Robin Bain's Bio
Dear Reader,
MY PERSONAL BACKGROUND
I live in Shoeburyness, Essex, England, which is about 40 miles due east of London.
Shoeburyness forms part of Southend on Sea, a former town that was conferred city status in October 2021, whose claims to fame are that it has the longest pleasure pier in the world at 1 and 1/3 miles or so and it is where the actress Helen Mirren was born and grew up.
I live about a mile north of the River Thames estuary that, ultimately, becomes the English Channel, which separates the country from France.
Southend is a popular commuter conurbation for those working in London, and destination for visitors from the capital as it has the nearest beaches with trains taking about an hour.
Apart from several years when I was a young boy (aged between roughly 5 and 11 years and lived abroad in a number of countries ) I have lived in Southend for all my life.
I retired from work on 30 April 2023, aged 64 years.
That has at last given me the opportunity to add my slabbed books to the Registry.
MY COLLECTING BACKGROUND
I became interested in reading comic books when I was 4 or 5 years old.
At first I liked U.K. comics such as The Beano, Smash, Valiant and Lion which were black and white publications featuring a number of different characters. I particularly liked anything with a "hero" storyline, like "Dan Dare", in it.
It wasn't long after then that I discovered Marvel and DC books, although at that time (the early 1960s) they were hard to come by in the U.K. and were only available at a few local newsagents. I definitely preferred the Marvel characters, stories and art to the DC ones.
After a time the stories became much easier to find in the form of reprints in "Fantastic" and "Terrific" comics, which had a colour cover but black and white content of 2 or 3 (I think) different stories and were aimed at the U.K. market. Those comics have recently found their way onto on-line sales in the U.S.A.
By then I had returned to the U.K to live here permanently, but in order to return home I had to dispose of the comics I had acquired while living abroad, which left me hungry for new ones to read.
I think that the ones I bought then were a mix of Marvel comics Cents copies stamped with the U.K. price, and U.K price variants, according to whatever was available, and then as the original colour editions became less common here, a succession of black and white reprints.
I think I stopped reading comics when I was about 14 years old, as my interests changed .
Then, in 1991 I discovered a comic book shop when I was walking through a local shopping centre . I stopped outside to have a look as it had a number of Marvel comics on display in the shop front.
A particular comic caught my eye, "X-Men 1", which I later discovered was the Jim Lee re-launch of the team.
I had been a big fan of the original team, and I was intrigued by the characters on the cover. In the foreground was a large image of Cyclops. His costume was different from how I remembered it although it was blue and yellow as before and there was no mistaking his optic blast.
In the background was Iceman, riding an ice slide, as he always had all those years ago in the 1960's.
However, who was the guy in the front with a brown and tan costume and claws coming out of his hands?
I thought the art on the cover was superb, and so I bought the comic, took it home and read it. It was great. I thought I was lucky to jump on at the start of a new comic book run with familiar characters and new ones, and at the beginning of a new chapter for this team.
I enjoyed it so much that I bought the comic each month, and so began my renaissance for this medium.
THE CGC EFFECT
My next phase within the hobby was one of collecting and reading raw Marvel comics from a couple of local comic book shops, mail order catalogues and comic book conventions in London, as I re-discovered my long-lost favourites.
Then, in 2000 CGC began slabbing comics, and my interest was piqued. The idea of the certainty and accuracy of independent grading, and of showcasing the appearance of a comic book in a clear holder seemed to be very desirable. It meant a shift from raw comics that could be read, to ones with an enhanced appearance which were packaged as a trading commodity.
Suddenly, all kinds of comics slabbed by CGC (and particularly those in high grade ) were accepted by collectors as being desirable and worthy for a collection, and I decided to build such a set, particularly as I had very little knowledge of grading, which could leave me exposed in relation to a raw comic book set.
Please see the Owner Comments in my "X-Men (1963)#1-#544 All Variants in the U.K." set
as to how my collecting slabbed comics began.
It is commonly said that in the U.K. we lag behind the U.S.A. in relation to various trends and fashions, and this is true in relation to slabbed comics, too, so they took time to catch on in popularity here, although they still have a long way to go to catch up with the volume of slabbed comics that are available and are traded in the U.S.A.
I recall that at first in order for me for me to obtain a slabbed comic I needed to take the raw book to a dealer at a regular London comic book convention who was also an authorised CGC representative.
He would send it to CGC, let me know when it was back, and I would pick it up from him at the next show, all of which could take several months.
But, over time, more and more CGC slabbed comics began to appear for sale via dealers at shows, in catalogues (i.e. hard-copy printed catalogues as this was pre-internet/websites) and in some shops, too.
MY CURRENT COLLECTING
ACTIVITIES
Nowadays, of course, numerous ways to acquire slabbed comics exist.
My preference is to buy slabbed comics to add to my collection, and to do so at on-line auctions, with my main sources being mainstream dealers in the U.S.A. such as Comiclink, Metropolis Comics (ComicConnect), Pedigree Comics, High Grade Comics and My Comic Shop.
Occasionally, I will also buy a comic that is for sale at a specified price, but I believe that an auction is the best way of determining the true price or value of a comic, whether slabbed or raw.
Even after allowing for the number of comics that I bought raw and had slabbed when I started collecting, the vast majority of the comics in my collection were slabbed when purchased, and it is quite rare for me to buy a raw back issue now, unless it is for reading and slabbing, or just reading purposes.
Having said that, the way in which I have added comics to my recently formed "Avengers U.K. Editions /Price Variants in the U.K."set has been to buy them raw here in the U.K., where they are easier to find, and then have them slabbed.
Now, when I have a raw comic that I wish to be slabbed, I make an appointment and take it to CGC's office in London. I get an email from them notifying me of the cost, followed by one telling me when it's about to be shipped back there from Florida. I then wait a few days and ring them to check that it's arrived, and make an appointment to call-in and pick it up.
The majority of my sets are made up of Cents copy comics. Quite recently I have started to build some Canadian Price Variant sets and U.K. Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Daredevil, Thor (and Journey into Mystery), Werewolf by Night and X-Men Price Variant sets as well.
I prefer to buy Newsstand editions, where they exist, with white pages (most of my comics have them) that are free of arrival date stamps, "T&P stamps" (they show in Pence the price of a Cents copy comic that has been shipped to the U.K. for sale there), writing or similar on the cover. However, I do have a handful of comics with these minor defects, such as my Spectacular Spider-Man issue number #27 which has a small handwritten "11 DO"(?) written horizontally within the "D" of the words "Spider-Man" on the front cover which I did not spot when I viewed the scan of it before I bought it, although that has not affected its "Universal" 9.6 certification by CGC.
In my Owner Comments in relation to each comic in every set I have stated :
(a) the information on the comic label concerning the story or , if that is absent, my own description:
(b) if it has an old label:
(c) if it has white pages:
(d) if it is a Newsstand Edition (where a Direct Edition also exists):
(e) its date of purchase and the seller :
(f) if it was a raw comic the date when it was slabbed:
(g) if it was sold with certification by the seller that it is from a recognised collection that is not noted on the CGC label then a copy of that certificate is included in the photo of the back cover . An example of this can be found in my copy of Captain America issue number #359 in my "Captain America #100-#454 in the U.K." set. At the back of the CGC holder and within the clear plastic bag that contains the comic I have put the certificate from Comiclink that the comic is from the Westport Collection II: and
in each case these details are accompanied by a photo of the front cover and of the back.
EVOLUTION OF THE CGC HOLDER AND LABEL
Since CGC came into being it has used two types of holder and four types of label.
The original holder (which I will call"Type 1") was quite slim and delicate. It had separate plastic panels on the front and back which were held in place by an edge frame. It contained a label that ran round the top inch or more of the holder. A further small label containing the title, issue-number and grade of the comic was stuck externally to the top of the holder, and had a tendency to peel off. The labels had a dark blue border with a white centre (on the front label about 40 % of the right-hand side was light blue). On the front label information about the comic was set out in small black type (the certification number was so small that I (now) need to use a magnifying glass in order to read it). The rear label set out in even smaller text a certification notice .
The Type 1 holder then came with a new label (which I will call "Type 2") . The new one retained the top edge external sticker and the rear certification notice , but the front label became much closer in design and colour to the current one.
The Type 1 holder was then replaced by one formed from a single solid piece of plastic with two wells, the lower one to hold the comic, and the upper one to hold both labels, which had bolder lettering and numbering (which I will call "Type 3").The certification notice on the back label was replaced by a note of the grade, page quality and certification number of the comic on the left of the label, and the title and issue number, the words "Marvel Comics" and the date of the comic in the centre.
An example of the Type 1 holder can be found at issue number #25 of my "Avengers #1-#503 in the U.K." set
An example of the Type 2 holder can be found at issue number #1 of that Avengers set.
An example of the Type 3 holder can be found at issue number #17 of that Avengers set.
Finally, an example of the Type 4 holder can be found at issue number #117 of my "Avengers U.K. Editions Pence Variants in the UK" set.
APOLOGY
I apologise for the glare and reflections on a number of the photos. I place all of my CGC comics in a clear bag in order to protect the holder, and that can result in some of the images being marred slightly,despite my efforts to minimise it
Thanks, Robin.
18 March 2024
POST 2024 REGISTRY AWARDS UPDATE
I was delighted to receive in July 2024 the Registry's newly created "Best International Award" for my Avengers U.K. Editions/Price Variants in the U.K. set.
Since then I have added further comics to that set and others, created some new Competitive Sets and also formed a number of Custom Sets for various purposes, such as grouping together comics from other sets to form a new one. A good example of this is my "Avengers Members'First Comic Book Appearances" Custom Set so please take a look at them.