How on earth do comics stay in pristine condition?

[Kevin.J]

When I was a boy reading comics, I used to fall asleep in bed reading them and they would end up worn and tatty but I loved them and read them to pieces. Here is one of mine from back in the day.

I did have a friend who wanted to take good care of them, so he sellotaped the spines and the corners to save them getting damaged.

[sterlingcomics]

Good times

[ForlornOutcast]

Yeah it almost feels like the comics that survived unscathed cheated their way to the top,not being enjoyed. Just tucked away.

[Bookery]

I've created controversy in the golden-age forums, so I might as well do the same here by revealing the single most closely-held secret in all of comicsdom.

 

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

The first such test was the "Mile High" collection. It initially seemed like a failure, as initial attempts to inflate the prices beyond Guide in order to cover the martinizing costs proved difficult. But soon the public came around, and the rest is history.

 

Membership to the cabal is limited (I joined in 1989) but has nevertheless grown substantially since the early days. Unfortunately, in my opinion too many collections are being approved for large-scale martinizing by these younger members, and hence a flood of "pedigree" collections have arrived on the marketplace lately. (Some of the best times we've had over the years is coming up with the elaborate back-stories given to the press about the "history" of these finds. Good times).

 

The second great development by the group (actually originated by one of your own members here, pretending to be an anti-presser... I'm not at liberty to say who) was to slowly begin developing the whole "pressing" controversy. This was done purely as a misdirect away from the actual, much more advanced and invasive martinizing processes already in play for decades. Proper martinizing allows a slight room for improvement via pressing, thereby continuing to ensure that the original processes are not discovered, allowing mere "pressing" to take the heat long after the much more invasive processes have been employed. This still never fails to make us laugh at each annual meeting (moved from the Hamptons to the Caribbean in 2003).

 

But I feel enough is enough, and I have broken our version of the "magician's vow" and let you know. If you own a book graded above 8.0... you own an artificially enhanced mutant robo-book. Those of you with low-grade collections have the true untarnished item, and with the cat out of the bag, your collections should soon increase in value exponentially.

 

There will be attempts to discredit me, of course, but the Truth is Out There. I have more to say, but someone's knocking on the door. Hold on, I'll be right back...

 

[Kevin.J]

My brain hurts

[ComicConnoisseur]

I've created controversy in the golden-age forums, so I might as well do the same here by revealing the single most closely-held secret in all of comicsdom.

 

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

The first such test was the "Mile High" collection. It initially seemed like a failure, as initial attempts to inflate the prices beyond Guide in order to cover the martinizing costs proved difficult. But soon the public came around, and the rest is history.

 

Membership to the cabal is limited (I joined in 1989) but has nevertheless grown substantially since the early days. Unfortunately, in my opinion too many collections are being approved for large-scale martinizing by these younger members, and hence a flood of "pedigree" collections have arrived on the marketplace lately. (Some of the best times we've had over the years is coming up with the elaborate back-stories given to the press about the "history" of these finds. Good times).

 

The second great development by the group (actually originated by one of your own members here, pretending to be an anti-presser... I'm not at liberty to say who) was to slowly begin developing the whole "pressing" controversy. This was done purely as a misdirect away from the actual, much more advanced and invasive martinizing processes already in play for decades. Proper martinizing allows a slight room for improvement via pressing, thereby continuing to ensure that the original processes are not discovered, allowing mere "pressing" to take the heat long after the much more invasive processes have been employed. This still never fails to make us laugh at each annual meeting (moved from the Hamptons to the Caribbean in 2003).

 

But I feel enough is enough, and I have broken our version of the "magician's vow" and let you know. If you own a book graded above 8.0... you own an artificially enhanced mutant robo-book. Those of you with low-grade collections have the true untarnished item, and with the cat out of the bag, your collections should soon increase in value exponentially.

 

There will be attempts to discredit me, of course, but the Truth is Out There. I have more to say, but someone's knocking on the door. Hold on, I'll be right back...

Good post.

[jools&jim]

I've created controversy in the golden-age forums, so I might as well do the same here by revealing the single most closely-held secret in all of comicsdom.

 

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

The first such test was the "Mile High" collection. It initially seemed like a failure, as initial attempts to inflate the prices beyond Guide in order to cover the martinizing costs proved difficult. But soon the public came around, and the rest is history.

 

Membership to the cabal is limited (I joined in 1989) but has nevertheless grown substantially since the early days. Unfortunately, in my opinion too many collections are being approved for large-scale martinizing by these younger members, and hence a flood of "pedigree" collections have arrived on the marketplace lately. (Some of the best times we've had over the years is coming up with the elaborate back-stories given to the press about the "history" of these finds. Good times).

 

The second great development by the group (actually originated by one of your own members here, pretending to be an anti-presser... I'm not at liberty to say who) was to slowly begin developing the whole "pressing" controversy. This was done purely as a misdirect away from the actual, much more advanced and invasive martinizing processes already in play for decades. Proper martinizing allows a slight room for improvement via pressing, thereby continuing to ensure that the original processes are not discovered, allowing mere "pressing" to take the heat long after the much more invasive processes have been employed. This still never fails to make us laugh at each annual meeting (moved from the Hamptons to the Caribbean in 2003).

 

But I feel enough is enough, and I have broken our version of the "magician's vow" and let you know. If you own a book graded above 8.0... you own an artificially enhanced mutant robo-book. Those of you with low-grade collections have the true untarnished item, and with the cat out of the bag, your collections should soon increase in value exponentially.

 

There will be attempts to discredit me, of course, but the Truth is Out There. I have more to say, but someone's knocking on the door. Hold on, I'll be right back...

 

The Man who was Thursday...

 

[kdoginohio]

[rjpb]

That is a question I find myself asking every time I see an old book in prestine condition. If anyone hasn't seen this yet, I found this book at an estate sale last weekend. It wasn't at a house but in a warehouse. It looked like the people just buy up estates, move everything into their warehouse and have a sale once a month. This book was unbagged and unboarded with about 30 other comics that looked like they were just thrown in the box, and the box thrown on top of a sstack of other rickety boxes.

 

 

The book is from 1955, and while it probably sat untouched in someones house for 57 years, its still pretty remarkable it made it out OK from the move to the warehouse. It is now safe in a Mylar in my collection where it will stay in this condition for many more years to come.

 

I just find it better to not worry how they stay in this good of condition over that long period of time, but just thank the comic gods for preserving it for me to come find it in all its beauty.

 

That's uncanny

[MagnusX]

I've created controversy in the golden-age forums, so I might as well do the same here by revealing the single most closely-held secret in all of comicsdom.

 

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

The first such test was the "Mile High" collection. It initially seemed like a failure, as initial attempts to inflate the prices beyond Guide in order to cover the martinizing costs proved difficult. But soon the public came around, and the rest is history.

 

Membership to the cabal is limited (I joined in 1989) but has nevertheless grown substantially since the early days. Unfortunately, in my opinion too many collections are being approved for large-scale martinizing by these younger members, and hence a flood of "pedigree" collections have arrived on the marketplace lately. (Some of the best times we've had over the years is coming up with the elaborate back-stories given to the press about the "history" of these finds. Good times).

 

The second great development by the group (actually originated by one of your own members here, pretending to be an anti-presser... I'm not at liberty to say who) was to slowly begin developing the whole "pressing" controversy. This was done purely as a misdirect away from the actual, much more advanced and invasive martinizing processes already in play for decades. Proper martinizing allows a slight room for improvement via pressing, thereby continuing to ensure that the original processes are not discovered, allowing mere "pressing" to take the heat long after the much more invasive processes have been employed. This still never fails to make us laugh at each annual meeting (moved from the Hamptons to the Caribbean in 2003).

 

But I feel enough is enough, and I have broken our version of the "magician's vow" and let you know. If you own a book graded above 8.0... you own an artificially enhanced mutant robo-book. Those of you with low-grade collections have the true untarnished item, and with the cat out of the bag, your collections should soon increase in value exponentially.

 

There will be attempts to discredit me, of course, but the Truth is Out There. I have more to say, but someone's knocking on the door. Hold on, I'll be right back...

 

 

 

[font:Book Antiqua]Man... Why you don’t post this before

we need this kind of thread the Friday

or early Saturday...[/font]

 

 

[fc]

I think in a lot of cases, why some comics stay in such superb condition, is because they really

sucked and no one wanted to buy them. And thus they were stacked away somewhere and forgotten.

 

Then along comes a person to discover them years later amazed by the condition.. but they still

suck. The OP mentions fraggle rock. Perfect example. A TV show that was marketed in as many

areas as possible and quickly died off.

[comics_ross]

I've created controversy in the golden-age forums, so I might as well do the same here by revealing the single most closely-held secret in all of comicsdom.

 

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

The first such test was the "Mile High" collection. It initially seemed like a failure, as initial attempts to inflate the prices beyond Guide in order to cover the martinizing costs proved difficult. But soon the public came around, and the rest is history.

 

Membership to the cabal is limited (I joined in 1989) but has nevertheless grown substantially since the early days. Unfortunately, in my opinion too many collections are being approved for large-scale martinizing by these younger members, and hence a flood of "pedigree" collections have arrived on the marketplace lately. (Some of the best times we've had over the years is coming up with the elaborate back-stories given to the press about the "history" of these finds. Good times).

 

The second great development by the group (actually originated by one of your own members here, pretending to be an anti-presser... I'm not at liberty to say who) was to slowly begin developing the whole "pressing" controversy. This was done purely as a misdirect away from the actual, much more advanced and invasive martinizing processes already in play for decades. Proper martinizing allows a slight room for improvement via pressing, thereby continuing to ensure that the original processes are not discovered, allowing mere "pressing" to take the heat long after the much more invasive processes have been employed. This still never fails to make us laugh at each annual meeting (moved from the Hamptons to the Caribbean in 2003).

 

But I feel enough is enough, and I have broken our version of the "magician's vow" and let you know. If you own a book graded above 8.0... you own an artificially enhanced mutant robo-book. Those of you with low-grade collections have the true untarnished item, and with the cat out of the bag, your collections should soon increase in value exponentially.

 

There will be attempts to discredit me, of course, but the Truth is Out There. I have more to say, but someone's knocking on the door. Hold on, I'll be right back...

 

Sometimes this forum is unvaluable source for information...

[RockMyAmadeus]

When I see a pristine looking book from 25 years ago it says to me that no one has touched/read/loved the book. Probably just bagged and boarded the poor thing.

 

[Whizzer]

I've created controversy in the golden-age forums, so I might as well do the same here by revealing the single most closely-held secret in all of comicsdom.

 

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

The first such test was the "Mile High" collection. It initially seemed like a failure, as initial attempts to inflate the prices beyond Guide in order to cover the martinizing costs proved difficult. But soon the public came around, and the rest is history.

 

Membership to the cabal is limited (I joined in 1989) but has nevertheless grown substantially since the early days. Unfortunately, in my opinion too many collections are being approved for large-scale martinizing by these younger members, and hence a flood of "pedigree" collections have arrived on the marketplace lately. (Some of the best times we've had over the years is coming up with the elaborate back-stories given to the press about the "history" of these finds. Good times).

 

The second great development by the group (actually originated by one of your own members here, pretending to be an anti-presser... I'm not at liberty to say who) was to slowly begin developing the whole "pressing" controversy. This was done purely as a misdirect away from the actual, much more advanced and invasive martinizing processes already in play for decades. Proper martinizing allows a slight room for improvement via pressing, thereby continuing to ensure that the original processes are not discovered, allowing mere "pressing" to take the heat long after the much more invasive processes have been employed. This still never fails to make us laugh at each annual meeting (moved from the Hamptons to the Caribbean in 2003).

 

But I feel enough is enough, and I have broken our version of the "magician's vow" and let you know. If you own a book graded above 8.0... you own an artificially enhanced mutant robo-book. Those of you with low-grade collections have the true untarnished item, and with the cat out of the bag, your collections should soon increase in value exponentially.

 

There will be attempts to discredit me, of course, but the Truth is Out There. I have more to say, but someone's knocking on the door. Hold on, I'll be right back...

 

 

 

First rule of Martinizing Club is don't talk about Martinizing Club

[Calamerica]

I think in a lot of cases, why some comics stay in such superb condition, is because they really

sucked and no one wanted to buy them. And thus they were stacked away somewhere and forgotten.

 

Then along comes a person to discover them years later amazed by the condition.. but they still

suck. The OP mentions fraggle rock. Perfect example. A TV show that was marketed in as many

areas as possible and quickly died off.

 

Witchblade!

 

CAL who sold them before that crash heard from Yancy Butler's vomit-laden bathroom in Palm Springs, CA

[Kevin.J]

[Chespirito]

No comic has ever survived the golden-age, silver-age, or early bronze-age eras in better than 8.0 condition. A rational person, if he really thinks about it, will realize it just can't be possible.

 

In the late 1960s a cabal of early comic book dealers met at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons and developed a sort of martinizing process for old comics. This was refined to the point it was possible to restore, undetectably, old comics to often brilliant near-perfection. It was determined that this process would be used sparingly, but occasionally an entire group of comics would be released to see how the burgeoning comic markets would react.

 

 

 

First rule of Martinizing Club is don't talk about Martinizing Club

The second rule of Martinizing Club is to acknowledge that there is no Martinizing Club

[Bookery]

Rule #3...

 

Martenizing can be a touchy business...

 

 

[Kevin.J]