Comic book care?

[catlvr222]

I could use some help. So anyway I have a little bit of a collection of Archie Sonic comics and I noticed a bit of a problem....On the covers especially on the white parts I've noticed some grey spots. They look almost exactly like what is on this banner right here on the comics section of this website....

 

 

See the grey spots on Sonics eyes? It looks like that.

 

Its especially more noticable on some comics I bought recently a set of 10 used on Amazon (from around 2005) and I those particular ones also have an odor to them. At first I thought it was the smell of the seller's house or something but I tink it could be mold mildew...

 

As for ones I bought myself I started getting them around maybe 2008-2009 and as I did not know better back then they were stored under my bed or within other magazines for a few years. At one point they were in a above ground basement in a cardboard box for a year.

 

Yesterday however I recieved the comic bags and boards I ordered and stuck them all in there. They are currently in those stacked up in Paper Hollister shopping bags in a wooden drawer. Sadly I don't have ac upstairs so it can get a little warm/humid up there. When I can I do like to take the comics out and read them. I'm going to start looking into getting some of those comic boxes I heard about....

 

But the point it other than that should I be concerned about the spots/smell and what should I do about it? Thanks

[Crash]

If you can still smell the odour when the comic is in the bag and board then you should try and find a replacement but if you can't smell it when its in the bag and board then you're fine. As for the marks, those won't come off.

[Badnik Mechanic]

I don't believe it's possible to restore the whites of his eyes, but you can stop them from being damaged any further. Though to be honest with you, unless you intend to keep them at stupidly high levels of mint quality, the greyness isn't a big deal and won't be to people who just want the comics to read/as a collection.

 

Best thing you can do is to just bag and board them, then idealy place them in a comic collectors box to prevent damage.

 

whilst the advice is tailored around fleetway comics, it can be applied to any comic book. Give that a read and you should have a good idea as to how to store the comic books. Also don't just use any old cardboard, bag or cardboard box to store them in, it needs to be acid free to ensure longevity.

[catlvr222]

Thank you both. The bags/boards are BCW so hopefully they will be good. I'm not too concerned since they are indeed just reading copies but I'd like to prevent further damage. I'm looking up boxes and things right now.

 

As for those older ones Should I just give them some time to adjust to the bag? *sigh* I feel so dumb asking all of this right now.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Provided the bags are clean/new and are acid free I don't see why you can't just put them in there with a backing board and leave them.

[Jix Hedgehog]

I've heard a lot of different ways to keeping your comics in good condition, a lot of people say paper bags are they way to go, a lot of my early collection are still in the bags that the newsagent put them in when I bought them 20 years ago .. those were put into a plastic sleeve binder. Haven't checked them recently but I'm sure "yellowing" has occured .. didnt help that I kept them stored for the first 10 years with the right side of the binder in direct sunlight coming from my bedroom window.

The more recent ones are in those plastic sleeves with boards provided by the comic shop.. won't know for sure how they will hold up 5 - 10 years down the road

[xSinisterStrike]

I buy my Archie Sonic comics on ebay and most sellers sell the comics bagged and boarded so it's quite good.

[catlvr222]

Sorry bringing this up again but I have a new problem. The backs of my comics are started to fade onto the boards. The boards are advertised as acid free. Could this be due to light or heat? I have no AC upstairs so its been around 80 lately and even though they spend most of their time in a big wooden drawer to you think they could be melting? The ones on top of the pile seem to fade more than the ones on the bottom.

[Jet Prower]

I've recently put alot of my comics in bags and boards, at least the one that didn't come with them from ebay. I do hope they stay in there fine for a long time. The ones that had been in the boards and bags alread for a long time, since some came that way all appear to still be fine to me. I hope this stays the same with all the others. Though I dont have a comic box to put the comics inside. I have them inside two large wooden drawers sitting in stacks instead of vertical like those boxes hold them. These drawers are not in direct sunlight, but will the comics sitting on top of each other hurt them in the long run?

 

Also, I've never heard of the comic bleeding into the boards before. None of the research I did before buying the boards ever mentioned that happening, so I hope I doesnt happen to mine. It took me a long time to get like 95% or so of the comics in original form.