One of the other guests was Bob Wayne, representing DC Comics -- and catching flak from retailers who were complaining that some recent DC book had been wrapped too tightly for shipping, so on many copies the square-bound spine was crushed, and the books were not "mint" when they arrived at the Shops.

I was much amused by Bob's response. He pointed out that if retailers (and fans) were going to insist on using the term "mint condition" to describe a product which was not, in fact, MINTED, then the condition in which the product left the printers was "mint".

In the case of this comic, for some copies "mint condition" meant a cracked spine!

When people talk about how comics MUST be mint I send them this picture....