Got a comic room??? Showcase it here! 48 48

[oakman29]

This thread is one of my favorite threads on the boards. It's so inspirational to see all the ways one makes their comic book cave.

[OrangeCrush]

On 3/11/2018 at 11:53 PM, tv horror said:

Welcome to the slippery slope of collecting. After 44 years of collecting and custom building my own storage for my books and magazines comics and collectables I'm now running out of space. I've went the floor to ceiling route followed by the sliding bookcases over bookcases and I love it however I'm now being even more selective in what I buy as space has caught up with me. Good luck on your own journey that's where the fun lies. 

I think becoming more selective is just a natural part of collecting. The longer one collects, the more knowledgeable one becomes and one's taste usually winds up becoming more selective as you learn what you really like and dislike as the years go by. I have definitely gotten much more selective over the years. My biggest problem is that I just have way too many collecting hobbies. I collect comics, art books, sketch books, art prints, original art, 1:4 & 1:3 statues and some smaller statue lines like Kotobukiya Bishoujo's, replica weapons (mostly sci-fi), vintage/antique camera's and lenses, Polaroid SX70's, vintage/antique Kodak memorabilia, antique glass plate negatives, playing cards (mostly limited edition), unopened original series Wacky Packages, various magazines (Vampirella, Heavy Metal, Wizard etc), coins/bullion, wildlife stamps & first day covers, video games & video game systems, NASA/space memorabilia, vintage Belstaff & Barbour jackets, etc. It seems like each year that passes I am adding something to the list. I am just a collecting junkie and have been since I was a kid. My love for collecting has really been one of the most consistent aspects of my entire life. 

[ExNihilo]

6 hours ago, davebo357 said:

I'm not even a big DC fan but that room is so tasteful and clean.  Are those the IKEA Mosslanda black shelves we've seen in a few rooms or something else?  Keep meaning to get down to my local IKEA but an IKEA run is just such an ordeal.

 

Right here:  http://www.gradecomstore.com/graded-book-pods/

There are holes on the back for hanging.

The boxes were a combination of amazon and ebay

I went with a Billy.  You can even buy a variety of doors depending on lighting/location.  I went with glass doors because it's in a room with shades that are shut 24/7 and away from direct sunlight.  If you're concerned about lighting, then you can go with a "wood" panel door so prevent light from getting in.  Rough estimate, I can get about 250 books/shelf.  Standard Billy has 6 shelves, but you can add a 7th if need be.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00263850/#/40263848

Also, for those Graded Book Pods, can the glass be removed and then taken to a framer and fitted with museum glass?  I guess I just feel more comfortable getting the real deal instead of a UV protector sheet.

(Side note: do they sell those protector sheets individually?  And how well do they work?  It seems like a good thing to buy for CGC cases if they work.  Might as well go UV protector sheet + Museum glass for max UV protection.)

[tv horror]

8 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

I collect

Would it not have been better just to list the things you don't collect. I don't even know what my walls look like? Good luck. 

[OrangeCrush]

1 hour ago, tv horror said:

Would it not have been better just to list the things you don't collect. I don't even know what my walls look like? Good luck. 

Yeah, I hear you on that one. If it weren't for the ceiling, I would likely forget what color a lot of our walls are. I am paring down a bit as I have cut back on my modern comic purchasing by like 95% and plan on selling like 90% of my modern comics. That will free up quite of bit of space as your talking roughly 70-75 short boxes of comics. And I am pretty much done with camera's as I pretty much own all of the vintage/antique camera's that I am really interested in. Art books remain one of my biggest space suckers as there is just a constant stream of new art books being released that wind up piquing my interest and I absolutely love quality art books. I just can't get enough of Tachen's XL & XXL line of books. 

Edited March 13, 2018 by OrangeCrush

[tv horror]

I have a theory which is my own opinion however it might be true, I consider the period between 1960 to mid 70's as the lost years? You had the race riots, Vietnam, the space race and above all the Cold War where tomorrow might not have happened. Can you imagine HOW scary that time was for parents and children affected, I believe that it created a mindset of a sort of hoarding in us of a time we missed yet knew. We remember back to those times and at the forefront is things that gave us pleasure whether it was toys comics or TV shows and we want to rekindle that time of our lives when it brought us joy, that's my thoughts but then again I might just be insane. Thanks for the reply.     

[davebo357]

18 hours ago, ExNihilo said:

Also, for those Graded Book Pods, can the glass be removed and then taken to a framer and fitted with museum glass?  I guess I just feel more comfortable getting the real deal instead of a UV protector sheet.

(Side note: do they sell those protector sheets individually?  And how well do they work?  It seems like a good thing to buy for CGC cases if they work.  Might as well go UV protector sheet + Museum glass for max UV protection.)

I've got no natural light on that side of the basement so I didn't opt for the UV coated versions.  Each slot has it's own removable cover, which isn't glass but just clear acrylic. 

[srezvan]

I picked up this poster display at a LCS a few months ago. Finally got around to cleaning it and replacing the plastic behind the poster. I put in one of my favorite posters from my younger days. When I bought it, I told my wife it'll go in the garage, as my comic room is out of wall space. After getting it home, I tried to put it in the living room, but it ended up in my daughter's bedroom.

[Hekla]

19 hours ago, tv horror said:

I have a theory which is my own opinion however it might be true, I consider the period between 1960 to mid 70's as the lost years? You had the race riots, Vietnam, the space race and above all the Cold War where tomorrow might not have happened. Can you imagine HOW scary that time was for parents and children affected, I believe that it created a mindset of a sort of hoarding in us of a time we missed yet knew. We remember back to those times and at the forefront is things that gave us pleasure whether it was toys comics or TV shows and we want to rekindle that time of our lives when it brought us joy, that's my thoughts but then again I might just be insane. Thanks for the reply.     

I agree with this to some extent; Comics/toys were a large form of escapism for kids for that time period. Starting in the late 70's other forms of escapism appeared/became popular such as video games, VCR's/Betamax, cable TV, etc.

[F For Fake]

12 hours ago, srezvan said:

I picked up this poster display at a LCS a few months ago. Finally got around to cleaning it and replacing the plastic behind the poster. I put in one of my favorite posters from my younger days. When I bought it, I told my wife it'll go in the garage, as my comic room is out of wall space. After getting it home, I tried to put it in the living room, but it ended up in my daughter's bedroom.

Oh wow, I love store display pieces like that, so nice! Now I'll be huntin' for one...

[OrangeCrush]

23 hours ago, tv horror said:

I have a theory which is my own opinion however it might be true, I consider the period between 1960 to mid 70's as the lost years? You had the race riots, Vietnam, the space race and above all the Cold War where tomorrow might not have happened. Can you imagine HOW scary that time was for parents and children affected, I believe that it created a mindset of a sort of hoarding in us of a time we missed yet knew. We remember back to those times and at the forefront is things that gave us pleasure whether it was toys comics or TV shows and we want to rekindle that time of our lives when it brought us joy, that's my thoughts but then again I might just be insane. Thanks for the reply.     

Yeah, I think there is some truth to this. Personally, I view collecting in 2 very distinct periods, the pre speculation era and the speculation era. The mid to late 70's to the early 1980's were largely the start of the speculation era. Baseball cards and comics were some of the first collecting markets to truly explode in value, and ultimately crash as well. Before the mid to late 70's and early 80's, people just didn't view items, especially those dealing with pop culture, in terms of investment and value. A LOT of people threw away comics after reading them, people actually stuck Wacky Packages to lockers, desks, Trapper Keepers, etc. Kids played with their Star Wars toys and parents wound up tossing them in the garbage after we stopped playing with them. That mind set slowly changed as we entered the 80's and people began to recognize the fact that many of those items had legitimate value.

The advent of the internet and sites like eBay played a very large role in advancing the speculation era of collecting as people now had access to pretty much any market of collectibles they wanted. And this in turn caused the value of many markets to increase markedly. Even today it blows my mind going on eBay and looking at all of the different categories and markets there are now. Disneyaya, Tobacciana, Breweriana, Militaria, Stamps, Comics, Trading Cards, Artwork, Historical Memorabilia, Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, Stocks, Bonds, Scripophily, Coins, Paper Money, and the list just goes on and on and on and on. There will never be a time like the pre spectator era again as people now recognize the value items have as they age and people now protect their collectibles using methods that will preserve them for a VERY long time. You just will not see items getting rare naturally over time like you did with the pre spectator era. Rarity has to be made on purpose these days with limited editions. Anyways, that's my overall opinion on the various markets and collecting in general. 

Edited March 14, 2018 by OrangeCrush

[lizards2]

Ok - finally decided to take some photos of the comic cavern proper, and where it has barfed to.  You can withhold your hoarder comments.  We had a furnace fire last year that caused us to move the entire house into this room while we cleaned up, got new carpeting, new furnace, etc., and basically got rid of 1/2 of our possessions.  This is the last room I'm working on, and still has a lot of odds and sods stashed here, from guns and ammo, to paint/tools, dog crates, etc.  It is a work in progress.  And, since I'm currently trying to inventory and put comics away, it is extra messy.

Here is my comic cavern proper that I got 21 years ago when we remodeled the garage and made it into a family room + laundry/bathroom + comic room.  I never intended it to be a comic 'living room', but a dark storage room. The ceilings in this whole 'addition' are 9 feet.  I did shelving to the ceiling on both right and left wall.  The right wall shelving is deep enough so that it has short boxes two deep or a longbox.  The left wall is only one shortbox deep.  I used to be able to walk all the way to the back, but as books were added, they filled up the center too.

With 21 years passage in time, I've added a lot of books to my collection.  I can still stuff everything I have into the center space and close the door, but then the whole thing is inaccessible.  My wife has graciously let it barf into the family room.  I use the pool table generally as a sorting area, as I don't really care to play pool...., however it is a great working surface.  The temporary table set up outside the comic cavern proper is just to set boxes on and sort the new stuff while I inventory, grade and put it away.

I will probably never have the dreamy comic room a lot of you have, as my main emphasis is storage and some accessibility, with little or no display.  But like I said - it's a work in progress.  People always ask me "how many comics do you have?"  I do not really have a clue.  The right wall of the comic cavern is 2 short boxes deep x 11 across x 7 shelves = 154 short boxes.  The left wall is 1 short box deep x 4 across x 7 shelves = 28, + another 8-12 on the left, and 9 at the back.  It just goes on from there.  My limited goals are to try to get rid of a bunch of the modern/copper stuff, and winnow it down to my true passion of SA/BA - for example, get rid of all my FFs above #150 or something like that.

Edited March 14, 2018 by lizards2

[ADAMANTIUM]

That's still Impressive @lizards2 Sorry to here about the carpets and such with the furnace fire etc. but looks as though you have it well in hand!

[lizards2]

20 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

That's still Impressive @lizards2 Sorry to here about the carpets and such with the furnace fire etc. but looks as though you have it well in hand!

Yeah - I learned something about homeowner's insurance - they don't cover the cause of the fire.  So we were out the 13K for a new heatpump/furnace. But they did pay for some of the clean up.  The carpet was another 4k, but that was due for replacement anyway.  We had a lot of unexpected expense this year - the same year that I retired to a lesser income.  Hopefully this second year of retirement will see less trauma, and give me chance to fully work on clean up and organization.

[davebo357]

1 hour ago, lizards2 said:

The right wall shelving is deep enough so that it has short boxes two deep or a longbox.  The left wall is only one shortbox deep.  I used to be able to walk all the way to the back, but as books were added, they filled up the center too.

 

That is impressive and terrifying.  Do you have a total count of how many books you have?  I can't even fathom a guess.

[lizards2]

10 minutes ago, davebo357 said:

That is impressive and terrifying.  Do you have a total count of how many books you have?  I can't even fathom a guess.

Me either - there are at least 200 shortboxes in the cavern proper, with probably another 50 outside, so that's a baseline of about 25,000, I think.  Probably somewhere north of that for a total.

Terrifying is sometimes lifting the boxes up and down from the top shelves while perched on a ladder.

[porcupine48]

11 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Me either - there are at least 200 shortboxes in the cavern proper, with probably another 50 outside, so that's a baseline of about 25,000, I think.  Probably somewhere north of that for a total.

Terrifying is sometimes lifting the boxes up and down from the top shelves while perched on a ladder.

[tv horror]

1 hour ago, lizards2 said:

Terrifying is sometimes lifting the boxes up and down from the top shelves while perched on a ladder.

I can agree with that, you will have to take care especially since you mentioned you have retired, we all know how resilient lizards are with their limbs. Take care my friend.

[Azkaban]

3 hours ago, lizards2 said:

Ok - finally decided to take some photos of the comic cavern proper, and where it has barfed to.  You can withhold your hoarder comments.  We had a furnace fire last year that caused us to move the entire house into this room while we cleaned up, got new carpeting, new furnace, etc., and basically got rid of 1/2 of our possessions.  This is the last room I'm working on, and still has a lot of odds and sods stashed here, from guns and ammo, to paint/tools, dog crates, etc.  It is a work in progress.  And, since I'm currently trying to inventory and put comics away, it is extra messy.

Here is my comic cavern proper that I got 21 years ago when we remodeled the garage and made it into a family room + laundry/bathroom + comic room.  I never intended it to be a comic 'living room', but a dark storage room. The ceilings in this whole 'addition' are 9 feet.  I did shelving to the ceiling on both right and left wall.  The right wall shelving is deep enough so that it has short boxes two deep or a longbox.  The left wall is only one shortbox deep.  I used to be able to walk all the way to the back, but as books were added, they filled up the center too.

With 21 years passage in time, I've added a lot of books to my collection.  I can still stuff everything I have into the center space and close the door, but then the whole thing is inaccessible.  My wife has graciously let it barf into the family room.  I use the pool table generally as a sorting area, as I don't really care to play pool...., however it is a great working surface.  The temporary table set up outside the comic cavern proper is just to set boxes on and sort the new stuff while I inventory, grade and put it away.

I will probably never have the dreamy comic room a lot of you have, as my main emphasis is storage and some accessibility, with little or no display.  But like I said - it's a work in progress.  People always ask me "how many comics do you have?"  I do not really have a clue.  The right wall of the comic cavern is 2 short boxes deep x 11 across x 7 shelves = 154 short boxes.  The left wall is 1 short box deep x 4 across x 7 shelves = 28, + another 8-12 on the left, and 9 at the back.  It just goes on from there.  My limited goals are to try to get rid of a bunch of the modern/copper stuff, and winnow it down to my true passion of SA/BA - for example, get rid of all my FFs above #150 or something like that.

WOW      

[jdw1991]

Set up a comic wall this week.