IÂ’m a big Tim Drake fan. HeÂ’s the only Robin to me.

For years IÂ’ve been looking for a very nice copy of his first appearance but have had little luck. The blacks/shadows on the cover are always spotty. White spots like the printer didnÂ’t make solid contact with the paper. The staples are often out of place. Regularly the cover is so far off the video game ad on the back is visible on the front of the book. These issues seem to be less consistent with the second printing.

There are still fewer than 90 CGC 9.8 copies out there. IÂ’m guessing here, but in 1989 Batman would have had a print run of what, 500,000+?? There are fewer graded 9.6 and 9.8 for a key book with a high print than what seems normal to me. I recently purchased a CGC 9.8 for cheap. The spine is perfect. Corners too. The blacks are still off and there are many white dots on the cover of the book. For any other book IÂ’d say this would be a 9.6 at best. What makes CGC take it easy on this particular issue? This is the third 9.8 IÂ’ve seen in person with the same flaws. Were there print problems on the entire run?