TheHulkCollector

So, quick update, and apologies in advance because all of this may sound very, very weird: When I started this topic I actually didn't have the cabinet in my possession physically since it still needed to be transported to my house. I mostly based the Letter-Size from estimates and I apologize for having mislead you in that regard. Once I got the filing cabinet, I realized that, in terms of drawer height, it couldn't fit the comics in bags and boards but only by a millimeter, and in terms of drawer length, can fit two rows of regular poly bags or one row of poly bags and one row of Silver/Gold Mylites. My current setup has the comics like this, and I was wondering what would be your thoughts on the matter (yes I have the polys alternating between front and back cover to alleviate the weight and I have my Silver/Gold Mylites with BAs with comics on both sides of the bags). I took into account what lostboys said and set up the comics so that the more tilted the comics are, the less pressure they have on them, so none of them bend. (Also, quick sidenote, these Mylites are Mylites 4 and I noticed many of them have small chips breaking on the edge of the flap bend, should I worry?)

I just ask because I've seen that a problem similar to mine with filing cabinets is that with many the drawers are just a bit shorter than the bigger comics bags (silver and gold) so people place them at a slight angle to be able to close and open the drawer.

Can you take a picture of the comics inside your cabinets just so I can look at it and possibly consider have the comics laying flat instead of horizontally or upright?

So wait, does this actually happen?

No, not in any orientation do they fit vertically.

Hey, a bit of topic but I realized something while looking over US Legal size cabinets. They don't fit two rows of Silver/Gold Mylites, do they?

Unfortunately not here in Portugal. We have a different paper size system from the US and so the standard cabinets do not fit upright comics. The best I can do is look anywhere for some very old imported US cabinets, like the one I'm speaking of. Not only that but they don't come as cheap as the ones I've seen in the US too, above 100 euros (around 105 dollars) for used old ones.

I recently came into possession of a filing cabinet which appears to be Letter Sized (rather unfortunate), but I realized I can store my comics horizontally. All my comics are in either Silver/Gold Mylites 4 and Half-backs or in standard poly bags and boards. I am unfamiliar with storing orientations besides upright, so I did some research and found contradicting information. Many here on the CGC Forum have claimed to store their comics horizontally spine-down and recommend it due to the potential damage done by gravity over time. However, I found others who disapprove of this storing method due to the possibly of it causing spine roll, and thus either suggest spine up or upright. Two notable examples were this reddit post and this Youtube video by MonkeySee. So I come to you in a time to determine which way is best and what truly are the dangers involved. EDIT: To clarify, getting another filing cabinet is not really an option for me since I live in Portugal and the paper size system (and therefore cabinet size system) is different. I got the cabinet out of pure luck, so if the answer is "don't store them horizontally at all", the solution will have to be not using the cabinet.

@YorickI actually wouldn't mind having visible lines since my main goal here is preservation, not aesthetics, but thank you for the recommendation, I may have some trouble finding someone who would have such a tool though (since buying that equipment for the production of just 1 bag would be nonsensical). @sckao I actually wouldn't mind creating a separate smaller box where I could store this one item and place it among the rest, and again, I only intend to make one so I don't think I'd need to worry about cost-effectiveness. I can get a 9.8'' (around the width of a Standard Magazine Mylite + extra if needed) cut from a Melinex/Mylar roll that is as thick as a 2 Mil bag for 1.36 dollars or 1.24 euros (buying 1 meter would be around 5 bucks) and a 160 x 100 centimeters acid-free board of the same thickness as a full-back (meaning I get some extra full-backs after this project ) for 8.70 dollars or 7.90 euros. Without caring much about presentation, if I am successful in making a Mylite-type bag out of this, I'd say it would be more cost-effective than buying a 50 bucks 50-pack of Standard Magazine Mylites 4 and 20 bucks 100-pack of Standard Magazine Half-Backs (the only two products of that size I have access to here in Europe). Since my main goal here is preservation, I'm not sure going with polybags would cut it for this particular Graphic Novel (considering its age but you tell me, I'm the newbie here ) but I could go for a pack of Magazine bags from Ultimate Guard or Comicare with matching boards... @ PontoonThat would be a very useful machine as well, like with Yorick's recommendation, I'd have to find someone willing to lend it to me for this project...

@The VelcronomiconYes that is me, and again, the boards did not fit into the bags properly with no comics inside of it. If you're just judging my practice of placing two comics per bag, you're more than entitled to do so but I've not only seen accounts of issues with Mylites 4 and the corresponding board fitting together but I also got a lot of answers on that post and elsewhere that validated my storage choice. EDIT: I also noticed I made a glaringly dumb mistake with my first reply in this post @Shaun03 so I hope my explanation is clearer now that I've edited it.

I've tried ethanol, and it seemed to work, but I'll wait for a professional to comment on that one.

I am not sure how you will proceed with the sizing of the boards, but I live an Europe and had a very limited range of E. Gerber products at my disposal, so I was only able to buy (as a set) Mylites 4 (the thickest Mylites) and Half-Backs, specifically in the Silver & Gold size. Practically all of my books are bronze and more recent so I was able to fit two books into each bag (the verdict is still pending on that one ) but I noticed that, when trying to shove the half-backs into the Mylites without any books inside of them yet, there's a slight overhead, meaning the board doesn't go all the way through. Now, either my batch of half-backs was defective or Mylites 4 are just that tight, so I can't even imagine how it is to handle Mylites 4 with Full-Backs! Still, these are the thickest Mylites we're talking about. I doubt you'd find the same issue with Mylites 2 and lower. Possibly, and I only say this with a leap of logic and no personal experience, Full-Backs may be a bit tough to get into the Mylites 2, but with a bit of care and elbow grease I'm sure you'll get them right in there! Be careful with how much force you apply, though. When you reach the end, slowly push as hard as you feel the board will move, any more than that and you'll do like I did and rip one of the top edges of your bag by about half an inch.

@ PontoonHow long would you say they take to dry out? I bought a pack of Multipurpose Removable Labels from Avery (the 48 per page type) and have been using two per bag (specifically Silver & Gold Mylites 4) on each edge. Have I just basically come across a temporary taping solution?

I've recently purchased the Marvel Graphic Novel: The Big Change, with no intentions in the immediate future. I was thinking about how worth it would it be to buy a pack of E. Gerber Standard Magazine bags & boards, but thought of another idea. I have store in my city that sells conservation and restauration products. Among them they sell big acid-free sheets of board (around the thickness of a half-back) and huge rolls of transparent Melinex (a.k.a. Mylar). So I was wondering if it wouldn't be cheaper to just make my own bag (and gotta some extra back-boards in the process). Now, cutting board is relatively easy, the true issue lies with producing the bag. Does anyone here have experience/know of a tutorial better than this one?:

@lostboysI apologize for it , got me a little worried too but the commenter clarifies afterwards that this is basically just over examination on their part. @lizards2 I see... what do you think about their comments regarding the small overhead from the Mylites 4 (along with the images I posted)? Do you think they're odd-sized and justify the use of the guillotine or is it just something I should only worry about for aesthetic reasons? @Pancakes! I bet , but it's the only good pairing I can get here in the EU. I don't plan on doing a 1000+ comic book collection, it probably won't even reach 500 comics, and I intend to have these books be preserved enough to be handleable and readable in 50 years or more. It shares its bag with another book.

Oh god, Here I was starting to think I'd get buried with other posts with no replies. Thank you to all who have already messaged me. I'll try to go reply-by-reply to clarify any doubts you may have had regarding my post and discuss. @KCOComics I understand I wasn't clear regarding my issues with the board. My comics aren't tight even with two annual since I ordered two packs of 775M4, and I only have one book in my collection that is from the Silver Age (X-men #66) and I've decided since to place that one into its own bag. The tightness I found came when I placed the Half-Back into the bag with no comics inside, and since then I contacted a retailer for E. Gerber products on eBay that gave me the following explanation I'll also annex two pictures of the bag and board, one of the top and one of the bottom, to give a better idea of how much is sticking out. @theCapraAegagrus Indeed you touched on the same subject as the eBay retailer. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Mylites 2 with size I wanted at a reasonable price, nor was I able to find Full-Backs, so I was "forced" to go with this combo. @lostboys I came across this post on CGC some time ago: and newshane said straight away that wood is bad, and although they mentioned the issues with shellacs and paint, they seemed to make clear uncovered wood seemed to be the worst option. I am looking at metal options though, of course. @Artboy99 I indeed wish to at least heavily consider having only one bag and board for comic, the thing is my budget prevents me from doing so at the moment. I recently have "discovered" another possible benefit from the double booking method which is spine pressure prevention. By having the books alternate between front and back, I can have the comics apply pressure between themselves more evenly. This obviously can be just as easily achieved by still having only comic per bag and board but reversing the orientation of them every other book. @shadroch I sure will. After purchasing these Silver & Gold 775M4 bags and 750HB boards I've realized I can't go in any smaller if I want to double book. @Get Marwood & I Wow, thank you so much for the tip! As I'm able to better build by collection I may very well try that method instead of even just having one comic per bag and board. It seems to pack the comics in a much more isolated environment. The only issue will be either finding Mylites 2 or making due with Mylites 4 (or possibly finding an European retailer who sells the BCW Mylar 2 Mil bags). Regarding the storage matter, I'll surely look into dust accumulation but in all my years of purchasing TPBs and storing them in the same bookcase I'm now storing my back issues, I've never seen any noticeable dust accumulation. I am, however, moving into a new house so I'll have to be sure of the dust accumulation there and act accordingly. I'll annex two pictures, one of the shelf in its entirety and another with a better resolution of the books (along with the other two). @lizards2 A paper guillotine seems like a great idea for my potential problem. I may also be able to access one at the college I attend or order it at a local stationery shop (or even see if a friend or family member owns one. Although, the comment from the eBay retailer regarding trimming the board worried me a bit: But I'm sure that I could completely avoid this by either disinfecting and cleaning or requesting to disinfect and clean the blade beforehand. Once again, I thank you all for giving me helpful advice and "looking into my case", so to speak!

Hello, I have recently decided to start a comic book collection composed solely of Hulk appearances from the main Earth-616 continuity (with some added bonuses). My collection consists mostly of TPB, Essentials, Epic Collections, among others, for the main Hulk title. However, for the sections of the original Volume 1 run that haven't been reprinted yet as well as appearances that aren't included in said volumes, I opted for back issues. This collection is intended to be a reading collection, but I wished to have them in the best condition possible so they'd last as long as possible whenever I'm not reading them. Considering I live in Europe, and all my research seemed to point E. Gerber as one of the best options available, I decided to look for European retailers. I came across Archonia, the only retailer with matching board and bag sizes, said boards and bags being Mylites 4 and Half-Backs Silver & Gold. I purchased 100 of each, and once they arrived I started packaging the comics. I want to mention is that I plan to store these comics in bookcases to place them alongside the aforementioned TPBs and Volumes (and yes, I intend to take a lot of precautions, from at least having varnished wood for the bookcases to making sure the comics don't get direct sunlight and are in a dry, relatively cold environment). EDIT: One last thing is that all these problems showed up with either one book or no books in the bag, so I'm fairly sure they are not being caused by the double booking. Now come my issues and the associated questions: - When I placed the boards into the bags, I noticed that around 1/10th to 1/15th of an inch (2.5 to 1.5 millimeters) of the board was creeping out of the bag. I tried pushing them as much into the bag as I could but for many of them it didn't do a lot. I then creased the flap for all of them. Did I make a mistake and there's a technique to push the half-backs even further, should I trim the half-backs to fit better or is this a non-issue? - When trying to push the boards onto the bags, I accidentally applied too much force with the first few bags and as a result broke around an inch to half an inch (2.5 cm to 1.25 cm) of one of the edges of the bags. Are the bags now completely compromised or will the pressure applied by other comics fix it? If there is an issue, can I fix it with a special kind of tape? - I'm placing two comics per bag (considering the earliest comic I have is X-Men #66) and I just wanted to make sure that mixing comics from different ages isn't an issue (I intend to place them in order to continuity, and to use X-Men as an example I have it in the same bag as Marvel Tales #181). - Last and practically least. I noticed that, with some comics, when I'm placing them inside the bag, the edge opposite to the spine becomes a bit misaligned (1/10th to 1/15th of an inch between cover and the contents). I would think this is an issue caused by the tight fit because of the two comics per bag but it isn't hard to place them on the bags and it also happens when I just place one comic per bag. Should I worry about this slight misalignment? I will share a photograph of the books in their bookcase. If any more are needed, don't hesitate to ask! I thank you for your patience and apologize for the inconvenience, I hope my journey into comic book collecting isn't a bumpy one! (After you read this, if you think it is an inappropriate topic and/or there's clear information on the subject, I ask that you please reply pointing me to it)