When did pressing a comic before every sub become the norm?

[Prince Namor]

Isn't storing in Mylar and a fullback amongst 125-250 other comics a form of pressing?

We're all guilty!

This whole courtroom is out of order!

[VintageComics]

Like I said earlier, you take a book in your hand to read it and you're damaging paper fibres - the opposite of pressing but equally as effective. Why no outrage?

 

One guy adds slight color touch-up with black ink to the spine of a book.

 

Somebody else writes an arrival date with black ink to the front cover of another book.

 

Somebody famous draws a cute little spider with black ink on the front cover of yet another book.

 

In all scenarios, black ink has been added to a book. First scenario involves the least black ink addition though.

 

I don't like either scenario but most people don't mind two of these three.

 

Why no outrage ?

 

The first book is worth the least.

 

Because money.

[mrmyst]

I'm home in a cool apartment, luckily not going to be evicted. Have internet access too. Real world safety.

[jimbo_707]

Trimming is different. It's not benign. It's aggressive and quantitatively changes the book. Pressing doesn't.

Bull.

 

You think it's logical for hobbyists to consider a comic "destroyed" because an additional 32nd of an inch of paper was trimmed from an edge? Does that seem like a reality-based reaction to you? Trimming is abhorred because it's a post-production alteration and a "cheat".

 

Maybe it's different now with 'coined' commoditized slab-comics, but comic books used to be valued as unique production items. Value was based on their post-production life, the level of post-production preservation.

 

Pressing is a modern skill-based treatment applied to mimic post-production preservation. Same as re-trimming a factory trimmed edge. Trimming and pressing repair nothing, they alter a book's actual/factual "life history" for the aesthetic pretense of better preservation.

[pickycollector]

 

I did post more in Comics General today than I did in the last couple months

[Speedy-D]

O no, did this turn into a real pressing thread?

I trust y'all finally worked it out at least?

[Park]

I wonder if CGC can create a test that brings out the smell of encyclopedias from old comics and label that as 'Non-Modern Pressing'?

Oh wait, then we'd ALL be screwed.

 

 

I still have the set of encyclopedias that i used when I was a teenager.

[VintageComics]

If I just walk over to a short box and bend the corner over on a Daredevil #176 will people be outraged that I'm destroying history?

 

I don't think so.

 

If I just walk over to a short box and do it to a flawless copy of an Amazing Fantasy #15 from 1962 will people be outraged that I'm destroying history?

 

Probably.

 

What if I have that Daredevil #176 pressed back to it's flat state? Destroying history?

 

Pressing the AF #15 pressed? Destroying history?

 

How about doing the same to an AF #13 rather than a #15?

 

Does that help illustrate my point?

 

Sometimes it's hard to separate money from the thought process until you change your perspective on the discussion.

 

 

[Logan510]

As somebody or two has said before: First World problems.

 

This is a First World problem that affects me in some way, thus it is important

[comix4fun]

But I consider my comic books works of art to be treasured. I want them to still be fresh and supple 1,000 years from now, long after I'm gone. That's why I pay for archival-quality storage materials. That's why I don't look at them under fluorescent light; if I want to look at my collection, I take the fluorescent bulb out of the socket and put in an incandescent bulb. (I don't take them out during the day, ever.) That's why I spend a significant amount of money on air conditioning in order to keep them cool during the summer months. In fact, I bought a book in a Heritage auction a few weeks ago, but I asked them not to ship it to me until after Labor Day so that it wouldn't have to travel in the heat of summer. The point is, to me, the thought of doing something to a comic that could damage it even a little bit is unconscionable.

 

 

 

Interesting stance, but I am not sure the probability of your end-goal is very high given the fact that the paper used to create comics is closer to toilet paper than it is to fine canvas.

 

 

[ItsJustRyan]

- saving my place for the next 133 posts

[Park]

But I consider my comic books works of art to be treasured. I want them to still be fresh and supple 1,000 years from now, long after I'm gone. That's why I pay for archival-quality storage materials. That's why I don't look at them under fluorescent light; if I want to look at my collection, I take the fluorescent bulb out of the socket and put in an incandescent bulb. (I don't take them out during the day, ever.) That's why I spend a significant amount of money on air conditioning in order to keep them cool during the summer months. In fact, I bought a book in a Heritage auction a few weeks ago, but I asked them not to ship it to me until after Labor Day so that it wouldn't have to travel in the heat of summer. The point is, to me, the thought of doing something to a comic that could damage it even a little bit is unconscionable.

 

 

 

Interesting stance, but I am not sure the probability of your end-goal is very high given the fact that the paper used to create comics is closer to toilet paper than it is to fine canvas.

 

 

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

But I consider my comic books works of art to be treasured. I want them to still be fresh and supple 1,000 years from now, long after I'm gone. That's why I pay for archival-quality storage materials. That's why I don't look at them under fluorescent light; if I want to look at my collection, I take the fluorescent bulb out of the socket and put in an incandescent bulb. (I don't take them out during the day, ever.) That's why I spend a significant amount of money on air conditioning in order to keep them cool during the summer months. In fact, I bought a book in a Heritage auction a few weeks ago, but I asked them not to ship it to me until after Labor Day so that it wouldn't have to travel in the heat of summer. The point is, to me, the thought of doing something to a comic that could damage it even a little bit is unconscionable.

 

 

 

Interesting stance, but I am not sure the probability of your end-goal is very high given the fact that the paper used to create comics is closer to toilet paper than it is to fine canvas.

 

 

 

 

And long before that the collection will have been carved up, blown to the four corners of the earth in innumerable probate/estate sales, sold to the highest bidders, CPR'd to death, and culled based on market value.

[BarryAllen]

O no, did this turn into a real pressing thread?

I trust y'all finally worked it out at least?

 

[rodan57]

I'm so tired of these threads,but I can understand you guys have to get it out every now and again.

Roy it's not always about the money,sometimes it could be for the love of the medium.

 

I think the above is worth repeating.

 

I suppose most people press comic books to make their books be worth more money. And a much smaller contingent presses a book because they want a nicer looking book in their collection.

 

I think most people that are against pressing are seriously concerned with the potential of damaging a fragile collectible or distorting the provenance of an important book. And a much smaller contingent that is against pressing may be resentful of increased prices one may have to pay for a book that was a lesser grade.

[DiceX]

 

 

[The-Collector]

Pressed XM 110

 

 

Unpressed XM 131

 

Your pictures do a better job than I thought

 

Look at the natural curve, the slight bump on the spine of X-Men #131 vs the flattened, almost crushed spine of #110. I am sure it is pretty more obvious when holding the books in your hands.

 

Best though would have been to take pictures of the same book before and after pressing. Too late for the #110 but if you ever send #131 for pressing please provide me with the new picture.

 

I can see the difference. To me that difference is very very small. And when the XM 45 BC looked like this before:

 

 

And now looks like this:

 

 

 

The minuscule change in the spine is worth it. And I know the positive change in dirt is from the cleaning but the same argument could be said of big ripples which you can remove at the expense of a slightly squished spine.

 

p.s. My understanding was the slight bump on the spine was from being stored with other books. So is not something natural that you would try and preserve for the sake of authenticity.

 

 

[gaz973]

People just vilify it because of the potential dollars and cents involved. If it was over $1 incentives, nobody would ever care whether a book was pressed or not. It's because there can be $100's and $1000's involved that it's controversial.

 

 

The people I communicate with regarding this issue who are anti-pressing never raise this as a reason.

 

Revisionism 101.

 

It's not revisionism. Ultimately, it's always about the money.

 

 

If you really think it's all about the money then you're just demonstrating that you have no understanding of many people who don't like pressing and you never have had.

[The-Collector]

People just vilify it because of the potential dollars and cents involved. If it was over $1 incentives, nobody would ever care whether a book was pressed or not. It's because there can be $100's and $1000's involved that it's controversial.

 

 

The people I communicate with regarding this issue who are anti-pressing never raise this as a reason.

 

Revisionism 101.

 

It's not revisionism. Ultimately, it's always about the money.

 

 

If you really think it's all about the money then you're just demonstrating that you have no understanding of many people who don't like pressing and you never have had.

 

The issue of the amount of money involved is a deciding factor for those who are pro pressing but like FT said I don't think it has much to do with the opponents to pressing.

[gaz973]

If I just walk over to a short box and bend the corner over on a Daredevil #176 will people be outraged that I'm destroying history?

 

I don't think so.

 

If I just walk over to a short box and do it to a flawless copy of an Amazing Fantasy #15 from 1962 will people be outraged that I'm destroying history?

 

Probably.

 

What if I have that Daredevil #176 pressed back to it's flat state? Destroying history?

 

Pressing the AF #15 pressed? Destroying history?

 

How about doing the same to an AF #13 rather than a #15?

 

Does that help illustrate my point?

 

Sometimes it's hard to separate money from the thought process until you change your perspective on the discussion.

 

 

Do you think you've proven your point with that?

 

 

The DD # 176 being pressed/restored/mangled/destroyed/smeared with butter would be annoying and sad, I don't like to see any vntage comic being defaced. The fact is though that there are many more of them whereas there are significantly fewer AF # 15's around and every one of those that gets destroyed is a significant impact on the surviving copies. Also it is not such an impressive thing for a Daredevil # 176 for it to have survived in any kind of nice condition since it was printed but if you go back to the early Silver Age, it was the amazing state of preservation of some of these that I thought at the time was natural that attracted me to high grade comics. After discovering that it was in many cases, a cheat, I lost a lot of interest in them.

 

As for AF # 13 vs AF # 15, I think you're mainly making a comment on the way that you think about comics to just jump to the conclusion that it's all about money. Do you not think it might be about the fact that many people are massive Spider Man fans and owning a copy of his first appearance would be the ultimate grail, regardless of value? I would hate to see any early Silver Age book destroyed (or any other defacement or procedure that you might care to list) but unsurprisingly, I care more about the books that I have an emotional connection to. Beyond that, a more popular book also has more copies that people want to hold on to and less available to buy for someone to buy for themselves.