The guy that cleans and presses my books is an expert in art restoration that decided comic book cleaning/pressing is where the money's at. 😊

"some people feel that taking that shower is restoration" - don't know why this made me chuckle so much 🤣

Guess I'm one of the one or two oldheads here. To me, it's restoration. And sometimes pressed books just look downright unnatural. I picked up some cheap books from the late 70s about a month ago and they had been previously pressed. It's like you said about color breaking spine ticks. That book had them and they just looked weird all flattened down and accentuated. The thing is, if someone can tell a book was pressed, then it's restoration in my mind. A "proper" press would be one that when compared to a top condition identical book that wasn't pressed, there would be no way to tell the difference.

Coming from a novice presser, that was good information. Thanks.

I literately cleaned (chemical and water) 100's of books before pressing, usually one pressing and stack to be graded. Only a few needed additional pressing, plus not worrying so much about perfection, just a better grade then when started. When the grader notes said wiping to cover and got a universal, I worked on perfecting my method with less is more mindset. All was good, until CGC was bought out and then the shocker... I started receiving "Restro Cover Cleaned" labels so I just stopped, plus, the price increase. Pressing is an art, I have bought 8.5 slabs that state corner crunch and after a press get 9.6 and no mention of restroration. Hopefully pressing does not get in the mix because of the sense of pride you get when you make a book look awesome. My rant...LOL great show!

just experienced a color lift on a comic, the book was dirty on the back but the front cover color popped. Saw the spine tick become more noticeable as well in the same comic.

With cleaning and pressing around, it’s important to buy the book and not the grade on the slab. At a local show, a vendor (with pressing in their name) had a booth filled with high-grade slabs. All the books were permeated with waviness, which can happen with over humidification. Those books were no longer high-grade.

Good questions there, I don't consider cleaning and pressing restoration but I think the grading companies should denote a comic that hasn't been touched as a Natural 9.8 or Virgin 9.8 etc. Which is much harder to acquire.

CGC should not have any negative reaction with dry clean and pressing. If they are going to offer the service, they can't discriminate against it. Unless it's a really bad job.

I like the tips that you explain every step about how to do it.

My brother and I were pressing back in 1985, stacking a whole set of world book encyclopedias

*_I do not understand why a popped staple would give a Green Label`_* *_The staple hasn't been removed?_*

Love the t-shirt James. In the early days of comics restoration, it was considered a way to value-add to the book. But somewhere along the way CGC and the other grading companies decided that restoration is bad. However, in every other area of collectibles that I can think of, effective restoration increases an item's value and longevity. Good information, there are aspects to pressing here that I hadn't thought of.

Another good video James, it was also cool to see you used two of my images from CGC boards of my X-Men #101 as the example of a popped staple (timestamp 6.33 thru 6.41) Unfortunately that popped staple was not the result of pressing as it was like that when I got it, which was a bummer as the book was immaculate other than that popped staple. The story has a happy ending though, the seller made good on the deal and gave me a partial refund and I still decided to submit it for protection. It came back a green label 9.6 and I later had it signed by Chris Claremont and is now a yellow/green signature series/qualifed 9.6 and looks amazing.

I think you hit it right on the nail!

Another good video James, also it was cool to see you used my images from CGC boards of my X-Men 101 for the example of a popped staple (timestamp 6.33 thru 6.41). That book was immaculate other than the popped staple, but sadly it wasn't caused by pressing, it was there when I got it. Good news though is that it ended up grading a 9.6 green label which I later had signed by Chris Claremont and is now a yellow/green label 9.6 signature series book.

Ironically, my copy of Firestorm #1 needs to be pressed 😂

I enjoy your videos i always watched. The cleaning and pressing is good for the comic to obtain hide grades.

If it's done well it can only make it better, if it needs it

Restoration is when something is added to a comic. Pressing and getting rid of stains on a book (unless you give it an acid bath) is not restoration but rather preservation. I am just stating my opinion… but I believe everything I stated is factual.

I have been doing my own pressing for about a year and a half and the time I can spend on a book can help get a better grade. It is also satisfying to improve the books yourself however I have definitely made some mistakes. Nothing in big books. I do still have to master square bound books though.

Over all I have seen good results from Apple Books cleaned and pressed. I do have one negative issue when I had my Incredible Hulk with the first appearance of the Windygo that was a CGC 6.5 with a small crack in the case. I decided to crack it the rest of the way, and have it cleaned and pressed as it was one of those older cases, indicating that it never was. well when the book came back, it was only a CGC at 6.0. It was very disappointing. I wonder if the pressing actually caused more issues than I originally had. One will never know.

Great video... lots of good info. One thing I don't get. Why would CGC grade harsher for pressed books if they offer pressing services? I mean I get if there are amateur pressings done that damage the comic, it will get a lower grade. But simply punishing a comic grade because they can tell it was pressed... it doesn't make sense.

I had a bad experience with CCS and stopped pressing most of my comics. I have reverted to sending in perfect comics to CGC and holding off on others.

Think we also need to keep in mind that these words have actual definitions. The accepted comic definition of restoration is "the act of adding foreign material to a comic book through certain techniques to return its appearance to an ideal or original state." So, pressing is not restoration...unless you're adding moisture (which is typically part of warm pressing, but you could cold press comic books). Cleaning actually could fit the restoration definition better. If you're adding absorene or those little flakes from a document cleaning pad. In both cases you're adding material. Granted you're then removing that material, so then it's a question of permanency. I guess I can see cleaning being considered restoration; on the fence about pressing.

I sent in an old GL #86 that was in an old CGC slab and had it pressed it was bumped from a 9.2 to a 9.6 so I'm a pressing fan.

Quite an interesting topic dude, I also think it helps a shit ton lol.

Brett Rambo approves

I have cleaned and pressed many books over the years and the only negative results I've seen were in the beginning during the learning process. Also CGC clean and press service is trash..not only does it add a ridiculous amount of days to the turnaround time but they're also known for damaging books...

I prefer raw books in my PC. I’ve recently considered cleaning and pressing some of my doubles and flipping them to help make the hobby pay for itself. The presser making an OOPS is my worst nightmare! Going to brave it!!! Wish me luck!

I've got a couple of raw books that I can tell have been pressed. They just don't look 'natural', as comics do not come completely flat from the newsstand or store. I'd use the word 'modified' rather than 'restored', as restoration implies that's how they originally appeared when new.

Didn't cgc and cbcs have pressers that charge another fee, imo it would be detrimental to their business to slap restored slabs for doing that

Restoration. To restore. To make a comic look like it came off the retailer shelf, right? If you're pressing a book to remove a cover crease, how is that not, by definition, restoration? 😂 I'm not going to begrudge anyone doing whatever they want with their own property. The only reasons that CGC doesn't call pressing restoration is because there is no foolproof way to detect it (assuming it was done correctly) and because they can make money offering the service themselves. But let us not kid ourselves: if you are trying to make a comic book look closer to its original condition, you are "restoring" the book.

My presser knew of a ToS #39 that had undergone a pressing and it was then subsequently cracked to be put in an upgraded newer case. While being carefully handled the cover snapped of at the spine! Was it caused by the pressing? Improper pressing? Not sure but it makes me think twice about cracking open an older book for any reason that has been pressed.

If a thick stapled book is pressed it can get damaged

My car is so nasty, at this point if i washed it or vaccumed it, it would be considered restoration.

Pressing is not restoring. You explained it perfectly. You're not adding anything. You're just removing. I submitted a copy of Batman #609 to CBCS and had them press it because it had a curve near the spine. They graded it at 9.6.

Thanks for telling me NOT to press a brittle book.....my Hulk #1 will stay in my fortress

mmm yes ^^ of course all my books were smashing successes rofl

Now we are waiting for some tutorial video of pressing.

At one point i would've considered pressing restoration, however its so ubiquitous now that even I've come to accept it doesn't fall under restoration. Besides, you can always re-crease a book. 😂

Thanks for making this video. Here's the bottom line for me: A 'perfect' 9.8. comic has never been a 9.6. or 9.4. That's the definition of 'pristine'...it has never been damaged. So a comic that receives a grade bump through pressing, is not really that higher grade, because it had to go through a specialized process in order to *remove* damage. And, as I have said before, this falsely inflates the high grade populations of books, thus decreasing their prices. You made a video the other day about hard 9.8's, in which you stated that you send off books you think are perfect to get them pressed for good measure. As I've stated before...adding another middle man to handle your books only increases the chances of damage, especially if they are 'perfect'. It could very well be, that this middle man is what is causing what you think of as perfect books, to be graded lower. By definition real 9.8's don't need to be pressed, and I think through your OCD, you're allowing your books to be unnecessarily damaged by having them handled by one more person other than the grader, and having them go through a completely unnecessary process for the books in question.

I think the issue is they can’t say with certainty that a book has been pressed

Do you have any recommendations for good pressers/cleaner? I’ve had some bad luck with having the grading company do it and I’m not brave enough to attempt myself with my more valuable books.

Depressing

If you are sending in a 9.8 for a CGC signature signing, do you recommend pressing? I never did, and recently my brother in law sent a 9.8 for signing and it came back a 9.4. He sent it in for pressing and came back a 9.6. Obviously it got damaged somewhere in the process. Just don’t know if it’s recommended to always get it pressed after a signing?

Press away. I don’t value it and won’t pay more for a book that is pressed. Full stop

It’s a question I ask. My concern would be whether or not it potentially harms the material of the books. I do wonder what paper based conservationists think of it? Personally I can be ok with some “restoration” processes, but I’d rather it only be done to conserve it not manufacture something new. Either way it beats the “restoration removal” which just damages the book more.

I just sit on the book to press it. So I never see improvement.

I’m not a comic collector but I do enjoy your videos and I often hear you use the term “press” and literally thought it meant just adding a bunch of controlled pressure on it. I enjoy the behind the scenes of the collecting aspect (again, even if I don’t do it myself). So you mentioned people by slabbed comics and repress them and you showed a GL comic from the 70s or 80s. Would unslabbing a comic that old and pressing it do anything to it to improve it?

I wanted to ask if you know a older book is gonna get a low grade is it even worth it getting pressed

I like cleaning and pressing. Until the grading companies decide to change the rules, then all our books become “restored” status. Then I’d hate it.

Question, do you still use the cgc in house clean and press or do you send your books to a third party presser? Or both?

I've never had a book cleaned and pressed. Is it strictly for the front and back covers or do the interior pages get cleaned too?

I just had the first appearance of calliope in the sandman comics cleaned and pressed and sent off to the niel gaimen signing. It was a 9.4/9.6 before it's clean and press I'm really hoping it comes back a 9.8. Crossing my fingers.

Pressing books is the modern day witchcraft

I'm not a fan of pressing...I don't think it's restoration...just not my thing...also I don't sell, just buy...so there's that

I don’t think it’s restoration per say, but color touching, yikes!…😬

CGC presses books for a fee, so maybe their upset they didn't get paid, and hence the harsher grading. LOL

Well if people use the techniques they are being shown from guys on youtube, then yes, they can hurt their comics

Yeah, I personally gave up pressing myself. Too many "sucked in staples"? and cover shrinking? or moving? Had some real good ones, but overall i simply don't know what im doing. I do not think pressing is resto, but I will have someone else do my books now.

I'm wondering if anyone has received a 9.9 or 10 after getting a seemingly 9.8 candidate pressed?