Storing comic books

[quzar]

I recently decided to do something about the relatively large classic comic book collection that I inheirited (in the sense of being given, they're both still well and alive) from my mother and uncle. For the past... 20ish? years the comics have sat in my garage and have been slowly rotting away, but I want to move them into my room and store them in a way that they can be looked at and not continue to deteriorate.

Now, when I say collection, I mean about 5 or 6 cardboard boxes (that had not been sealed in the garage) each with somewhere between 100 and 200 comics in each. The comics range from key comics strange tales to things like silver surfer #1, iron man #1, and x-men starting at #4.

I guess the question is, what is the best way to store them? I was thinking of putting them into a hope-chest-type-thing I have that would probably fit the bulk of them, but short of putting them all in mylar/carboard backed sleeves I can't think of how to store them (stacked on top of each other, standing up, standing with spine up, etc). Many have become deformed by simply being stacked in the boxes (and curling up at the edges when a smaller book is stacked on a larger one or whatnot) and so yea....

and ideas?

edit: while I'm at it, what's the best way to re-align the spines? I was thinking of unfolding the out-of-shape books, laying them out flat, and applying weight, then re-folding them. Again, thanks to anyone who has any clue about this stuff.

edit 2: also, does anyone know how much it costs to get a comic certified and condition graded?

[the_eternal_dark]

I recently decided to do something about the relatively large classic comic book collection that I inheirited (in the sense of being given, they're both still well and alive) from my mother and uncle. For the past... 20ish? years the comics have sat in my garage and have been slowly rotting away, but I want to move them into my room and store them in a way that they can be looked at and not continue to deteriorate.

Now, when I say collection, I mean about 5 or 6 cardboard boxes (that had not been sealed in the garage) each with somewhere between 100 and 200 comics in each. The comics range from key comics strange tales to things like silver surfer #1, iron man #1, and x-men starting at #4.

I guess the question is, what is the best way to store them? I was thinking of putting them into a hope-chest-type-thing I have that would probably fit the bulk of them, but short of putting them all in mylar/carboard backed sleeves I can't think of how to store them (stacked on top of each other, standing up, standing with spine up, etc). Many have become deformed by simply being stacked in the boxes (and curling up at the edges when a smaller book is stacked on a larger one or whatnot) and so yea....

and ideas?

edit: while I'm at it, what's the best way to re-align the spines? I was thinking of unfolding the out-of-shape books, laying them out flat, and applying weight, then re-folding them. Again, thanks to anyone who has any clue about this stuff.

edit 2: also, does anyone know how much it costs to get a comic certified and condition graded?

When I still had my collection, I had all of mine locked in 2 large storage trunks, bound in plastic and cardboard backed. If you have them piled on each other, it's better for the covers and spines, but it makes browsing through them more difficult, so use care. Also, if you can, pack some silica gel packs (the little packet things that come in shoes and other items to absorb moisture) in there as well, this will keep out unwanted moisture (take them out of shoe boxes at your local store, 3-4 will be plenty). I don't know much about recovering curled covers though, my guess would be lots of weight focused on a small area, like maybe some weights and a 2x4on the very edge of the curls.

As for grading, http://www.cgccomics.com/.

[ACID]

Wow if thoes you mentioned are mint they are worth a tones of money.

[quzar]

Wow if thoes you mentioned are mint they are worth a tones of money.

None are close to 9.5 or 10, there are a handfull though that might be graded at like 8.5 as they have nothing wrong but the age discoloration.

It's heartbreaking to go through this because I found (for examples) the cover/back glossy page to "Fantastic Four Annual 1" which, even in the worst of conditions (if I could find the insides to it) would be worth 50$ (and actually sells for that much frequently in $#@! condition (3.0-5.0). I'm extremely glad that I pulled the SubMariner and Iron Man #1's out of the boxes years ago and put them into sleeves, as they are in excellent condition and are worth in the hundreds.

On a side note DAMN THEM! I bought 200 sleeves and backs, got home, opened the things to go put books in 'um and it turns out they are too small. The dude at my local comic shop (who has known me [not by name, but by recognition] for upwards of 7 years) just told me 'grab those' and didn't indicate the differences in sizes -_-. After looking, it turns out I have two different sized comics: both Gold and Silver aged and I had bought "current" sleeves. Live and learn.

[shadowprophet]

Yuppers Ive got a collection of comics ive had since 94 some of them are really old. for years they have been in a 50$ foot locker I picked up at wal-mart.
As for the plastic slips and card board backings.
I would try to pick up a few of those if you need them:thumbup:

[quzar]

Yuppers Ive got a collection of comics ive had since 94 some of them are really old. for years they have been in a 50$ foot locker I picked up at wal-mart.
As for the plastic slips and card board backings.
I would try to pick up a few of those if you need them:thumbup:

Currently I'm keeping them in the chest pictured below but they barely fit in there, and there are still 3 boxes that I havn't gone through to put in there.