Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, walking dead

Walking Dead Variant #100 Still Making A Scene

Published Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:00:29 -0500

Last updated Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:53:18 -0500

The Walking Dead #100 Retailer Variant Appreciation edition, signed by Robert Kirkman is, again, causing a little controversy.

Mailed to those who ordered the most copies, and those who increased their order the most, it rapidly started selling on eBay for $500.

One of the ideas behind it were that the signing of all five hundred copies was witncess by CGC representatives, so that if retailers had the comic CGCed then the signature on the comic would couldnt as being official for the Gold Label CGC qualification. Here's what the website says;

This is directly from CGC's website;

"The prestigious CGC Signature Series label (yellow) is applied to comic books that have been signed by someone of significance to the comic, under the direct observation of a CGC representative. The signatures are then authenticated by CGC with the labels indicating who signed the book, the date it was signed, and in some cases the location of where it was signed.

After the comic book or comic magazine is signed in the presence of a CGC employee or CGC authorized witness, the book is immediately submitted to CGC for grading and encapsulation in CGC's patented, tamper-evident holder, to become a treasured part of your collection. When buying and selling comic books, the prestigious CGC Signature Series is the hobby's only 100% Authenticated Signature!"

The key statement being "under the direct observation of a CGC representative". Originally there were only supposed to be 500 of these books made and all signed by Kirkman and witnessed by CGC, which gives the retailer the option to send it back in to CGC to get them slabbed and receive the Gold Label, which they could then advertise when selling..

However, it seems that some unsigned copies have also leaked out onto the marketplace. Which means that anyone could fake an autograph, sent it in to CGC and they would be bound to label it as valid withe the gold seal. CGC responded to complaints saying;

Due to the unexpected surfacing of unsigned copies of Walking Dead #100 Lucille Variant, and the Signature Series policy conflicts that have arisen due to them, we are putting a time limit on their eligibility for CGC's Signature Series designation. This was supposed to be a good thing for the fans, to add on top of an already cool book given out to retailers as a "thank you" by Image/Skybound, not to cause problems like it has. Nothing but good intentions were behind this original offer, so we're trying to salvage what we can with what was witnessed.

We will be making a post-marked deadline of 9/14/12 in order for the copies to still be eligible for SS, they must be received by the mail carrier on or before that date. Any books received after will get a Qualified label. There will be no exceptions. Any questions, please feel free to call or email mbalent@cgccomics.com

Still not sure how a tight deadline would prevent someone buying and sending this in, but there you go…