Adventures in Comics: Storage Stories

Redartz:  Greetings and salutations, everyone! It's storytime again at the ol' BitBA, and in this installment we are discussing storage issues (or issues that you stored, whatever). Collecting anything is a fun and rewarding hobby, but one challenge is finding a way to store and preserve your treasures. Comic books, particularly, can get rather bulky when you are talking about hundreds or even  thousands of individual items. Then there is the question of preserving them; paper memorabilia are notoriously vulnerable to light, moisture, insect damage, and other threats. So what can we do to keep our comics safe, sound, and convenient to read?

 
The first line of protection has traditionally been "bags and boards". An acid-free board inserted behind your comic, in a protective comic bag or sleeve helps keep the book flat and guards against dirt and moisture. And most comic aficionados are familiar with boxes, long and short, sized to fit comic books. You can generally fit between 100 ( in a short) to 250 (in a long) comics in such boxes. Here we have two kinds; the standard and the stackable pull-out box...

Of course, a full box of comics gets rather heavy. Also, the standard boxes (with a fitted top) become a nuisance when stacked, if you're trying to pull a particular comic to enjoy. And pull-out boxes, while nice, are a problem to stack as well, as you need to support the removable section.



 
For many years I avoided boxes; I stacked my books on a set of metal shelving. I kept it to stacks of about 50 books, and would periodically turn the stacks over to help prevent permanent curling and spine roll. In this photo, you get a glimpse inside my college apartment with those shelves visible. Those shelves were fairly sturdy, and inexpensive, but could wobble a bit. And at the time, I had close to 10,000 comics so turning those stacks could be time-consuming. By the time I got married, I had broken down and loaded those comics into standard boxes.








 

Nowadays, though, my collection is much smaller, about 1500 comics. And I got tired of hunting through boxes stacked in my small closet (you have to get down on all fours, pull out the top four boxes on top and then access the bottom boxes, if the comic you want is located there). So I picked up a set of wooden bookshelves at a local flea market, and added reinforcing hardware and supports on the shelves. Then I loaded most (but unfortunately not all) of my comics onto those shelves,  standing vertically. That way I don't have to flip stacks, and spine roll isn't a potential threat. The boards in the bags help keep them straight, and the solid ends keep the books upright. The comics are easily available; just reach and pull (an upcoming project is to create tabs so I can alphabetize the books and more readily search through them). An added benefit: this bookshelf is fairly deep, which allows me to prop some comics up at the front. So now it serves not only to store comics, it also becomes a display shelf: 

Through the years, I've been pretty lucky. These storage techniques have worked well at keeping my collection intact. I haven't had a shelf collapse or water leak; the worst I've dealt with have been cat attacks on the long boxes (and on the occasional loose book). Knock on wood...

What means have you used to store and display your comics? Any unique ideas that the rest of us might imitate? Perhaps you are one of those fortunate enough to have an acual 'spinner rack'. Have your books stayed safe, or have you had any 'storage issues' that caused problems? Let's hear your stories...