In ERIS (Eternal Truths, Book 1), I mention the Certification Granting Company, which is CGC for short. Well, those in the know about comic books know of the real CGC — Certified Guaranty Company. It’s the off-branding I mentioned in LKF #10 again.
The real CGC does grade comic books (this means appraising a comic for its value). Though I did embellish some things, I also got ahold of a very nice person at CGC’s customer service and bombarded him with all sorts of questions to help with the authenticity of the comic grading operations.
Eric D. is mentioned in my book dedication for all of his help. I’m sure he thought I was some weirdo (writers get that a lot when researching weird things), but he was nice enough to keep emailing back and forth with me until I got the info I needed. I still have those emails.