Key to our grading approximation:

        Poor 0.5-1.0 = The lowest condition that it is possible to imagine. Could be incomplete and may barely resemble a copy even in good condition. Imagine you gave it to your baby to play around with and what they’d give you back would be a copy in this grade!

        Fair 1.0-2.0 = Almost as bad as it gets. Cover may be detached. There may be heavy taping and there may be a page or centerfold missing. There may be heavy staining such as water damage and the colors may have been damaged. There may be a long spine split. There could be ¼ of the front cover missing or the back cover may be gone.

        Good 2.0-3.0 = A copy with significant wear with several and varied defects which is still complete and readable. Cover may be detached, there will be heavy creasing, spine and edge wear, little if any gloss and may have a number of moderate stains and chips. Chunks taken out of the cover. Some tape may also be present.

        Very Good 3.0-5.0 = The average, well-used comic but without any major defects. Most of the gloss will have gone and there will be spine stress, edge wear and corner creases probably present. There could be writing on the cover and a minor piece of no more than 1/8th of an inch square out of the front or back cover. There may be small tears in the cover and possibly a spine roll. A moderate stain may be present.

        Fine 5.0-7.0 = An above-average copy which is still relatively tight, flat and largely clean. A moderate amount of spine stress or a corner crease with general light edge wear is permitted. Gloss will be average and there may be some color fading. Light wrinkling and/or indentations may be present.

        Very Fine 7.0-9.0 = General minor overall wear is permissible. Some slight indentations or a minor amount of wrinkling may be present which reduces the overall flatness. Some loss of gloss and/or whiteness may have occurred but largely a clean, flat and attractive comic. Pages will be at least light tan but there will be no brittleness and the comic will be mostly supple.       

       Near Mint 9.0-9.6 = Comics in this grade are like new with some very minor flaws permissible such as minor blunting or very slight color flaking of one or two corners. There may be a couple of very minor stress lines of not more than 1/16th of an inch in length which do not break the color and there may be a slight tear of an interior page. There may be a slight loss of gloss or of whiteness of front or back cover but the comic will have at least 90% reflectivity. Paper will be at least cream to off-white and be supple.      

       Mint 9.8-10.0 = Virtually flawless in every way, both inside and outside. Only the very slightest of flaws - only visible upon very close inspection - is permissible such as one tiniest of flakes off the spine or where the staples enter the book. Otherwise, the comic will be perfectly square with square corners, perfectly flat and centred, with full gloss and reflectivity and no stress lines visible. There will also be no show-through from the inside front cover visible on the front cover. Paper will be white, supple and fresh