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Backing boards? Mylar? Etc?
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19 posts in this topic

I've been using boards that are full 24 point solid bleached sulphate, coated on one side with a buffered with 3% calcium carbonate, and acid-free and no PVC bags but I might change to Mylar bags, as I believe they're the best form of comic protection, though I'm curious what bags and boards should I get? One issue I have with some books that I have is that they seem to fall down in the bag.

My comics range mainly from the 80's to 00's, although I do have some silver and golden age books. I know people have mentioned flapped and open-ended bags too, full-backs, half-backs, as well as the 2mil and 4mil bags (neither of which I understand a great deal about) ~

All comments are welcomed.

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If you're looking to get Mylars with good boards......

2 mil Mylars with a flap and Full-Backs for your good books

Could go with Half-Backs for your lesser books if cost and/or space is an issue.

You can get them from hotflips.com

@HOTFLIPS are great guys and they're board members.

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Comic books, especially gold/silver/bronze were printed on newspaper stock which is the cheapest form of printed paper and contains lots of acids with acidic inks.

Comic books will over time decay regardless of what you do, the key is to SloooooooooooW down the process as much as possible.

The more the paper expands and contracts the faster the paper/ink create acids which decay the paper so you want consistency.

The key to proper storage of comic books is, proper temperature, proper humidity, keep away from all light and heat sources in Archival Acid Free Materials.

I have been using Mylites since the late 80's when I first found out about them from my LCS so a lot of my books have been in the same 1 Mil Mylites W/Halfbacks for 30+ years, I later started using 1.4 Mylites and have some 2 Mil Mylites, personally I prefer the 1.4 Mil, they are like the porridge in the three bears, just right.

Do not use tape on the flap (although I do because I am old and stubborn), use something that will not leave a residue that the book can be snagged on when removing/inserting into the bag.

Use something like this to seal the flap.

https://www.dollartree.com/color-coding-labels-315ct-packs/178433

 

Here is a link to proper storage supplies

https://www.bcwsupplies.com/

 

 

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I've been converting all my "over $15" books to the Mylite2's and Full Backs/Half Backs for a couple of years now. They look great. Regarding Full Backs vs Half Backs, I agree with Domo Arigato. Space is an issue so the Half Backs come in handy for a lot of books. The other thing that helped me with space was I stopped buying new, modern books in 2015... lol Found I was just feeding my completionist curse and not really reading them.

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2 hours ago, Domo Arigato said:

If you're looking to get Mylars with good boards......

2 mil Mylars with a flap and Full-Backs for your good books

Could go with Half-Backs for your lesser books if cost and/or space is an issue.

You can get them from hotflips.com

@HOTFLIPS are great guys and they're board members.

^^^^^ All of this and a bag of chips.

 

But don't eat chips when you're bagging  & boarding comics. ;)

 

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9 hours ago, Domo Arigato said:

If you're looking to get Mylars with good boards......

2 mil Mylars with a flap and Full-Backs for your good books

Could go with Half-Backs for your lesser books if cost and/or space is an issue.

You can get them from hotflips.com

@HOTFLIPS are great guys and they're board members.

Space? Are full-backs space consuming then because of the their thickness?

But why do people use 4 mil Mylars? And really whats the different between full and half backs?

Also could I really use Golden Age Mylars for both Silver and Modern as well? Or would there be an issue of being too big and the comics just sliding to the bottom?

9 hours ago, marvelmaniac said:

Comic books, especially gold/silver/bronze were printed on newspaper stock which is the cheapest form of printed paper and contains lots of acids with acidic inks.

Comic books will over time decay regardless of what you do, the key is to SloooooooooooW down the process as much as possible.

The more the paper expands and contracts the faster the paper/ink create acids which decay the paper so you want consistency.

The key to proper storage of comic books is, proper temperature, proper humidity, keep away from all light and heat sources in Archival Acid Free Materials.

I have been using Mylites since the late 80's when I first found out about them from my LCS so a lot of my books have been in the same 1 Mil Mylites W/Halfbacks for 30+ years, I later started using 1.4 Mylites and have some 2 Mil Mylites, personally I prefer the 1.4 Mil, they are like the porridge in the three bears, just right.

Do not use tape on the flap (although I do because I am old and stubborn), use something that will not leave a residue that the book can be snagged on when removing/inserting into the bag.

Amazing amazing thank you! <3

7 hours ago, Shadow said:

I've been converting all my "over $15" books to the Mylite2's and Full Backs/Half Backs for a couple of years now. They look great. Regarding Full Backs vs Half Backs, I agree with Domo Arigato. Space is an issue so the Half Backs come in handy for a lot of books. The other thing that helped me with space was I stopped buying new, modern books in 2015... lol Found I was just feeding my completionist curse and not really reading them.

But why Mylite2's over Mylite4's?

Edited by Bart Allen
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28 minutes ago, Bart Allen said:

But why Mylite2's over Mylite4's?

Personally, I like the 4 mil BCE mylars with the 3/4" tab instead of the flap. I've used a wide variety of bags and mylar sleeves over the years, and for me they're my favorite. A little pricey, though...but you get what you pay for. In your case, 2 mil sleeves may be better because of the cost and the type of books you collect. I hope this helps... :) 

Edited by The Lions Den
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36 minutes ago, Bart Allen said:

But why Mylite2's over Mylite4's?

I bought a pack of mylite 4s when they first came out.  They’re essentially like the archives with a fold over flap.  For me, I liked the rigidity at first but later did not enjoy running the gauntlet every time I took the book out or put it back in.  The Mylar has a sharp edge and it just seemed easy to catch an edge on the cover and damage the book.  Now, my preferred setup is a mylite 2 with 2 fullbacks.  Good stiff assembly with an ease of access.  I also don’t use tape but rather a post it flag to hold closed.  2c

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3 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

I bought a pack of mylite 4s when they first came out.  They’re essentially like the archives with a fold over flap.  For me, I liked the rigidity at first but later did not enjoy running the gauntlet every time I took the book out or put it back in.  The Mylar has a sharp edge and it just seemed easy to catch an edge on the cover and damage the book.  Now, my preferred setup is a mylite 2 with 2 fullbacks.  Good stiff assembly with an ease of access.  I also don’t use tape but rather a post it flag to hold closed.  2c

But how come you use 2 fullbacks with a mylite2? Also I'm curious is it best to use Silver/Gold Mylar2's with Modern's?

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Very informative thread. It's interesting to note that every collector seems to have their favorite storage products. It also makes me chuckle every time I buy a book and it arrives in an oversized plastic sandwich bag which appears to have been manufactured sometime in the 1970's, with no backing board and no cardboard reinforcement whatsoever. How is it even possible..?  hm  

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12 minutes ago, The Lions Den said:

Very informative thread. It's interesting to note that every collector seems to have their favorite storage products. It also makes me chuckle every time I buy a book and it arrives in an oversized plastic sandwich bag which appears to have been manufactured sometime in the 1970's, with no backing board and no cardboard reinforcement whatsoever. How is it even possible..?  hm  

I paid about $175 for high grade Criminals on the Run fish-in-the-face cover, and it arrived loose in a manila envelope with one piece of cardboard.  I think it was in a comic bag.  Remarkably, no damage to the book.  I guess I had a guardian angel on that purchase.

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14 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

I paid about $175 for high grade Criminals on the Run fish-in-the-face cover, and it arrived loose in a manila envelope with one piece of cardboard.  I think it was in a comic bag.  Remarkably, no damage to the book.  I guess I had a guardian angel on that purchase.

:angel:  

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15 hours ago, Bart Allen said:

But how come you use 2 fullbacks with a mylite2? Also I'm curious is it best to use Silver/Gold Mylar2's with Modern's?

I use 2 fullbacks simply because it stiffens up the assembly.  I've used 3 in some cases!  I typically use silver/gold with all books (moderns, bronze, etc).  Even though they are oversized for some, it keeps everything nice and orderly in the box.  Also, they work well for most post 1945 books.

And I agree with all of Mike's suggestions about shipping.  Like Johnny said, a lot of good suggestions in this thread for the new collector.

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5 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

Very informative thread. It's interesting to note that every collector seems to have their favorite storage products. It also makes me chuckle every time I buy a book and it arrives in an oversized plastic sandwich bag which appears to have been manufactured sometime in the 1970's, with no backing board and no cardboard reinforcement whatsoever. How is it even possible..?  hm  

lol  I've had this and all the other bizarre shipping moves happen over the years.  Always surprises me, also!

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49 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

lol  I've had this and all the other bizarre shipping moves happen over the years.  Always surprises me, also!

Especially considering how far this hobby has come since the Robert Bell/Howard Rogofsky era. It blows my fragile eggshell mind...

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Thanks for the replies everyone! <3

With my Bronze, Copper and Modern books should I use Standard or Current boards? Or should I just use Silver/Gold boards for them? Should I only use full backs with expensive books, or should I also use them with even books less than $10 in value? Also with Mylar do the books slide down (which I've often found to be rather a nuisance with edge-maintenance with Polys); and lastly, what is micro-chamber paper? And should it be used? ~

Many thanks everyone ^_^

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Whatever board you use you want the board to completely fill the bag side to side so the book in question will be completely protected.

The book on the other hand should not be squeezed into the bag, it should have a least an 1/8" room on either side to it is not being bent in the bag.

If all of the books in question are the same size it makes it much easier.

I have found that Golden/Silver Age books can vary in size depending on the time of printing which makes it difficult to maintain the same size bags in the same box, I am not sure about 80's/90's and up modern books since I do not collect them.

If the run starts with Gold and ends with Silver (such as Journey Into Mystery/Strange Tales or the Marvel Westerns such as Kid Colt Outlaw and Two Gun Kid (I only collect 10 cent cover issues of the Westerns) I just use Golden Age Bags and Boards for all of them even though the later books (late 50's/early 60's) are smaller in size but it makes it much neater when they are all in the same box.

MICROCHAMBER PAPER

http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/S CATALOG/MicroChamber.htm

 

Before CGC encase the comics, they add microchamber paper between the cover and pages of the book. What this little piece of paper does is absorb the acids in the pages of a comic, especially older comics, and helps prevent any further damage. What these acids do is cause a yellowing to the cover over time. It's suggested to have your comics "reholdered" every seven or eight years to have be microchamber paper replaced, but that can get quite expensive and isn't really necessary. Leaving the paper in longer that 7 years won't cause extra damage to your comic.

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