[Groop]I have to gripe a little bit.

[sac@foolarchy.com]

Okay, out of my lurking corner with a soapbox in hand!

I've only been collecting comics since the late 70s. But comics have always held a 'magic' value to me. I'm of that bread that actually reads the comics. I don't simply purchase comics and seal them in air tight bullet proof titanium casings. Don't get me wrong either, because I treat my comics with the utmost of care. I take great care of them.

Enter CGC. Now, I'm a fair person and I can see both sides of CGC. But, alas, for me, it is a bad thing. I'm a collector that likes to delve into my purchases.. my treasures. I just don't appreciate the fact that if I find a comic I want and it's slabbed with a CGC rating/case, then not only am I most likely going to pay a much larger price, but I'm also going to make that price an extra financial waste because I'm going to break the CGC slab seal and read my book.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2102602107

Now I love Groo. Groo is a comic book that is meant to be handled and read... read many times over infact. I love the fact that a Groo comic could be 'valued' at $90. I won't mention that it's pretty damned easy to find high grade books on nearly any title/issue from the 1980s and up.

What really bothers me is that this is a slabbed Groo. I mean, it's Groo for crying out loud... this is a book that is meant to be opened and cherished. To be absorbed in the multitude of images and colors. Not sealed. I could understand if it was an Amazing Fantasy #15 that you had in a CGC slab... because then you could just read the reprint.

I don't know. I digress. As a fan of comics, my opinion is that CGC has not been a positive thing for my genre of collectors whose pockets are not lined with money. CGC seems to have just become a way to make merchants more rich.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

~Shane

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