Learn to love "Valiant Corners" they're Grreat &am

soundoftheuniverse · Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:11:53 pm

Winning a few auctions for CGC books recently got me thinking about a post I made last year before the board restarted regarding the dreaded "Valiant Corners".

For those learning of this for the first time, a "Valiant Corner" is that tiny tear(s) you find on the tip(s) of many pre unity Valiant spines. They're ugly and in the past were more than enough for me to pass up a copy because I thought it was damaged and worth less. Not the case.

Based on a delightful conversation I had with a CGC grader (last year)they do not count these tears against the grade of the book. Furthermore a Valiant book with "Valiant Corners" can still receive a 9.8 grade. THANK GOD!

Now a word of caution.

Don't go bidding willy nilly thinking all tears are ok because they're obviously not. We're talking about a very specific type of tear here. I'm sure someone will post a link for all to enjoy.

It would be an interesting survey to see what percentage of our books suffer the marks of the bloodthirsty printer

All that said. Those CGC's I won BETTER NOT HAVE ANY $%*#@ VALIANT CORNERS!!!! JK

lobo · Post by **lobo** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:17:36 pm

soundoftheuniverse wrote: We're talking about a very specific type of tear here. I'm sure someone will post a link for all to enjoy.

Yea somebody show us some pics of a Valiant corner. I suspect I know what you mean but I want to be sure. Do these tears have a small piece missing or that section ripped away still attached? I'm talking very small.

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:54:02 pm

I can take a picture tonight when I get home. I thought these would prevent 9.6 and up grades so I didn't send any to CGC with them. So maybe I will get 9.8's after all.

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:10:03 am

I sent Greg a pic of my Magnus 8 corners.

greg · Post by **greg** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:20:01 am

x-omatic wrote:I sent Greg a pic of my Magnus 8 corners.

shaxper · Post by **shaxper** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:22:36 am

Happy to say I don't have any of those corners. Will CGC use the bell curve and bring my score up, then?

But really, if the purpose of a CGC grading is to report the condition of an issue, unless EVERY copy of an issue had that feature, it doesn't make sense for them to ignore it. It doesn't matter where the error came from. It's inferior to other better copies that came from the same press.

Ghetto D · Post by **Ghetto D** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:26:28 am

Damn! Those books look like they were plucked from a standard silver collection. I never realized they got that bad. Maybe I should go back and check mine to see if they have the corners and how severe they are.

greg · Post by **greg** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:26:35 am

According to the Overstreet Grading Guide,
"subtle bindery defects are allowed" in 9.8 condition.

Even so, I bet CGC put most of those "circled" above at 9.6 or lower.
9.8's are about as near-perfect as you can get.
Visible flaws don't normally appear in CGC 9.8 slabs (for moderns).

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:42:39 am

Ghetto D wrote:Damn! Those books look like they were plucked from a standard silver collection. I never realized they got that bad. Maybe I should go back and check mine to see if they have the corners and how severe they are.

If you take a picture of your corners that close they look alot worse. There are many 9.8 books in there. It is also more common with some earlier issues and Solar seem to have it often as well.

soundoftheuniverse · Wed Jun 16, 2004 5:03:22 am

Thanks for taking the time to post a pic with so many great examples.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a very scientific grader.

I just know what looks really good to me and try to find/attain that quality or better which we all know is a never ending search.

Out of those corners XOmatic posted I would choose the first one circled at the top as the "best" cleanest tear. I find alot of my Harbingers have crisp little chunks chipped away.

To me, the first one circled with it's tiny tear is alot nicer that the one beneath it. Looking down the edge of the bottom cover shows more wear than the nice crisp chip tear. I'll take a chip over edge wear anyday.

Those books are screaming ACID PROTECTION!

Invision a mylar as a warm jacuzzi spa and the Mag 8 books looking like Lance Armstrong felt after the Tour de France. Slip those babies into that spa and let em soak up some protection and comfort.

Looking at those Mag's has increased my mania to neutralize acid. Funny how one thing so easily segways into another.

Do you guys have anything special you do to protect your books? Who sells the best backing boards?

DawgPhan · Post by **DawgPhan** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:52:34 am

This is funny. I was thinking about Valiant Corners last night and was going to make a post about them today. Nearly ever Valiant i see has this problem to some degree. It does suck that most of the books that we collect came straight off the press like that, but oh well...we collect em for the stories and not the resale value, right?

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:43:27 am

soundoftheuniverse wrote:Those books are screaming ACID PROTECTION!

They are not as yellow as it would seem from the photo. I adjusted the color balance and contrast in Photoshop in order to see the corners better. Also many Valiant books will have a darker top edge from being stored in open comic boxes in stores. I asure you that the insides are bright white with few exception.

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:10:42 pm

Valiant corners aren't unique to Valiant, either....several late 80's/early 90's books suffered from this very common defect. Old glossy newsprint stock was very pliable...new Mando/Baxter stock wasn't.

A very common book with this type of damage is Sandman #1. Tough book to find with perfect corners.

lobo · Post by **lobo** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 10:04:43 pm

Hmmmm
I definitely have a bunch of perfect looking books except for the corner rip. So I guess as long as the ripped material is still neatly in place CGC will give you the benefit of the doubt?

greg · Post by **greg** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 10:50:46 pm

I'm still not real sure about CGC's "forgiveness" of the corners...
Does anyone have CGC graded examples of what's been seen
from Valiant at the different grade levels? (9.4 through 9.8?)

I have a few in storage... I need to examine them more closely.

soundoftheuniverse · Thu Jun 17, 2004 2:18:22 am

The 9.8 Mag 12 I sold last year had Valiant corners which prompted me to call CGC because it was my first 9.8 and I was under the impression a 9.8 was absolutely perfect which is definitely not the case.

9.8's are nice, don't get me wrong but I was a bit let down. On the flip side even with the damage it's the nicest copy of a Mag 12 I've ever seen.

I would be very interested to hear how many of our 9.8's have some form of damage on the spine tips.

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Learn to love "Valiant Corners" they're Grreat &am

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