PSA to begin grading comics, magazines July 14
For much of its more than three decades of existence, PSA has been one of the leaders — if not the top dog — in its primary category of card grading.
But as it expands into grading comics and magazines, bringing along its learnings and infrastructure already built for cards, PSA is the new kid on the block for the first time.
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The grading giant plans to open submissions for its newest category July 14 ahead of San Diego Comic-Con, following more than a year of research and development to create its own proprietary holder and a brand-new grading scale.
Elizabeth Gruene, PSA's general manager of pop culture, told cllct she first started working on bringing PSA to the comic book world in early 2023 as a 'high-level business case,' analyzing the market and PSA's opportunity. Then, in 2024, development began in earnest.
The company debuted its prototype holder at San Diego Comic-Con last year and solicited feedback from customers, dealers and influencers. In addition to making the holder lighter since unveiling the prototype, PSA also tweaked the dimensions to match those of CGC — the oldest and most popular comic grader in the world.
Collectors were accustomed to the current infrastructure in the market dominated by CGC and wanted to continue using things such as shipping boxes or sleeves already designed around CGC slabs.
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'It's a unique position for us to be in, because we're used to being the market leader and kind of the dominant force in the card space, and with comics, that's just nothing the case,' Gruene said.
'CGC has been doing this for decades and have built a great reputation and have a really loyal customer base. And so, I think, it'd be silly to think that we could come in and just like, totally disrupt that.'
Gruene emphasized PSA is approaching the new category 'with humility' and needs to earn the trust of the new demographic of collectors, who, in large part, are used to CGC.
That being said, PSA hopes to bring its own best practices to the space and believes it can innovate.
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Gruene cited holders as an area of differentiation. PSA focused on making its slabs tamper evident, something CGC has been criticized for at times. It's 99.9% UV reflective and produced with polycarbonate, which the company says is 'nearly unbreakable' and has an impact strength 250 times stronger than glass. It's also optimized for stackability, similar to PSA's card slabs.
'I think there's a lot we can take from what we're doing in cards and apply to comics and truly make the comic industry and the hobby better,' Gruene said. 'That's really our intention with entering. It's not to be like, 'OK, we're gonna go steal [market] share.' That's not really a battle we even really want to fight.
"I think it's more about how we can increase the size of the pie and bring totally new people into this hobby that weren't in it.'
PSA also sees its deep sports and international ties as an opportunity to grow the magazine market.
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'I think a lot of sports card collectors will get excited about collecting sports magazines and grading sports magazines,' Gruene said. She also thinks PSA's international footprint, particularly in Japan with Manga, is ripe for opportunity as well.
The other piece of the puzzle for PSA was coming up with a grading scale from scratch. It began by comparing it to their current system for cards, as well as the 10-point scale pioneered by CGC. There is so much more to consider than in cards — more similar to a video game or a Funko Pop. Some things that make up the current grading standards will be kept and others revamped.
'We're trying to be very, very specific and quantitative in a lot of ways, because I don't want it to be inconsistent,' Gruene said. 'That's going to be something we would get roasted for is not having consistent standards.'
PSA will have grading notes on all submissions, except, of course, comics that receive the perfect PSA 10, which Gruene hopes will be a big chase for collectors.
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'The PSA 10 is so iconic for the PSA brand and bringing a GEM MINT 10 to comics will be a revolutionary thing for the industry.'
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible content.
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