Bound Volumes - Anyone ever take a bunch of comics and have them bound up in HC?

[Jeffro.]

I've recently thought about doing this. Not myself of course, but having comics bound professionally in HC. For instance I have lots of DC war reader books and I'm thinking it would be cool to collect them into volumes.

 

Anyone ever done it?

What was the cost?

Know any companies that do it?

Pass the crack?

[MutantKeys]

I was actually thinking about the same thing. It would be really sweet to get someone to bind ones favorite books

[rob_allan]

Excellent post! I'd love to know this as well.

[Paratrooper]

Hmmmm, binding my trooper collection perhaps I should do that once I get my Action #2 and Marvel Mystery #14

[MutantKeys]

Doubles or beaters

[nik]

I see these in Heritage auctions all the time. I am curious to see what it looks like and considering bidding on some in the near future.

[kidcolt]

I think Shep has mentioned doing one for his war readers, check out the War post in the bronze age section. The post should be in the last 5-6 pages of the thread. I am not sure if he has finished it our not, it will be cool to see it.

 

I've recently thought about doing this. Not myself of course, but having comics bound professionally in HC. For instance I have lots of DC war reader books and I'm thinking it would be cool to collect them into volumes.

 

Anyone ever done it?

What was the cost?

Know any companies that do it?

Pass the crack?

[Stronguy]

I've though about doing this with some 80s-90s runs... GI Joe, Transformers, mini series. If you can get good at doing this yourself you could create a decent set of readers.

[the blob]

I've bought some GA bound volumes

 

Yeah, I know, they're probably trimmed to fit into the binding, but it's really cool to see such crisp 60 year old comics, covers with perfect gloss, white pages, etc. They were bound brand new, so what's left of them is pretty perfect.

[garthgantu]

Were they from Bigloo, the eBay seller who continues to come up with these GA bound volumes by the dozens? I've placed lowball bids on a couple of them...they sure look cool. I bet whoever had them bound in those days, if they weren't a publisher of comics, must have gotten some strange looks when they asked to have a bunch of funnybooks converted to hardbound book form!

[Jeffro.]

At the risk of coming across like a *spoon* please look at my original post. I'm asking if anyone has done the binding themselves. Either literally themselves or hiring someone to do it.

[binarysunrise]

Hey, I'm your man. I am in the process of binding my entire collection of Superman comics. I've been in the loop with the regular binding community. Ask away!

[binarysunrise]

Ok, first off some pics of my volumes. Here's my Superman bookcase:

 

A close-up:

 

My wife's catwoman volumes:

[Jeffro.]

Hey, I'm your man. I am in the process of binding my entire collection of Superman comics. I've been in the loop with the regular binding community. Ask away!

 

 

Great. Thanks.

Basically I would like to know

 

Did you do it yourself or have someone do it for you?

What was the cost?

Know any good companies that do it?

[mica]

Hey, I'm your man. I am in the process of binding my entire collection of Superman comics. I've been in the loop with the regular binding community. Ask away!

I've been thinking of binding my ROM books. I'll always want to keep them but I'm growing tired of storing them with my other prized possesions.

And it's not a title that I'm going to lose sleep over the edges being trimmed and no longer being in its "pure comic" form.

[binarysunrise]

Ok, if you are able to grasp the concept of "damaging" your comics to "improve" them, it can become an addicting process. It does seem though to run against what most CGC collectors would believe in - sort of a separate collecting mentality. For those of you wondering *why* anyone would bind their comics, here are my reasons:

 

1) To enhance the readability of your collections (comics are meant to be read...right?)

2) To get the boxes of comics out of your closet and display your collection nicely on your bookshelves (and it makes your collection seem more grownup and less geeky..)

3) To create your own collection, or a collection you wished DC or Marvel would have gathered together but never did.

 

Regarding values, if done right, I don't believe binding your collection would harm the monetarily value of your comics - though your target market for them would change. But regardless, I bind to keep the volumes, so I am not selling them. A caveat, of course, is binding valuable comics - for example, I am choosing to re-bind the DC archives line of Superman rather than binding original Golden age comics.

 

Next post....answers!

[binarysunrise]

Ok, first up, what companies bind comics? It seems this binding-comic craze that has begun over the past few years had its big internet start with Capitol Binding company, and the efforts of their sales rep David Banks. Its an old family run business who have now bound hundreds (thousands?) of comics books. They know what they are doing. With Banks's help, he'll walk you through the whole process, and they know all of the things to look out for when binding comics. A website:

http://www.dpbanks.com/bookbinding.html

 

Now, they are not the only gig in town anymore. A few other binders have started getting comicbook traffic. There are a couple overseas, but a good 2nd place here in the states would be the Library Binding Company, out of texas I think. They started off cheaper, but they've started raising their prices to meet the demands of their new comic clients. Also, I don't believe they have the experience that Capitol has, but they I think their basic prices are still far cheaper than Capitol, and I think they have a faster turn-around time.

http://www.librarybinding.com/

 

There are also a slew of other book-binders, some might be local to you. You can bring in an example of what you want done, and they can try to do it. The only problem is that they don't know much about comics, and don't know exactly what needs to be done.

 

So...more info. Another website, a must for those thinking of binding:

http://p206.ezboard.com/fmarvelmasterworksfansitefrm10

 

Things to think about:

a) trimming - most volumes get trimmed on the sides. It makes the book more presentable, and makes rougher comics look great! However, I think you usually can request not to have this done if you don't want (though most people get them trimmed)

b) gutter loss - when binding, an issue is lost art near the center of the book. the bigger book you make, the more you won't be able to see into the gutter. For most books though, this is not an issue, as there usually is a bunch of blank white space in the older comics near the center.

c) Sewing/Stitching - there are a few different ways to bind books, and different binders might offer different types. Capitol binds straight through the stack of issues. Other binders carefully bind through the center of each individual issue, and then gather them together (it makes the book lay open better)

d) Cover dies - you can get fancy and get a metal die of a logo or a character or something to imprint on the cover. Mine says "the complete Superman archives"

e) Ads - some people take out the double sided ads from the comics before binding.

f) Fold-out pages - these are tricky in catching them so the pages don't get sewn in

g) Thick cardstock pages - sometimes causes a problem as the glue can't be absorbed easily and may bleed into your pages by the gutter

h) Ribbon - great to have a bookmark ribbon added to your books

i) cover - most people use the generic cheap buckram stock, with a slew of cover colors, but more expensive you can get leather or a slipcase....

j) lettering - different fonts, sizes, vertical/horizontal placement, silver/gold/colors, bars, no bars, etc.

 

Prices:

I think I now pay something like $55-$57 per volume now. It's more expensive because I added a bookmark, and have a die-setup fee for each run of binding I do. Over at library I think prices start out $15 (not counting shipping), and the price goes up for each little thing you add onto the basic book.

 

 

I think that's about it for now...ask away if you think of anything else!

[rodan57]

Could books be bound untrimmed and secured by a method that perhaps pinches the spines together without glue or stitching?

 

Dennis

[Jeffro.]

That's some great info binarysunrise, thanks a bunch.

[unmovedmover]

I think professionals do this somewhat too with books they've made. At a WW Chicago charity auction a few years ago, there was a leather bound set of Spawn comics 1-100something with each volume signed by mcfarlane.