Expert: Chris Brown - 6/18/2009

Question
Hi, I was wondering what grade to be consider at with a missing page(mostly tear out). For example Hulk #181 is fine/very fine - all around and then page with Marvel value stamp been teared out (or cut out). Would that grade drop down from fine/very fine to good/poor cause a page missing? Thanks

Answer
Hi Ifong

If the missing page includes comic book art, the grade will drop to poor.  If the comic stories are still complete, i.e. the missing page just had ads or possibly even a text story or letters page, you might be able to get away with calling it fair condition.

Even though it would technically be graded poor, a high-demand comic like Hulk 181 would probably still be of interest to collectors with a missing page--especially if the front cover is in nice shape.  So it might sell for more than the usual price range of 10% to 20% of the Good price.

And of course you can always hope to find a coverless or otherwise damaged copy that still has the page your copy is missing and then "marry" the pages from the two copies together.

Chris