lh@rocky.cs.cornell.edu (02/03/86)
From: lh@Cornell I, and possibly quite a few others who read this group, have followed comics for a few years, and have many favorites lining my shelves, but don't really know the ABC's of collecting. Perhaps someone could post a short article on how to store comics, what the acid-free paper one sees in stores is for, how you organize your buying (subscribing vs. visiting a store), and other such basics. Thanks a lot, Lane lh@cornell.arpa lh@cornell.uucp
ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades) (02/20/86)
> From: lh@Cornell > I, and possibly quite a few others who read this group, have followed > comics for a few years, and have many favorites lining my shelves, but > don't really know the ABC's of collecting. Perhaps someone could post > a short article on how to store comics, what the acid-free paper one > sees in stores is for, how you organize your buying (subscribing vs. > visiting a store), and other such basics. Thanks a lot, > Lane Well, I was hoping someone else would post a response, since I haven't collected for long, but I'll take a shot at "the basics." Storing comics. About the *worst* thing you can do is have them piled on top of one another, unbagged, on an open wood composite shelf in the direct light of the sun. After that, anything is an improvement. About the *best* (and, except for rabid investors, overkill) thing to do is bag them separately in Mylar and store them in a nitrogen environment. Things that help comic life include: NO direct sunlight, store them UPRIGHT in a box that they FIT in (no tight corners, no gaping spaces), and bag each one SEPARATELY, and buy 2 copies of your favorite issues so you can have one undamaged by constant handling. Things that damage comics, aside from the above, include water of course, chemicals such as acetone (wood composite shelves), rapid changes in heat/humidity, time. Acid-free paper. Acid-free paper basically gives you a chance to slow the inevitable deterioration. The acid in some papers will essentially "eat" the paper, turning it into so much dust. 100% cotton papers, and wood papers prepared with acid-free techniques, last longer. Mounting your shrinkwrapped posters on acid-free cardboard, or storing comics in an acid-free cardboard box, are based on the same idea. It is a good idea to treat artwork of any sort on paper with this kind of care. Baxter papers, which are used in some comics (the $1.50 kind) are acid free. They also preserve color better (no yellowing). Subscription/store visiting. I work in the Reed mailroom and have seen comics from Marvel show up in the mail. Not only do they invariably appear 3-6 days later than I get them in the comics specialty store, they are frequently folded in half, with damaged corners, water stains, and/or other transit wounds. For this reason I prefer the specialty store. However, you can sometimes find great subscription deals in ads which should be checked out. The Reed comics library is currently getting a slew of Marvels from some subscription service for about 45 cents each rather than the stand price of 75 cents. At the specialty store I use, I buy over $10.00/month of comics and get a trade-in slip worth 25% of my purchase that I can use next time, or save up (I bought two $11.00 issues of X-men that way). It depends on the store. Also, I can get back issues at a store, which is one of my current interests, since I have only collected for a little while and don't often know the history of the mag, particularly with DC Comics. I think that's all I can come up with off the top of my head; I hope this answers some of your questions, Lane. Ellen -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?" "I read it in a book," said Alice. - - - - - - - - - - - - -