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Storing My Comic Books
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Started by CharlesG,

15 posts in this topic

CharlesG

CharlesG

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Posted

Hello, hello! As you might know already or will surely figure out in this thread, I'm new. I have some questions. Let's get started. I'll try to make it as separated as possible...

What you should know is I'd like for the comics I've already bought and the comics that I buy in the future to be in a very pleasing condition from now until I decide I've had enough. Seemingly forever.

I appreciate any and all responses. All information mentioned by me is from the week of me delving into comics. Most of it is from YouTube and such. Don't think I think I know what I'm talking about. This is all what I've gathered.

Last but not least, I've been toying with the thought of maybe giving my current comics away (I only have 25) and just converting to digital seeing as how I'm not sure if I want to commit to collecting the comics since they degrade in quality over time. Digital is forever, or should be, and would be cheaper in the long run. I've been debating it quite harshly in my mind, so any helpful input on what you guys think is also greatly appreciated.

Since I've said that, don't think any of what I say is pointless, it's helping me decide what I want to do and it'll also give more information to others that need these following questions answered. As Mario says... Here we go!

 

  • Bags

There are bag sizes that go with their respective comic book size. Comics these days are Current sized.

There are polypropylene and mylar bags. Mylar seems to be for more protection, which seems to be my go-to.

2 mil and 4 mil. Assuming higher the mil, more sturdy the bag will be, thus more protection. Probably sticking with 2 mil.

What kind of bags do you guys suggest I use and from who/where should I buy them from?

 

  • Backing Boards

There's half-back and full-back. Full is much more sturdy and provides more protection. I'll probably get full-back.

What kind of backing boards do you guys suggest I use and from who/where should I buy them from?

 

  • Boxes

There are short and long boxes from what I understand. Then there's cardboard, plastic, then some other material that provides way more protection. I'm thinking of buying a long plastic box, but it seems like it doesn't provide as much weight capacity as the cardboard boxes. Not sure.

What kind of boxes should I use and from who/where should I buy them from?

Side, short addition. Tape. What kind of tape would you guys recommend for sealing the bags? I don't think I would like to use resealable bags...

 

 

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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15 hours ago, CharlesG said:

Hello, hello! As you might know already or will surely figure out in this thread, I'm new. I have some questions. Let's get started. I'll try to make it as separated as possible...

What you should know is I'd like for the comics I've already bought and the comics that I buy in the future to be in a very pleasing condition from now until I decide I've had enough. Seemingly forever.

I appreciate any and all responses. All information mentioned by me is from the week of me delving into comics. Most of it is from YouTube and such. Don't think I think I know what I'm talking about. This is all what I've gathered.

Last but not least, I've been toying with the thought of maybe giving my current comics away (I only have 25) and just converting to digital seeing as how I'm not sure if I want to commit to collecting the comics since they degrade in quality over time. Digital is forever, or should be, and would be cheaper in the long run. I've been debating it quite harshly in my mind, so any helpful input on what you guys think is also greatly appreciated.

Since I've said that, don't think any of what I say is pointless, it's helping me decide what I want to do and it'll also give more information to others that need these following questions answered. As Mario says... Here we go!

 

  • Bags

There are bag sizes that go with their respective comic book size. Comics these days are Current sized.

There are polypropylene and mylar bags. Mylar seems to be for more protection, which seems to be my go-to.

2 mil and 4 mil. Assuming higher the mil, more sturdy the bag will be, thus more protection. Probably sticking with 2 mil.

What kind of bags do you guys suggest I use and from who/where should I buy them from?

 

  • Backing Boards

There's half-back and full-back. Full is much more sturdy and provides more protection. I'll probably get full-back.

What kind of backing boards do you guys suggest I use and from who/where should I buy them from?

 

  • Boxes

There are short and long boxes from what I understand. Then there's cardboard, plastic, then some other material that provides way more protection. I'm thinking of buying a long plastic box, but it seems like it doesn't provide as much weight capacity as the cardboard boxes. Not sure.

What kind of boxes should I use and from who/where should I buy them from?

Side, short addition. Tape. What kind of tape would you guys recommend for sealing the bags? I don't think I would like to use resealable bags...

 

 

Welcome to the boards.

If you have very valuable comics mylar is the way to go but it's expensive.  I've seen plenty of mint books that have sat in poly bags for many years.  Poly bags will deteriorate over time and turn yellow and should be replaced.  Generally short boxes are better as there's less pressure on books at the ends of the boxes and books are less likely to get crushed or damaged.

I like to put modern books in SA bags, BA/SA in GA bags etc so they aren't crammed in there.  It's very easy to damage the bindery corner of a book if the bag is too tight.

To keep your books high grade keep them in a cool, dry, dark location and handle them with care.

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CharlesG

CharlesG

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1 hour ago, thehumantorch said:

Welcome to the boards.

If you have very valuable comics mylar is the way to go but it's expensive.  I've seen plenty of mint books that have sat in poly bags for many years.  Poly bags will deteriorate over time and turn yellow and should be replaced.  Generally short boxes are better as there's less pressure on books at the ends of the boxes and books are less likely to get crushed or damaged.

I like to put modern books in SA bags, BA/SA in GA bags etc so they aren't crammed in there.  It's very easy to damage the bindery corner of a book if the bag is too tight.

To keep your books high grade keep them in a cool, dry, dark location and handle them with care.

Any input on converting to digital early on?

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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48 minutes ago, CharlesG said:

Any input on converting to digital early on?

That's a personal choice.  I collect printed comics and have done so for many years, I have no interest in digital.  If you're only goal is to read and reread comics digital will work.

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MustEatBrains

MustEatBrains

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2 mil mylites with fullbacks from egerber.  Think I use acid free boxes from BCW.  Also the climate you store books in is probably the most important thing.  Cool, dry, dark with minimal humidity.  You know before the storage supply's hit the market people would just stack comics on top on each other with no bags or boards in a cool, dark closet.  Some extremely high grade GA/SA collections that were uncovered were stored like that.

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Comic Closet

Comic Closet

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On 7/24/2017 at 1:59 PM, Stephen H said:

Never heard for this, Is this to avoid the tape catching the comic when removing it?

Great idea. I hate dealing with tape. Too many cover pages being snagged by tape. 

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Martin Sinescu

Martin Sinescu

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For storage supplies, I'm assuming that you're not collecting Silver Age keys since just giving them away is an option, so I think you'll be okay with poly (I'd go with Standard instead of Current, more versatile because they can accommodate thicker issues as well as more latitude for different boards) and standard boards. I use Mylites and full-backs on most of my stuff, but most of what I collect was printed on older paper stock which is more prone to degrade. Modern books aren't (we think). Maybe you'll reach a point where you're buying the older stuff, but for now it's just overkill. Just know that Mylites/fullbacks are an option down the road, but give it a few years to see if collecting sticks or doesn't.

As far as digital being "forever", while I'm sure that's not meant in its literal sense, with digital you are at the mercy of a number of factors which may be out of your control: the software you use to read them may no longer be supported at some point in time or won't work with new operating systems when they update, hard drives fail with devastating finality, files get corrupted, some files go missing as you migrate to different computers over the years, etc. I've dealt with this kind of stuff enough over the last 15+ years to just stay away from digital comics. I'm also still too tied to the idea of owning and reading a physical thing, but I'm guessing this may become a relic of the past as future generations grow up with things stored on a board instead of on shelves.

 

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