[CharlieRock]

Okay so I finally getting around to bagging and boarding my old comics. Yay!
So now I'm wondering about these boards. I was using some old chipboard I had from somewhere. But then I got these ones that are specially made for comics (Silver Age sized to go with my silver age sized baggies). They advertise that one side is slick, "coated". Why? Why not both sides? Or no sides? Was the chipboard I used going to tear the comics up?

[Roygbiv666]

Okay so I finally getting around to bagging and boarding my old comics. Yay!
So now I'm wondering about these boards. I was using some old chipboard I had from somewhere. But then I got these ones that are specially made for comics (Silver Age sized to go with my silver age sized baggies). They advertise that one side is slick, "coated". Why? Why not both sides? Or no sides? Was the chipboard I used going to tear the comics up?

from some random website selling backing boards;
Q:  Which side of the backing board should against the comic book?
A:  We recommeng placing the board so that the coated (shiney and smooth) side is against the comic book. This will help with the absorbtion of acid in the pages of your comic book.

[narfstar]

From what I understand the acid in the chipboard will damage your comics

[CharlieRock]

From what I understand the acid in the chipboard will damage your comics

Oh, boy. Thanks for the swift input. 

[misappear]

What I do is download a bunch of comics from here on to my computer, then burn off a DVD of cbr files, so I get about 4 gigs on a disc.  Then I put the disc into a white paper CD jacket, put a little 4.8" squared backerboard behind the jacket, and wrap the whole thing in polypro which I've cut into flat strips from comic bags. 

Sorry, being facetious.  Couldn't resist.

--Dave

[Roygbiv666]

What I do is download a bunch of comics from here on to my computer, then burn off a DVD of cbr files, so I get about 4 gigs on a disc.  Then I put the disc into a white paper CD jacket, put a little 4.8" squared backerboard behind the jacket, and wrap the whole thing in polypro which I've cut into flat strips from comic bags. 

Sorry, being facetious.  Couldn't resist.

--Dave

The enemies of paper comics are moisture, heat, bugs. The enemies of digital comics are viruses, malware, sector losses, physical degradation of CD/DVDs, non-backward compatible readers.

Nothing be perfct. ;-)

[bowers]

I've read from some sources that bags and boards should be changed every seven years, but that seems a bit much except for the more valuable or favorite ones in your collection.  I have, however, replaced some of my bags that were 20-30 years old just to be on the safe side. Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

To sum up what I said over on DCM, don't use chipboard, no pluses, plenty of minuses.  I use standard comic bags with coated backing boards and some Mylites for rarer or treasured comics that I would find hard to replace. At my age, my comics will outlive me.  Just be careful.  I have seen comics for sale in shops and from dealers which have been shoved into wrong size bags or bagged with no concern for turned up corners.  Over here, many dealers bag British stuff in bakers bags.  OOOOPS.  Not ideal for old, fragile newsprint.  If you are bagging your comics it's probably because you value them and want to conserve them for as long as possible and there is a satisfaction in bagging and boarding them carefully and well.

[CharlieRock]

I got the Silver Age sized ones because my most cherished ones are that size. I do have plenty of newer ones in the current size, but I put them in a SA bag as a pair with the backing board in the middle so both face out(so I can see both covers when I'm looking for a particular issue).

I can't wait for Comicon as I have Groo #1 (not nowhere near pristine as I loved this series as a kid and re-read it 1,000s of times) but it is lettered by Stan (Usgai Yojimbo) Sakai and I got #3 signed by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier so if I can get Mr. Sakai to sign it (and hopefully get him to say "To Charlie" or something cool) that would be awesome as heck.

I didn't get Mark and Sergio to sign my #1 issue because I went to that convention at so short notice and my comics were all boxed up I couldn't find it. Oldest I had was #3 and #5 (both signed now)

[CharlieRock]

New Question:
In some of the first bags I made I was using chipboard backing. Having replaced those with professional boarding sheets, is it okay to leave the index card in there with the comic? I was using an index card to write down what year, artist, writer, etc. a comic had for ease of reference. It is on the other side of the backboard so it doesn't block the cover art but easy to read once you flip the bag over.

[narfstar]

sounds like a good idea to me. I put two books back to back and do not use back boards

[paw broon]

Great idea even if I'm a bit too lazy to do it.  Although I do write the # and the odd other piece of info on the magic tape on some titles, especially Dell comics.  Some comic shops use your method and it does often help having those extra details. Your notes will not harm the comic.  As for 2 comics back to back per bag, certainly saves money and plastic. 

[CharlieRock]

I started doing that after I met some great artists and writers one year at a convention. Then after getting back home and re-reading some old comics realised some of my favorites were by guys I just met ... and could have gotten signed. I like getting my books signed though I don't try to authenticate them, it's just for my own enjoyment.

[narfstar]

Even though Chattanooga does not have a large con they have had a few pros come through. In the eighties I got my Hercules Prince of Power signed by Bob Layton and my Crusaders (changed to Southern Knights) signed by Jackson Guice. I got a nice copy of Hawkman #2 signed by Murphy Anderson with a certificate of Auth on ebay years ago. I got a Primortals #1 with a Leornard Nimoy signature but no certificate so may not be real. I had a coverless Fatman that someone had gotten signed by CC Beck. Wish I still had that.

[CharlieRock]

A Leonard Nimoy sig? Cool! 

[josemas]

I don't have many signed comics but I'd say my coolest is an early issue of the Challengers of the Unknown autographed by Jack Kirby. 
I also have a couple volumes in my EC Library (the big B/W slip-cased sets that Russ Cochran put out) which I managed to get signed by Al Williamson and Joe Kubert.

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

You folk are making me jealous because, despite having met many big (and not so big) names in comics, I don't have a single issue of anything signed.  As we, that is, my partners and I, were running marts and cons, we always felt it was more important to let the punters have their fun and afterwards in the pub or at dinner it didn't seem polite to ask  e.g. Alan Moore or Archie Goodwin to sign stuff.  I also took the singularly stupid view, just to be different, that a signed copy was a damaged copy.  (The absolute opposite of Sheldon Cooper)   
But reading what some of you have and the memories those signed comics must bring back, I'm beginning to think I missed out.
Jim, I'm so glad to find someone else who is a Southern Knights (Crusaders) fan. I was a voice shouting in the wilderness here and despite my selling comics super power, I just couldn't get more than a couple of people to put it on standing order.  B&W American comics just didn't hack it in the U.K back then.  Mind you, I was also a Justice Machine fan.

[JVJ]

Here's one of my favorite sigs, paw:

and it's HUGE - the full endpaper on a 12"x18" Blueberry collection.

[JVJ]

And in Paris I have a copy of the final Valerian with a drawing by Jean-Claude Mazieres that shows me cooking a Shingouz in a frying pan. I'll have to scan it when I get there (only three more weeks...) Here is Karen and JCM and some pizza and vin from our last visit - that's a prop from Fifth Element in the foreground.


Peace, Jim (|:{>

[josemas]

Cool stuff Jim!

Thanks for sharing.

Joe

[paw broon]

What can I say except, WOW!

[narfstar]

I picked up a couple Valerian's at the local used book store not long ago. I read and enjoyed one but still need to read the other.

[Blue Beetle]

I have two signed comics,  Fantastic Four #375 signed by the artist Paul Ryan, and the 1990's X-Men #30 signed by Fabian Nicieza. I wasn't the one who got them signed, I got them with a bunch of free comics, but they are very cool.