קצת ארוך - אז סבלנות
קודם כל - קומיקס לא באים בניילונים. חנויות קומיקס מכניסות אותם לשם אם הן רוצות לשמור על החוברות לטווח יותר ארוך. הם נשלחים מהדפוס "עירומים". רוב חוברות הקומיקס משנות השמונים ומעלה אשר בחנויות או אצל אספנים "מקצועיים" יהיו במצב של NM/M וכל מחירוני הקומיקס מתייחסים למצב זה עבור מחיר של חוברת. בקשר לאיך לדרג חוברת, אז ככה זה לפי ה Comics Price Guide: Mint - The Holy Grail of comics. Perfect. No arguments. if it has any defects, its not mint. It´s very rare especially in older issues, and very expensive. If you think that you have a book in this condition, look at it again. Some defects are easily overlooked. Only the most subtle bindery or printing defects are allowed. The cover must be flat with no surface wear whatsoever. The cover inks must be bright with super high reflectivity and no fading. Corners are cut square and sharp (This one is usually the creep that does the book in from mint to very fine). Staples are generally centered, clean with no rust at all. The cover must be centered and the interior pages firmly attached. Look at the interior paper, is it supple and fresh (Ah, that good ol´ comic smell). And lastly, the spine must be tight and flat. Near Mint - This is mint minus some minor defect: a slight stress line by the staples. And the staples themselves are generally centered clean with no rust. Maybe some of the color has chipped or flaked off the cover. And again, the cover is flat with no surface wear,inks are bright with high reflectivity and very little fading. And those tricky corners are cut square and sharp with ever so slight blunting permitted. You can tell that this comic has been stored in a Mylar bag and looks as new as the day it was printed. All stress marks should be almost invisible and bindery tears must be less than 1/16 inch. Only the most subtle binding and/or printing defects allowed. Cover is well centered and firmly secured to interior pages. Paper is supple and like new. Spine is tight and flat. You get the idea. VERY FINE - This condition is still acceptable to most collectors. The book is an excellent copy with great eye appeal. It is vibrant and clean with supple pages. The Spine may have a couple (that word means at the most 2) of very very small stress lines at the most 1/4 inch the surface color around the line must not be noticeably broken. The Spine is almost completely flat. The cover is relatively flat with almost no surface wear and the cover inks are generally bright with medium to high reflectivity (You will not be able to use this to tan with). The staples may show some discoloration, but its not too noticeable on a first time glance. The inside pages and covers usually will be off-white to white, but can be creamy or slightly yellowish. The more of these you find the lower on the VF scale they go. Fine - A fine comic book appears to have been read a few times and has been handled with some care. This one allows for a few defects. Maybe some of the above along with a small fold or crease in the cover, a small piece is missing and has a few (more than 2 less than 5) very slight stress marks on spine. The cover has some slight surface wear but still has its original gloss and there is nothing major wrong with it. Overall an exceptional, above-average copy and still highly collectible. Very Good - Here´s were it starts to get tricky. VG could have one major defect like a larger piece out of the cover (1/4 inch to 1/8 inch), or a one-inch plus tear. It has stress lines around the staples and creases from the opening and closing of the cover. The whiteness of the page have been replaced by a yellowish color. This comic is definitely a well-read copy and could have a reading or center crease or a rolled spine, but is not damaged enough to reduce eye appeal. This could still be a very desirable copy. Even some discoloration, fading in colors and even minor soiling is allowed (Yuck!). Some stores used stamps, name stamps, arrival dates on the cover this is fine for this grade. The cover and/or inside pages could have minor tears and/or folds and the centerfold could be loose or detached. One or both staples might be loose, but cover cannot be completely detached. Pages and inside covers could be brown but NOT brittle. You might find tape used to fixed some tears (never ever do that though). Good - Most avid collectors consider this the lowest collectible grade (For good reason...See POOR). An extension of VG, just with more defects. It has all pages and covers but with major creases or a rolled spine. There is almost low cover gloss or most times none at all. The inside paper quality is not good and yellow and small pieces of them may be missing. If there is a piece missing from the cover, it should be no larger than a 1/2" to 1/4". Books in this grade are almost always creased, scuffed, abraded and soiled, but completely readable. This grade can have a lot of accumulation of defects but still has its basic overall comic book look. FAIR - A copy in this grade has all pages and most of the covers. The centerfold could be missing. A book in this condition is worn, messy, ragged and so unattractive. The creases and folds are prevalent and paper quality may be very low. The spine and/or cover may be split up to 2/3s the entire length. All the staples may be missing. Corners are found to be kinda rounded. If upon opening this here book and you notice that coupons were cut from any cover and/or the inside pages, this book will most definitely be in this grade. Parts of the front cover may be missing (Up to 1/12th of it though). Some soiling, staining, tears, markings or chunks missing will interfere with reading, but you could get the gist of it (If you don´t mind never being able to see what happened on page 12). Most of the time the paper quality is very low and may have definite brittleness on the edges but never in the center area of the inside pages. Poor - This is pretty self-explanatory. It has several major defects to the point that there is no longer any collector value. It will have large tears tape pieces or even a whole page missing. Copies in this grade typically will have pages and/or around 1/3 or more of the front cover missing. They may have severe strains (physical and mental), mildew or heavy cover abrasion to the point where cover inks are GONE. Any defacing with paints, varnishes, glues, oil, indelible markers or dyes is a sure sign of poor condition (and comic book upbringing). If you see any of these, rips, tears, folding and creasing, look for another book. The inside pages have medium to extremely severe brittleness. It is a pretty beat up piece of newsprint. But even Action Comics #1 in this condition is worth something, so go figure