Unpopular opinion: Grading comics feels like paying for delayed disappointment.
I sent in a first appearance cover last year, and the process took over eight months. The fee was almost a hundred dollars, and the grade came back lower than I hoped. The slab is nice, but the wait and cost make it hard to justify for anything but the most valuable books.
Used to see grading as a must for any key book. Sent in a mid-value bronze age book that took six months and cost eighty bucks. Getting back an 8.0 when I was sure it was a 9.2 made me realize it only makes sense for the truly big books now.