273 of those blue labels are 9.8s. The majority of all the books on the census are 9.8s. There is only 30 books that are not 9.8. No one is cracking these open and resubbing 9.8s in hopes of getting 9.9s. Even if every non 9.8 on the census, all 30, were graded less than 9.8, cracked and resubbed as 9.8s, then there is still 398 9.8 graded copies. Thats still 66%. Not to far from my stated 75%. And that cracking theory really doesnt hold water for this particular book. Recracking slabs applies to older books that were once graded before pressing was common. Recracking slabs does not happen nearly as often with moderns, especially fairly recent moderns (2015+).
When Simon was asked to provide evidence of this claim, he faltered and could not do so. Any honest retailer who does a lot of exclusives will tell you that Marvel does not do ‘special’ print numbers for anyone. Marvels policy is 3000 for 1 cover. Again, one can not prove a negative (Simons, in this case). The onus is on Simon, and he failed to provide any evidence other than his FB post. FB op eds have no factual basis.
I wouldnt. You yourself said they originally sold mostly 9.8s to begin with. That explains why there are so many 9.8s. And there are not a shit ton of dudes who buy books to grade. The ones who do wont send a modern in to grade at 9.6. If we do not count the 398 9.8s, 30 books would be 15% of the remaining, supposed, 202 copies ‘sold’.
I never claimed anything. I simply applied sound logic to the facts at hand. Conclude what you will. A CBCS census would put this to rest.
Simon Payne (sad lemon) is one of those shops who is notorious for being greedy, untruthful, and he is associated indirectly to comicxposure. Yes. That comicxposure. The real shitty one. Simon was caught red handed pumping and dumping a Spawn book a few years ago, with a Mattina cover, that he bought out at the distributor level, then was selling them for inflated prices at his shop after blasting the cover all over the interweb. Classic p’n’d. This is why this book, ASM797RE, has so much controversy around this suspect print run. Simon doesnt have the best track record.
Whats the price you’re looking to spend? There is a raw copy on the wall at one of my LCS’, its been there since release day.
PS. Im not doing hard research on this book. I truly am indifferent to it. But, it raises a lot of red flags in my book. You obviously are passionate about the book, and it seems as if you have done your due diligence to be confident that you know exactly what you are getting. More power to ya, @D-Rog. 
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) a Joker/Batgirl Cover that was too controversial to release. It was also not a Virgin variant of a trade dress cover and was unique art. Still commands over $100 raw and $200 in 9.8 to this day.
