Grader Notes

Excerpted from The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics

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.

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