Bags & boards

[Phoenix]

I do generally extract my comics to inject nostalgia.

Are you absolutely sure that won't damage the paper as well?

[geoff42]

It's risky, but I'm very careful. And no, I don't wear white gloves... but I'm tempted

[Lew Stringer]

hi, lew, as regards "print contamination", I think the true term is "bleeding" where the print from one comic literally bleeds into the one underneath or top when they are stored horizontally. By the way, I read your blog as regards Fury - Marvel UK; enjoyed it. Ironically, I've just purchased the first three issues for £6 in good condition. The Silver Acre first issue is still up for grabs but the price is obviously putting people off. Always enjoy your posts.

I wondered who bought those three. Congratulations.

The only use of the term 'bleeding' in regards to comics that I'm aware of is when artwork extends beyond the crop, so it's right to the edge of the page beyond the borders.

Ink does soak through paper on cheap newsprint, such as that used by IPC comics in the seventies and early eighties, but I've never seen any comics where the impression of previous pages has soaked through to other pages, just to the reverse of the page. Conditions would have to be very damp I think for ink to penetrate further than that.

I did buy a copy of Ghost Rider once which had the impression of the back cover of another issue on its cover, but that would have happened at the printers when the ink was still wet.

[geoff42]

hi, lew, as regards storing comics horizontal, I'm not so sure. Pick up twenty or thirty comics in your hand and you can feel the weight. No matter which way you store them when flat, surely gravity will apply great pressure which can't be good. Perhaps I'm being too careful... well, I did buy a dehumidifier exclusively for my collection

[Lew Stringer]

hi, lew, as regards storing comics horizontal, I'm not so sure. Pick up twenty or thirty comics in your hand and you can feel the weight. No matter which way you store them when flat, surely gravity will apply great pressure which can't be good. Perhaps I'm being too careful... well, I did buy a dehumidifier exclusively for my collection

I can only go by my own experience. I've stored most of my British comics flat all my life and the ink from one comic has never bled into the one underneath.

[geoff42]

Even your 2000 ad no.1

[Lew Stringer]

Even your 2000 ad no.1

No my first 200 issues of 2000AD are stored upright in a comic box admittedly. All my other UK comics are stored flat though. See the pics on my blog.

Of course, all comics are stored flat anyway during their journey from the printers to the distribution warehouse, and then on to the shops. They don't go vertical until they're on the shelves.

[geoff42]

I have, lew, and I spy a copy of the most sought after "Action: story of a violent comic". I have this too. Aren't we lucky, heh-heh.

[wilsia]

Interesting reading about all the views on storage and also Lews blog on the subject I have been bagging my comics since the mid seventies and Im amazed at how well 95% of them kept they no age spots or yellowing.My brother had lots of comics as well but lost interst in them so they were never bagged but lay in a couple of suit cases in the attic. They have really yellowed and have lots of those annoying brown spots.

I know everyone has there own thoughts onto how to keep our comics best preserved but Im a big believer in bagging them. Im not one of those ones that bag them and never look at them I regularly nip in and read them.

Some observations - TV comic (early 70s),Krazy, Cor and Roy of the Rovers look as good as the day they were bought.

Comics that dont preserve well (in my collection) are Knockout (70s) and early Whizzer and Chips

In regards to the annuals, DC Thomson annuals are miles ahead of the IPC ones. They keep their pages white whereas IPC annual pages go brown.

[Lew Stringer]

Interesting reading about all the views on storage and also Lews blog on the subject I have been bagging my comics since the mid seventies and Im amazed at how well 95% of them kept they no age spots or yellowing.My brother had lots of comics as well but lost interst in them so they were never bagged but lay in a couple of suit cases in the attic. They have really yellowed and have lots of those annoying brown spots.

I know everyone has there own thoughts onto how to keep our comics best preserved but Im a big believer in bagging them. Im not one of those ones that bag them and never look at them I regularly nip in and read them.

Some observations - TV comic (early 70s),Krazy, Cor and Roy of the Rovers look as good as the day they were bought.

Comics that dont preserve well (in my collection) are Knockout (70s) and early Whizzer and Chips

In regards to the annuals, DC Thomson annuals are miles ahead of the IPC ones. They keep their pages white whereas IPC annual pages go brown.

Yes, it's all down to paper quality. Comics printed in the 1970s by Southernprint fare worse than those by other printers IPC used. (Egmont still use SouthernPrint but the paper quality is far superior now so no problem for future collectors.)

I have Victorian comics in better condition than some 1970s ones, because the paper was much better.

[Raven]

Comics that dont preserve well (in my collection) are Knockout (70s) and early Whizzer and Chips

I have some Whizzer and Chips issues from 1970 that are still bright white and look great! Cor does indeed preserve well - I've got quite a few mint looking issues from the same year.

[Marionette]

My main method of preserving comics is to scan them, and then stick the originals in a waterproof box and forget about them. That way they are always accessible to read without the white glove requirement, and when my eyesight fails to make out the tiny lettering I can just enlarge the page a bit.

[Phoenix]

It's risky, but I'm very careful.

I was actually referring to the damage that might have been caused by the injection of nostalgia.

[geoff42]

I know... I was just trying to be blissfully ignorant I know I'm a tad overbearing on preserving my collection, but let us all try our best to preserve our collections and pray they won't end up in a bin or jumble sale once we have gone. I've yet made no criteria as regards my collection when I say goodbye... hopefully, I will one day.

[George Shiers]

As I said on Lew's blog post, condition is no concern of mine, and I have many comics sitting in direct sunlight, and/or tightly squeezed into transparent plastic boxes. Most of my comics have creases and tears, it really doesn't bother me at all.