Custom comic book binding posted by boostergold

[CSJournals-migration]

Turn your own collection into omnibus' or easy to read trades.

 

I have been getting my books done for around four years now and have over 100 done.

 

People have asked "why" do that to your books. For me, it is an easy way for me to read my books without bending them up trying to read one at a time. They are easier to handle and easier to store.

 

In getting my books done I control how the book is put together. For instance, Skull The Slayer only ran for eight issues, but in Marvel Two-in-One #35-36 they were rescued I got all eight issues and the the two MTIO bound together for a complete story. You can't buy this in TPB form anywhere.

 

I would like to share one here what I have, what I have learned, and anywhere I may go as I constantly learn more as I go a long.

 

See more journals by boostergold

[Heronext]

I'm ok with this. It's refreshing to see hobbyists enjoying their comics in a different way apart from bagging, boarding, and holding them with surgical gloves.

 

Watched some "how-to" videos on YouTube a while back and and was pretty fascinated by it. Happy bookbinding!

[Jeffro.]

Been thinking about doing this for some time now. Which company do you use?

[Gatchaman]

Here are some of the first works that I had done. I pulled almost all of these comics in these out of 50 cent boxes and 25 cent comics at Half Price Books.

 

 

[Gatchaman]

Been thinking about doing this for some time now. Which company do you use?

 

I use Herring and Robinson Book Binding in California. They only charge me $20 to get bound.

 

http://www.herringandrobinsonbookbinders.com/

[Gatchaman]

This is another thing I wanted to point out, you can get up to 2" of comics, which is 25-30 books, done for $20. This is about the size of an omnibus.

 

Here are some of the ones that I got done -

 

JSA - these books are around 2.5" thick.

 

 

 

 

Justice Machine - I bought these all at one price from eBay. Book is 2.75" thick.

 

 

 

[Gatchaman]

So, in essence, I can make my own omnibus' for a lot less than buying one.

[Gatchaman]

Here's one that I did of Ms Mystic. There was a two page preview of her comic in another book. I took out those pages and inserted them underneath the cover of #1 to include it in the story.

 

 

 

[meshuggah]

This is really cool. I had no idea about doing something like this.

[Gatchaman]

I have a lot more ideas I am going to be posting, so stay tuned.

[Gatchaman]

One thing that took me a little time to figure is that the last book of the series is not the end of the story. I gave an example earlier with Skull The Slayer. I have another example with the Secret Society of Super Villains. In three issues of Justice League of America they deal with the Villains and send them to limbo. I was able to attach those books on the back end of the Villains run.

 

 

[Gatchaman]

I have learned to Wiki some of the titles to find out where they continued and/or ended. Also, to see if there is a part of the story that can be added that is a part but just somewhere else in the story.

[surfer99]

That's interesting and looks very well done. I guess if the books are inexpensive it makes sense. I wonder though if you lose some of the word balloons as they may become obscured by the binding.

 

 

[n2wdw]

Really cool the way you can make a custom omnibus

 

Kinda a reverse of cgc as you can get inexpensive copies to be bound and not worry about the grade

[Gatchaman]

That's interesting and looks very well done. I guess if the books are inexpensive it makes sense. I wonder though if you lose some of the word balloons as they may become obscured by the binding.

 

 

 

I really haven't had to much of that happen.

[Gatchaman]

Since I don't have a lot of money to invest into the real books and/or they haven't made a TPB of them I have found ways to make my own.

 

I like the early Punisher stories from the 70's to the mid-late 80's, but I don't have the funds to purchase ASM #129 nor the other early appearances. So, what I did is found a great website (www.dcindexes.com) that has a function that shows you if a book has been reprinted and what it has been reprinted in. I.e., when I did my Uncanny X-Men run I didn't want to destroy a #266, but was able to find a reprint to use. I saw somebody else's bound book where they bound Iron Fist #1-15 and instead of ruining a #14 they used the Marvel Milestone reprint.

 

Here is my book of the Punisher. My very own Punisher Omnibus. Included are reprints of ASM #129, 135, Giant Size #4, ASM #161, 162 etc.

 

 

 

 

Another one that I did was Man-Wolf using some reprints, some real books (lower grade), traipsing through Savage She Hulk, and adding them together to form a story that ends with the Man-Wolf getting the gem removed.

 

 

 

 

I also did the same with Morbius The Vampire. I was able to find reprints of ASM #101 and 102. I like his early stuff before they changed what he looks like in Rise of the Midnight Sons.

[Gatchaman]

I've sent 16 more books to be bound at the beginning of Feb. Hopefully they will be done soon and I will post pictures and descriptions here when they do.

[Gatchaman]

I have sent another batch of books down that I should be getting back soon and will show pictures of them

[eightclaps]

Cool, might try this out! How important would you say the condition of the books that you use are (should I still look for presentable books or just get the cheapest duplicate beaters I can find)? Does it really matter at all once they get trimmed?

 

Obviously, these are meant to be read and I wouldn't be adding in high priced books, but the collector part in me would still want the best hardcover book possible

[miraclemet]

Cool, might try this out! How important would you say the condition of the books that you use are (should I still look for presentable books or just get the cheapest duplicate beaters I can find)? Does it really matter at all once they get trimmed?

 

Obviously, these are meant to be read and I wouldn't be adding in high priced books, but the collector part in me would still want the best hardcover book possible

 

VF books are usually my target, but for pricier books I'm willing to drop down to the FN range. The main thing is page quality. I'd rather have a little more beat up cover (the corners will get trimmed anyway) and nicer whiter pages than a great cover and cream/yellowing pages.

 

Also when possible the more books I can get from a same condition set the better... nothing worse than seeing a bind go back and forth between white and cream copies.

 

My rule of thumb is not to spend more than $8-10 on a book in a bind... And that's usually when there's a key/outlier in a run. Otherwise I look long and hard for someplace where a book or content is reprinted in a later (cheaper) issue.