Ultra-Pro Comic Bag Problems

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

When I changed the bags a couple years ago, many of them did yellow and as mentioned in my previous post

 

Yep, that is exacly what I would expect from a polybag. Wonder where the yellow came from? Surely you put the books into clean clear bags to begin with?

 

One batch of comics I particularly remember being like this were Incredible Hulks 230 and up. I quickly ran down before writing this thread to check on the condition and it's still a very nice 9.2 - 9.4.

 

Either you don't have very many Incredible Hulk 230 and up issues, didn't grade very many of them, or you can grade at the speed of light. It takes me a fair amount of time to grade a book. I hold it up to light, and examine it carefully. Tilting the book at just the right angle that I can see any front and back cover flaws. I usually don't examine the inside extremely closely (most of the time I skip grading the inside for lack of time), but I sometimes browse a few pages to check page whiteness level, and look for any printing defects (especially ink) or hidden page creases.

 

These comics were in the bags for about 19 or 20 years. I did not know at the time, the bags needed to be changed.

 

I found out about the need to change bags years ago through a friend that was collecting at the time. The comic shop owners never said a word to me. Either they didn't know, didn't care (see it as that important), or didn't want customers to get the idea that they were putting people's books in an inferior product (something customers might have looked down upon).

 

As bad as the condition of the bags were, it did not affect the comic inside.

 

It sounds to me like your telling me the truth...to the best of your ability, from your perspective. I can't examine your books, and give a second opinion, but from my experience with poly bags, I find that very hard to believe. To be sure, the difference can be subtle, and probably not easily noticable, especially the LOSS OF COVER GLOSS. The bags didn't turn yellow for nothing, and once a polybag has turned yellow, it's time for a change. Some polybags do seem to hold up better than other, why? I'm not for sure, but if I remember correctly, there are two types of poly bags (one might be better than the other?), and of course some are thicker than others. It does sound like you have stored them in a good environment, and that is more important than the bags, and perhaps because of that you've managed to get some extra milage from the polybags that you've used.

 

And, pages are still white, or almost white. I noticed no significant deterioration in the color.

 

I've got to admit, I'm no expert in the area of page whiteness, but from the thousands of Bronze/Modern books I've purchased from people that stored the books in polybags, very few have what I would consider white pages. I would say that the vast majority have off-white to white pages, and some are somewhere between off-white and light cream in color.

 

I remember purchasing a lot of 80 DC Comics Presents books. They were very nice books, and many of them were sealed in polybags. I opened the polybags discarded them, and examined the page whiteness, and as I expected the pages were not white they were more off-white. This is kind of off the subject a little, but were those books in subscription bags? The reason I ask is because none of them had a subscription crease.

[PovertyRow]

Just a general observation to all. The biggest problems with poly bags is they exude plasticizers. This is what Mylar is all about - no plasticizer exuding. (exuding? - you get what I mean! )

 

Under the higher higher heat/humidity conditions, the plasticizers are not the books friend. Under cooler less humid conditions, the plasticizers don't exude as much. That is all I have to say at the moment. I have to see if my SB predict has gleaned any more responses.

[Arty]

Some polybags do seem to hold up better than other, why? I'm not for sure, but if I remember correctly, there are two types of poly bags (one might be better than the other?)

 

There are Polyethylene bags and Polypropylene bags.

As far as I know polyethylene bags are much worse than Polypropylene ones.

[fantastic_four]

There are Polyethylene bags and Polypropylene bags.

As far as I know polyethylene bags are much worse than Polypropylene ones.

There's not a huge difference. Last year I rebagged a few hundred comics I put into polypropylene in 1990, and they were quite yellow. It's possible but difficult to see this on each individual bag, but once you put two or three of them on top of each other in a stack, the yellow is quite apparent. During that rebagging I took off some mylars I've had for 15-16 years and stacked them up to see if they looked yellow; they didn't. Scuffed up a bit on the exterior, but no yellowing.

[chrisco37]

Ari-

 

Do you swap out all your boards when you redo your bags?

 

Absolutely. As others have discussed, most backboards are acidic as well. When I bought my Mylite2's, I also bought "full-backs" acid free boards. I'll eventually change those as well, but not for a long time.

 

because the comic shop I buy my stuff from had me tearing my hair out with current bags that were too small for current boards.

 

Hmm... that's interesting. The shop I go to offers bags and backboards in both SA size and Modern size. I just buy the SA b/c they fit everything. Only the books I get from Darth keep my long boxes from having a "uniform" feel b/c of his small modern bags!

 

Chris

[ninanina]

Yes, the bags were clear and new when I used them. They did turn quite yellow 18 years later. It really wasn't until I looked at the pile of 50 or 60 bags after I removed them when it occurred to me how yellow they were. Actually, some even had a dry mold on them. That I am sure came from storing them in the basement against an outside wall for 6 years. But again, the comics inside were ok.

 

RE: Hulk 230

I just looked at that particular comic. Didn't bother checking anymore. I felt checking one only would be a good representation of how the rest of them were.

Gloss deterioration? Probably, but still looks quite new. As far as grading it, I just checked the corners, the gloss and a few of the pages and didn't notice any significant deterioration. The spine also didn't show any stress cracks. As far a print defects go, I didn't check that as I felt that would not have been affected by being in a bag for 18 years.

 

The comic shop I dealt with also didn't tell me about having to change the bags. My main reason for changing the bags was because they were sticking to each other because of the deterioration of the tape I used. It wasn't until after I started doing them when I noticed how dirty they were and the mold on the books. The mold (which dried to a thin crust) was mostly at the top of the comic that was stacked against the wall during that 6 year stretch in the basement. I since found out that those are far from ideal conditions. When I purchase my new house 10 years ago, that was when I was able to put them in the room they are in now.

 

I suppose admittedly there could have been some natural deterioration, but after being in a bag for 18 years I don't consider it to be significant. I think it wouldn't be unfair to say that maybe the pages are off-white? I don't know how white they were when I bought them, so I can't say for sure. They are a lot whiter than some Silver Ages I've purchased of e-bay.

 

I have a lot of respect for collections, mine and/or anybody elses and I wouldn't make these observations public if they were not true.

 

Happy collecting and thanks for the response. Did I miss anything?

[Zonker]

Just recently relocated my original Bronze/Silver collection from my childhood home to my new house w/full basement. Took this opportunity to upgrade from polyethylene to mylites2, as suggested elsewhere on these forums. Overall I'm happy with the move- but anyone else planning this be advised the mylites are very "sticky" when you tightly pack your comics in boxes or drawers. With the old pe bags I could slide a few comics off the top of the stack, no problem. Now they do not slide. No real problem, I just pick each one up individually. It means I'll be more careful with these books, which of course are my more expensive books, and I get the added plus of looking at each of my books individually.

 

Just something you might want to anticipate and not be surprised by.

 

Cheers,

Z.

[Guest]

Forgot to mention this when I first made this post, but Ultra-Pro's customer service is a tad lacking. Sent them an email outlining the problems I had with their bags, offered to send them a sample, asked a few questions... Their response: So far, nothing...not a word.

 

Think I am switching brands if for no other reason than the customer support.

 

[PovertyRow]

Overall I'm happy with the move- but anyone else planning this be advised the mylites are very "sticky" when you tightly pack your comics in boxes or drawers

 

That is useful informaiton all right! I plan on getting these 2Mil Mylites and putting my books in them unbacked. Then take THAT and put it in a backed mylar. Wonder if it will stick when I try to remove the book?

[fantastic_four]

I can definitely say that E. Gerber's Standard-sized Mylite2s fit quite well into their Silver-sized 4-mil Archives with very little problem sliding the interior bag out of the exterior one; I've got hundreds of comics bagged this way and I take them out often with no trouble. I can't say the same for my experimentation with the E. Gerber Modern-sized Mylite2s double-bagged into Standard-sized 4-mil Archives; they fit too darn tight. The width of the Modern and Standard bags are too close for a loose enough fit to slide them in and out easily.

 

I know you're probably going for storing Golden age comics in these things, so consider this:

 

Modern Mylite2s = 7"

Standard Archives = 7 1/4"

Difference = 1/4", too tight!

 

Standard Mylite2s = 7 1/4"

Silver/Gold Archives = 7 3/4"

Difference = 1/2", fits nicely

 

Silver/Gold Mylite2s = 7 3/4"

Golden Archives = 8"

Difference = 1/4", too tight!

 

If you go with the Golden or Super Golden Mylite2s and "Large Comics" Archives, you should be OK; with the Golden you'd have 3/4" to spare and 1/2" with the Super Golden. I really like the 1/2" difference with my Standard Mylites2s and Silver/Gold Archives; it's not too tight and not too loose.

[PovertyRow]

I know you're probably going for storing Golden age comics in these things, so consider this:

 

FF - I swear you did my homework for me. I had planned this weekend to sit down and hit the Gerber site and plan what fits into what! And I'm sure this info will be greatly appreciated by others as well!

[fantastic_four]

Just trying to prevent you returning a bunch of bags and being forced to keep one package's worth that wouldn't work out for you. I had to do that with a pack of Modern Archives I bought; I couldn't fit ANY comic into those things! I wanted to double bag Moderns into Moderns, but that idea sucked. What sucked even more is that I couldn't fit ANY comics into their Modern Archives! NONE! I tell the guy at Diamond who manages Gerber this, and he says "Sorry, I don't know how our customers use these bags." He wouldn't take the package of Archives that is totally worthless to me back, either. Gotta love it!

 

That was a small hiccup, but overall I'm quite pleased with E. Gerber's bags. A local comic shop owner warned me to get Cole instead because he found that Gerber would ship the bags in shoddy packaging that ended up messing a bunch of the bags and boards up. I received over 8000 bags and boards, and I might have had one or two bags--not packages, individual bags--I've had to throw away. And that wasn't due to packaging, that was due to assembly problems where the bags weren't made right.