Can we talk about that guy who graded his own comics and ruined them?

Sarah Patel · 2026-05-08T19:45:05.376806+00:00

I saw a dude at a convention last Saturday try to sell a slabbed book he did himself with a hair straightener and a ziploc bag. It had wrinkles inside the case and the grade was like a 2.0 max. Why do people think they can skip paying a pro and still get good money out of it?

adam_patel4mo ago

Robert_bell's story reminds me of a guy who used a vacuum sealer on a copy of Amazing Spider-Man 300. He thought he was being clever, but the heat from the sealer warped the cover and the bag was so tight it left permanent crease marks. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen more DIY grading attempts go wrong than right. It's like they think a comic is a sandwich you can just wrap up.

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robert_bell4mo ago

Saw a guy at a flea market with a comic sealed in packing tape asking $500.

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nancycooper4mo ago

Lol oh man, that vacuum sealer story is brutal. Honestly though, the hair straightener thing is almost impressive in a sad way. But I gotta say, those grades you're talking about? A 2.0 is being generous for most of those DIY jobs I've seen. I saw one where a guy tried to press a book with a clothes iron and the whole cover looked like a waffle. The thing is, even if you somehow get a clean seal, you still need to know the exact grade before you slab it. Like, you can't just guess and throw a number on there. That's the part people skip. They think the slab is the hard part but it's really knowing the grade that matters.

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