Categorizing Your Collecton 0

[Brewcrewfan77]

Just a question that I'm looking for opinions on.  When categorizing you collections, what takes importance on muti-category books?  For example; I collect Adam Hughes books but also Wonder Woman books.  Do I put his WW's in the Wondy area or with the Hughes books?  It's easy if I have one of his Tomb Raiders since I don't collect those, but what do people do when you have one copy that can fit in more than one category?

[Jimbo749]

3 minutes ago, Brewcrewfan77 said:

Just a question that I'm looking for opinions on.  When categorizing you collections, what takes importance on muti-category books?  For example; I collect Adam Hughes books but also Wonder Woman books.  Do I put his WW's in the Wondy area or with the Hughes books?  It's easy if I have one of his Tomb Raiders since I don't collect those, but what do people do when you have one copy that can fit in more than one category?

I go with whatever I think will be easier to find later on. I have several Spider-Man reprints (Marvel Tales, Classic, Etc..) but I store them all in one category - Reprints, rather than filing a Marvel Tales reprinting an early ASM issue with the other ASM issues. 

[F For Fake]

15 minutes ago, Brewcrewfan77 said:

Just a question that I'm looking for opinions on.  When categorizing you collections, what takes importance on muti-category books?  For example; I collect Adam Hughes books but also Wonder Woman books.  Do I put his WW's in the Wondy area or with the Hughes books?  It's easy if I have one of his Tomb Raiders since I don't collect those, but what do people do when you have one copy that can fit in more than one category?

I can answer, as I actually collect both Hughes and WW. For the most part, all of my books are in a general A-Z order (with the "good books" pulled out and kept in acid free flip top boxes), with specific artists that I collect pulled out and kept at the end of the collection. (Bolland, Hughes, Mignola, Simonson, Stevens.) For me, any book worked on by one of those artists goes in that artist's section at the end. 

When I was a kid, I was very OCD about keeping everything rigidly seperated. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, all had their own sections, etc. But as an adult, it's just not worth the work anymore, especially considering that there are thousands of books which are in all likelihood going to sit in carboard boxes, unopened and unexplored, for years at a time. So I keep it simple now, A-Z, then those specific artists alpha by last name, and all books featuring those artists are kept in their sections. Don't cause yourself much stress overthinking it.

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by F For Fake

[bababooey]

17 minutes ago, Brewcrewfan77 said:

Just a question that I'm looking for opinions on.  When categorizing you collections, what takes importance on muti-category books?  For example; I collect Adam Hughes books but also Wonder Woman books.  Do I put his WW's in the Wondy area or with the Hughes books?  It's easy if I have one of his Tomb Raiders since I don't collect those, but what do people do when you have one copy that can fit in more than one category?

You aren't a "collector of Adam Hughes books" unless you're buying dupes for both collection categories. 

[Brewcrewfan77]

50 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

I can answer, as I actually collect both Hughes and WW. For the most part, all of my books are in a general A-Z order (with the "good books" pulled out and kept in acid free flip top boxes), with specific artists that I collect pulled out and kept at the end of the collection. (Bolland, Hughes, Mignola, Simonson, Stevens.) For me, any book worked on by one of those artists goes in that artist's section at the end. 

When I was a kid, I was very OCD about keeping everything rigidly seperated. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, all had their own sections, etc. But as an adult, it's just not worth the work anymore, especially considering that there are thousands of books which are in all likelihood going to sit in carboard boxes, unopened and unexplored, for years at a time. So I keep it simple now, A-Z, then those specific artists alpha by last name, and all books featuring those artists are kept in their sections. Don't cause yourself much stress overthinking it.

 

I used to very OCD when I was younger when it came to my CD's/records and the like.  They were categorized by genre of music (i.e. rock, jazz, blues, etc); then alphabetized by artist, then by release date.  

I'm trying to combat those tendencies now with my comics.

[F For Fake]

16 minutes ago, Brewcrewfan77 said:

I used to very OCD when I was younger when it came to my CD's/records and the like.  They were categorized by genre of music (i.e. rock, jazz, blues, etc); then alphabetized by artist, then by release date.  

I'm trying to combat those tendencies now with my comics.

Oh for sure, I was the same way for years. It seemed SO important that it all be in the right place! I was the same with movies, all needed to be seperated out by studio or director, etc. These days with my vinyl I just go A to Z by artist, with sountracks and scores at the end. I don't know why I gave myself such a headache when I was a kid.

[entalmighty1]

I keep my raw Golden Age books separate from everything else because of size constraints, but the alphabetical method hasn't failed me yet.  

[Scrooge]

8 hours ago, Brewcrewfan77 said:

Do I put his WW's in the Wondy area or with the Hughes books? 

Those would go in the WW books as I'd hate to break a long run and locate them into two places. For series for which you only collect for the Hughes covers, they stay with all the other Hughes book, just not the WW.

I had the same "issue". I collect Atlas War books and books from 1952. The Atlas War from 1952 are nice and safe as part of their run, separated from the 1952 boxes. That way, I can locate them easily.

[01TheDude]

could you make use of small post it tabs (color coded perhaps) to identify the Hughes issues in the WW run (or other runs)? hat would make them easy to locate inside the run.

As for the sorting of vinyl that some have expressed their OCD nature -- some might blame the movie High Fidelity IMDB. But I was doing that stuff in the 1980s-- so not sure why but I chalk it up to just being in my nature to seek order in my collections. Maybe comics were the instigator.

[FineCollector]

Alphabetical for sure, and I like the idea of tabs, or color coding the top edge of the boards.  What's the point of having a Catwoman or Wonder Woman run that's missing a chunk of issues in the middle of it?

Despite going alphabetical by company, I do stick titles together that makes sense, like the Falcon miniseries at the end of the Captain America boxes.  It doesn't have to be entirely one or the other, you can still have a misc Adam Hughes short box for the oddballs where you only have Hughes covers.  I did that once with Gene Colan books, although my two problems were: 1) finding myself with a non-Colan issue of a title I only had Colan issues of, and 2) getting past a short box, but not having enough issues to comfortably fill a long box.  Inevitably, I integrated those books back into the mix.

[classicaaron]

I always organize them by title if its part of a run.  for example I have every McFarlane book and have a nice run of spiderman.  his amazing spidey books are with the spidey run.  his one off books like daring escapes, coyote, manifest destiny, gi joe, etc are all in a McFarlane box and in alphabetical order.  so basically if its part of a run put with the run. if its a one off put with the artist.

[bababooey]

Is the order  -  70's GS, then annuals, one shots/mini series then start the run?   I say yes. 

I always file/pile newest in front because it works for long/shortboxes, magazine boxes, filing cabinets & for flat piles of books on a shelf.  Some say I'm doing it wrong. 

Major Event crossover one shots/sets - with character set chronologically with other character mini series or with major event set?

 

[bababooey]

That post was far better than the sorting out a filing cabinet drawer of assorted Spider-junk into magazine boxes post that I almost posted. 

[Artboy99]

I would organize them all under Hughes. My reason: when I want to look at them later I will be admiring Hughes books and his work on a variety of different characters.

[shadroch]

Just buy multiple copies.

[Robot Man]

I collect mostly GA books and have a lot of them. I store them by Publisher (Timely, DC, Nedor, Fiction House ect.) in alphabetical/numerical order. I do have boxes of misc GA mostly super heroes. The rest are stored by genre (horror, war, GGA/romance ect.) Works for me well. Every once in a while I have a weird one that I have to search a little for. Is it a crime or a horror book? Then there is all the "other stuff"...

[ExNihilo]

For the most part, I group by publisher and then alphabetical.  But then I run into the problem of crossovers and events.  As such, lately, I've begun grouping by "era" (based on events and reboots).  For example, DC books are organized as pre-52, Flashpoint, New 52 titles, Darkseid War/DC: Rebirth, Rebirth titles.  Marvel is similar, it's pre Hickman, Hickman, All New All Different Marvel titles, Civil War 2, Marvel NOW 2.0, Secret Empire, and now Marvel Legacy.  It just made it easier as a kid to group crossovers because then all the titles would be in one box instead of spread out over 2 or 3 boxes deep in my closet.