Grader Notes
Excerpted from The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics
Introduction
During the grading process, CGC records the presence of some or all of the defects on a comic book. These are called “grader notes” and can be obtained for free online for many comics that have been certified by CGC. The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics describes the terms used for grader notes in more detail, and we’ve excerpted parts of this section of the guide as a reference for collectors.
Table of Contents
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Crease
This category contains defects that involve a folding or bending of the paper of a comic book, and usually occurs on the cover, although creasing is sometimes evident on interior pages as well.
Bend | Crease | Crunch | Dent | Finger Bends | Finger Creases | Indent | Polybag Crease | Reader Crease | Reverse Spine Roll | Spine Roll | Stacking Bend | Staple Impression | Stress Lines | Subscription Crease | Vein | Writing Indent
Distortion
The category of distortion encompasses the broadest range of defects among the seven classifications, involving both aesthetic and structural effects.
Blade Pulls | Butterfly | Canvassing | Cockling | Crushed Spine | Fade | Ink Distortion | Ink Smear | Miscut | Miswrap | Off-Register | Pebbling | Printer Crease | Rippling | Shadow | Siamese Pages | Signature Smudged | Staple Altered | Staple Extra (manufacturing) | Warping
Missing Part
This category refers to any original part of a comic book that is gone.
Binder/Punch Holes | Bindery Chip | Brittleness Chipping | Burn | Chews | Erasure Marks | Fraying | Gloss Loss | Hole | Ink Lift | Ink Loss | Ink Missing | Marvel Chipping | Missing Coupon/Panel | Missing Cover | Missing Insert | Missing Page | Missing Piece | Missing Wrap | Paper Lift | Printer Hole | Scratch | Scuff | Silverfish Damage | Staple Holes | Staple Missing | Staple Removed | Tape Pull | Wear | Wormhole
Stain
This category involves blemishes on the comic that affect the appearance of the paper, ink and gloss, making them aesthetic defects.
Foxing | Mold/Mildew | Odor | Rust Stains | Smoke Damage | Stain | Tape Stain | Transfer Stain
Substance
This category involves foreign objects becoming affixed to the surface of a comic, usually the cover.
Color Copy | Distribution Ink | Fingerprints | Ink Transfer | Lamination | Married Wrong | Name Written on Cover | Soiling | Stamp | Staple Extra (after manufacturing) | Staple Rust | Sticker | Substance | Tape | Tape Reattachment | Tape Residue | Writing
Tear
Defects in this category involve the separation of paper anywhere on the book and is also considered a structural defect.
Bindery Tear | Brittleness Splitting | Detached Cover | Detached Insert | Detached Page | Detached Piece | Detached Wrap | Marvel Tears | Printer Tear | Slice | Spine Split | Staple Detached | Staple Poking Through Cover | Staple Recessed | Staple Tears | Tear
Want more?
Over the course of 400 pages, The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics offers an exhaustive examination of not only the many types of defects that collectors might find, but also comic book history, grading scales, reprints, variants and more.
Introduction (cont'd)
During the grading process, CGC records the presence of some or all of the defects on a comic book. These are called “grader notes” and can be obtained for free online for many comics that have been certified by CGC. The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics describes the terms used for grader notes in more detail, and we’ve excerpted parts of this section of the guide as a reference for collectors.
Grader notes sometimes contain the degree and location of a defect on the comic book; other times, multiple defects are condensed into one note for conciseness or to convey the combined effect of the defects. The presence of certain defects has been disclosed on CGC’s label over the years, including tape, staples added after manufacturing, full detachments, missing parts, stickers, color copies, wrong parts and unverified signatures.
The grader notes section of the guide breaks down each of the 109 defects, showing how they are defined and identified, what effect they have on a comic book’s grade and pictures illustrating what they look like.
The 109 different defects CGC identifies on a comic book are grouped into seven general classifications shared here: crease, distortion, missing part, stain, substance, tanning and tear. In the guide, a description is provided for each defect, and if applicable, a general grade range that a comic book may fall into when exhibiting that defect, depending on the defect’s severity.