negative. I hope you at least enjoyed the content and the fun we had in the videos. Just being negative all the time isn't fun, or good for the soul! :)

[@Comicbookyoutubersrock]

@@SwarmofComics My name is just a fun way to troll you guys haha. My biggest problem is I don't see a ton of what youtubers complain alot about on social media. The bulk of grading issues seem to conveniently come from comic book youtubers. So I mainly see it as a way to make content. Also keep in mind, CGC graders will be looking at comics in much much more detail than we do. As far as comics being resubmitted and coming back different grades, that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. At the end of the day, there is a level of subjectiveness to grading. Additionally, there's no guarantee from the moment you break a book out, to shipping to being in the grader hands will be the same book. I don't understand why people do that.

[@SwarmofComics]

@@Comicbookyoutubersrock There is definitely a line between wanting good grades on books, and wanting content people like, such as youtubers being upset with the grades they get. I'm certainly going to be biased, but I'd rather the good grades 😅 Maybe if I was getting paid the money like Bry's or Automatic, I'd want an increase in views with spicy content. But I make zero cents, and I'm not one to waste money for fun. THAT being said, I still might crack out the Secret Wars #1 and get it graded again just because it's honestly a beautiful book, and I want to do it for the principle. Cheers and I appreciate you chatting. As long as you dig comics and love the hobby, I'm cool with you. Sometimes ya gotta troll :)

[@Comicbookyoutubersrock]

@@SwarmofComics Just curious what the grader notes say?

[@SwarmofComics]

@@Comicbookyoutubersrock Grader Notes: light finger bends on cover light spine stress lines to cover The front cover is flawless. BUT, the back has a couple of non color breaking tics for sure. No way that puts it at an 8.5, though. It's probably a 9.4. But it's just not really worth cracking and resubmitting, the bump is negligible. But I keep imagining I'll do it, but I never will 😆

[@junkdrunk3160]

Do you not get your books pressed?

[@SwarmofComics]

I do have most of them pressed, but some of these were SO GOOD that even the presser agreed we shouldn't bother. Trust me, they were MINT!

[@junkdrunk3160]

@@SwarmofComics Only CGC can determine mint.😉

[@SwarmofComics]

@@junkdrunk3160I would say my grading skills are subpar at best....so CGC must want to hire me!

[@xavior10]

#rawcomics4life !

[@SwarmofComics]

I know, I KNOW...don't put them in plastic tombs! lol!

[@eddinsssx2667]

CGC has been super strict lately. lol

[@SwarmofComics]

Which is weird because they SHOULD be kissing our asses!!! 😆

[@DavidClark-vu3dw]

They're just a bunch of stoned teenagers!

[@SwarmofComics]

🤣@@DavidClark-vu3dw

[@Doombot2.0]

I think this shows how subjective grading can be when it really shouldn't be that at all from a single grading company. If I were you i would make another video showing you crack that SW 1 out and then packing it up to be sent back to cgc to be graded again. I'm betting you get that 9.6 you thought or better and then you can email the videos to cgc showing them. I'd be interested in hearing what there response would be to a situation like this. Another $25 could be worth the content you could have if the book graded much higher as is, without another press etc.

[@SwarmofComics]

I mentioned doing exactly this in another comment! ha! I think the experiment would be worth doing. For content, and for my piece of mind....which is missing at the moment!

[@mephistophelesghost6712]

You must have gotten the same idiot grader I got.

[@SwarmofComics]

Oh shit! What happened with you? Do you have a video of it??