Defective Collections

[Taral-DLOS]

I'm sorry if this thread appears elsewhere, but I wanted to ask people if they've had experience with buying trades, hardcovers, or whatever that were defective.

I've had the cover come off of more that one TPB. But the weirdest one I've come across is the Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic Volume 1. I've seen no less than four copies across Canada that had the cover and description for Volume 1, but the contents therein were for Volume 2. It's like the manufacturer put the wrong cover on and shipped them everywhere.

Anyone else have finds like this?

[Penoy]

Yes, my Hellboy Library Edition vol. 3 is attached reversed and upside-down. Both times Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart signed it, they wondered how rare it was. It doesn't really matter to me cause it is still readable and well-built.

The only thing that fell apart on me was that Witchblade tpb that came out years ago for $5. I read it for the second time and it fell apart in small sections.

[Balakin]

Everytime a book falls apart a piece of my soul dies, no matter what book.
My first experience was the Fear agent vol 1 tpb, one section of paper fell out. I quickly sold all 6 volumes and bought the library editions. I love that story so much so the upgrade was just a matter of time.
Then the Darkness compendium v1 started to look bad so I quickly sold it too (bought it for cheap, sold it for even less), but I wanted to sell it anyway, because the stories were...not that good.
A friend of mine reported that the cover of his Hellboy v1 tpb separated, so I started to have a suspicion that there is something wrong with the DH trades and I sold all 11 volumes of the Goon I had (I love that series, but the binding felt really weak and made weird noises, and that's a shame because they are somewhat pricey for a tpb. I hope an omnibus or a series of LE-s will appear soon, I would have upgraded for hc anyway).
Also the Essential Power man v2's cover separated, but it was cheap and essentials are not meant to last forever (I think).

[mars]

The only book I've had lose a page was Essential Spider-Man vol 1 (Essential banner across the top), and it was just the very first page of the book. I have lot of trades where the clear plastic starts to separate from the rest of the cover, though.

[ohmshalone]

Are all of the above examples trades? Also, how often were these books used/read before the problem?

[Balakin]

Are all of the above examples trades? Also, how often were these books used/read before the problem?

My examples are all trades. Some were new some were used but not ragedy and read mostly once or twice (carefuly).

[mars]

With the Spider-Man, I opened the book maybe a half-dozen times. i should mention I have 20+ Essential/Showcases and the others are all fine, and they've been opened much more frequently.

With the peeling trade covers, there doesn't seem to be a pattern. All publishers and all eras are represented. Some stuff I've had for years with no issue, and others start peeling right away. And to be clear, it's usually just the very edge of the books. It's not like the whole thing is peeling away and it doesn't seem to continually grow if I don't pick at it.

[Rory426]

I had a weird one last year or maybe the year before with a Batwoman hardcover that appeared as though the printer had put a second layer of ink out of sync with the first layer so the art on several pages had a straight double-vision effect. I got a replacement from Amazon for no charge.

[Balakin]

I had a weird one last year or maybe the year before with a Batwoman hardcover that appeared as though the printer had put a second layer of ink out of sync with the first layer so the art on several pages had a straight double-vision effect. I got a replacement from Amazon for no charge.

Oh yeah, I have a similar problem with my West coast avengers v1 omni. It has this effect on several pages, but I bought it from a guy who sold it because the corners were a bit dinged, so he didn't know about the printing problem so I had noone to complain.

[Ivan P91]

I had a weird one last year or maybe the year before with a Batwoman hardcover that appeared as though the printer had put a second layer of ink out of sync with the first layer so the art on several pages had a straight double-vision effect. I got a replacement from Amazon for no charge.

I've got the same problem with my Spidey by Stern omni... thankfully it's only around 10 pages out of the whole 1200, so not serious enough for me to want a replacement, but still a bit of a bummer nonetheless.

[Canucked]

I'm a top cow fan, but their compendiums in both soft cover and hardcover format are flimsy.

My ASMv1 is glued onto the front and back cover at an angle. A very slight once but enough to slightly stress it.

[Balakin]

So I haven't even read the first third of my copy of the 2008 Titan edition of the Watchmen hc, when the textblock separated from the rest of the book. It was held in place only by the endpapers, the front one separated but the endpaper at the back is still holding the textblock.
I bought it for 7 pounds in very good condition and I think I shouldn't complain and claim a refund for it, it's not a fault that could have been foreseen by the seller I think.
What do you suggest? Would it be a good idea to buy some book binding glue and glue the textblock to the spine? (it has a square spine)

[canadianaidan64]

My copy of absolute top 10 has a printing error on the bottom quarter of pages 35/36 where it looks like the pages were layered on top of each other. Does anyone else have this? It's not that much of a problem because it only partially affects two pages and the text is still readable.

Also all 4 of my copies of absolute sandman have some minor bends and creases in the pages which I assume is a result of the printing process. I've had bad luck with absolutes thus far...