Who does not care about owning a restored classic comic?

[Jezebel Bond]

Books like these come along and take every single one of my finicky collecting standards and kick them in the ass.



Looks really good and I do want to own some nice looking Golden age books. However, this one was also described as having some colour touch on the cover, some small sealed tears and reinforced staples.

I have hangups about owning books that don't have their original integrity intact...but lots of these GA books seem to come with modifications of some sort. The worst of the lot being micro-trimming...sometimes it's hard to detect if the book was deliberately trimmed (there's a genuine CGC controversy with this) or if the book was originally cut like that.

[benday-dot]

Restoration does not bother me at all. Sometimes such modifications are simple utilitarian measures to allow a book to be read without fear of its complete collapse (like the staple assists you mention)Though I think an an ethical seller should be upfront about it for the sake of those like yourself who do care.

[pinkfloydsound17]

Restoration does not bother me at all. Sometimes such modifications are simple utilitarian measures to allow a book to be read without fear of its complete collapse (like the staple assists you mention)Though I think an an ethical seller should be upfront about it for the sake of those like yourself who do care.

Agree. I mean, it is hard to argue with something that looks that good. And if the resto is done well...I'm not a Superman guy but if it was a Spidey ish and looked good and was priced fair, I would be in.

[Chris N]

I may not be the audience for this question but I've explained before that I recognize two conditions: "easy to read" and "hard to read". If the restoration puts it into the former category, then great.

[dupont2005]

I wouldn't care, but then again I tend to not buy high dollar comics.

I have had a comic pressed. It was free. The comic had a monster ding in it that actually did make it weird to read and someone offered to fix it for me for free so I did it.

[The Confessor]

I wouldn't care at all. I'd just be psyched about owning a Golden Age Superman book in that sort of condition. Mind you, I'm not someone who worries over condition, to be honest...so your milage may vary.

[dan bailey]

What the others have said, not surprisingly. We all have our hangups; such minutiae happen not to be among mine (as opposed to other minutiae, not related to factors that don't affect readability, that are).

[Grapeweasel]

I've never bought a graded comic.

But when I window-shop I tend to frown at the purple labels....

[Slam_Bradley]

I could give a rats ass. If the story and art are there...who cares?

[Scott Harris]

For me it would depend on the extent of the restoration and the price. It's getting pretty hard to find non-restored copies of key Golden Age stuff. Frankly, I think collectors tend to take restoration way too seriously, especially in terms of how it affects the price. I may be way off, but I think we're getting due for a market correction, because the prices are so low for restored books compared to unrestored that it's become an artificial imbalance. Restoration is viewed as such a defect in some corners of the collecting world that, for example, a 3.0 that is restored into a 6.0 can sometimes sell for less than it would have as an unrestored copy even though it is three grade higher. Frankly, I think that's kind of silly.

Then there's the issue of what CGC -- and by extension, many collectors -- consider to be "restoration." There's a CGC 3.0 purple label copy of Boy Comics #3 that has been floating around on eBay for quite a while now. I've almost bought it a few times. The "restoration" on this copy that earned it a blue label is tape and what they claim is "minor color touch" on the cover. Considering how beat up the comic is, it seems clear that the tape was added by some kid 60 years ago to keep it from falling apart. I suspect from this that the "color touch" is probably something similar, you know, a patch of paper loss that someone colored in with a marker or something. To me, this isn't restoration because it's not professional and it's not really an attempt to enhance the grade. Instead of giving it a purple label I think they should have treated these things as a minor defect and downgraded it to a 2.5. Since they don't make their grading guidelines known, it's hard to figure out how they decide what's "restoration" and what isn't.

Anyway, just my two cents.

[Shellhead]

I could give a rats ass. If the story and art are there...who cares?

I would rather have a nice quality reprint than a restored classic comic. With the reprint, I can enjoy reading the comic and looking at the artwork, because that is how comics were intended to be enjoyed. If it was a classic comic, even a restored one, I would feel guilty every time I read it, because I would be subtly damaging a valuable object. And just sealing it up in a bag wouldn't give me any enjoyment. I wouldn't be able to brag about it to friends or family, they would just think that I was stupid for spending that much on a comic book.

[MatthewP]

This is a bit of a tricky issue for me. I care about condition and authenticity, so I prefer a book not be restored, but there are some types of restoration that don't bug me too much.

Minor color touch I can live with. I actually find it amusing that a tiny almost undetectable color touch will destroy a comic's value for some people, but the same person may be fine with a name scrawled across the cover which messes with the artwork. Different hang-ups for different folks.

Tear seals for some reason don't bug me much, but I draw the line at pieces added, and trimmed edges bug me.

As I'm buying more really old stuff I find I'm becoming more tolerant of minor restoration, just because it helps me get some very nice books at much lower prices than they would otherwise be.

[dupersuper]

Original, restored, reprint, trade...I'm really just interested in reading the story. I might geek out a little at getting a really old copy, but it's very far down on my list of priorities when looking at books.

[Jezebel Bond]

I could give a rats ass. If the story and art are there...who cares?

Means you probably don't mind a readable ratty condition book or reprints...others prefer originals, preferably in their original condition....'nuff said.

[MRP]

I think there is a dividing line between collectors and readers. Sure some readers collect, and collector's read, but there is a divide.

Readers are generally more tolerant of reprints, trades, low grade copies, restoration et. al. It's about getting the stories to read and getting runs of stories, appearances et. al. Slabbed comics seem an anathema for readers because you can't get to the comic to read it.

For collector's it's more about the object of the hunt-the comic itself. Appearance, restoration, condition are the primary considerations. Importance of the issue (who appears, is it a key, is it an origin, etc.) also plays a factor. Slabbed books ensure the authenticity of the factors that are important to the collector. For the collector restoration is not about preserving the book for future survival or use, it's about changing the whole game of collecting. It's cheating., The thrill of the hunt is to find the book in the condition you are seeking.

I've been both a collector and a reader over the years, though my collecting time was very short as I quickly realized I did not have to resources available to me to do it on the scale I wanted, and that I preferred reading my comics to just owning them, but I understand both sides of the divide.

I think Jezebel hit on one of the key issues of the divide with restoration.

-M