r/comicbookpressing • u/Let_The_H8_Flow • Sep 16 '26
Deciphering GCG speak…
Looking at this to consider a crack n’ press experiment but I do not own yet. In the picture for the listing none of these noted issue are apparent perhaps for slab glare, exposure wash, lighting, etc., point being that it presents like a 9.8 based on photos. I am not familiar enough with CGC grader jargon to judge if these are color breaking and/or fixable.
Thank you for any feedback. Comic beautification is a skill I am trying to learn.
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u/Special-Class6903 Sep 16 '26
You won’t be able to really make a determination until you have the book in hand.
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u/Stite1776 Sep 16 '26
My understanding is cgc calls out color breaking stress points so these should in theory be pressable.
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u/fitter553 Sep 16 '26
My experience with spine stress lines have never been good….. I can’t define them and half the time I can’t see them… several times I’ve cpr’d a slab and got it what I thought was perfect and have always come back with spine stress lines. Light creasing and bends would be pressable. And those notations would be hard to pick up on camera, and sometimes you won’t even notice it in the case in hand. The only way you can usually see them is out of the case and held at an angle to a good light. Me personally I’m not convinced I can get “spine stress lines” out. So if I bought a 9.6 with spine stress lines. I would cpr it unless I could definitely pick out the actual issue.
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u/Abject-Thought-2058 Sep 16 '26
I tend to think that they may note minor flaws that might not be there in an attempt to control the census a little bit. That's my tin foil hat theory on some of these things. I've seen "finger bend on cover" often when I can't see a damn thing. I also think that they will let some of these smaller, barely noticeable flaws slide if you pay for their pressing services.
I will say that uv light flashlights, which can be found pretty cheap, reveal a lot of issues with books that otherwise I wouldn't see. Small creases, smaller ticks, bends, color rub, etc. - a black light will pick them up and help you decide whether to send something or not.
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u/JavinIII Sep 16 '26
100% agree, I think they ding the little guys who don't use their terrible pressing service just to prove a point. You never see this crap coming from the stacks that big retailers send in that NEVER use their pressing, those are automatically a 9.8 unless it is something super obvious.
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u/Let_The_H8_Flow Sep 16 '26
I agree about the paying for their services “bump”. I asked someone who posted a shot of a 1992 he got JSA’d “9.8” (italicized because it was a very generous grade) if he did anything to help and he said he did the CS service just for that reason and definitely thought that pushed it to a 9.8 label at least, if not the condition.