For those of us who love comics and want to take care of our precious pieces of art, these recommendations will save them from being damaged.
Remember to follow this guides, what today costs a couple of dollars, tomorrow could value millions.
1. Please handle all your comics with respect.
2. Do not roll the cover or pages around the back.
3. Hold the comic flat in the palm of your hand, lift the pages gently, letting the pages fall down naturally. This prevents excessive pressure on the comic or the spine.
4. Do not bend the comics down over the next row, bending the spines to find your perfect condition comic.
5. When reading trade paperbacks or graphic novels, hold the spine of the book and open the book enough to read the pages. Do not grasp the covers and read in the air, you will end up denting the covers and the pages.
6. Do not open paperbacks or graphic novels to read after they have been in the cold for extended periods of time (winter) or the spine may crack or the cover may pop off as the glue becomes brittle. Allow the books to warm up to room temperature.
7. Please do not bend down the corners of the pages to keep your place marked.
8. Do not eat at the same time as reading your comics, crumbs contain oil and will end up staining the pages or making lumps when pressure is applied if comics are stacked.
9. Keep your hands clean. Your hands excrete oils and holding the comics tightly, you may notice greasy marks on the covers where you were holding your comic.
10. Store your comic in a dark cool space. Storing comics in bags and boards will keep your comics clean, flat and dust free. There are specially made comic boxes in a variety of sizes to store your collection.
11. Use the proper size of mylars, hold the comic mylar open and start with the spine in first and carefully put the rest of the comic inside the lips before sliding the comic down. A tip for mylars with a flaplock, flip one side of the flaplock inside, insert the comic and then pull out the flap to close the mylar, squeezing out any extra air.
12. Keeping your comics away from bright lights will keep your comic pages white and not yellow with age.
13. Comics can be stored in bags & boards, Use only white comic shiny boards. After 5 or 10 years you may need to replace the comic bags and boards if they start discoloring. This happens because the paper that the comics are printed on are not acid free, they do contain their own acids and over time, they may react with the bags & boards.
14. Do not write on your comics, or use them as padding to write on paper on top of them – this will put the writing impressions into the cover of the comic and you will see the impressions in the light.
15. Do not cut out coupons in your comic book. Do not cut anything in your comics.
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