How do you store your books?

I know that Matt uses his issues as TP, but how do the rest of you store your comics? The reason I bring this up is because I have to share my current method, as I’m really excited about it. I “borrowed” the idea from a friend who got his idea from a post back in 2005.

http://www.comiccovers.net/forum01a/viewtopic.p…

I just got my HON file cabinet this past Monday, and I’ve been spending a little time each day getting my collection in there. It’s great, though. I love it. When I started, I kept my issues in boxes. I then moved on to a single bookcase for all my comics. That lasted me about a week before I ran out of room. :) So now I’m using the cabinet. Just wondering what everyone else does…

-b.

That is a very cool idea. I’m ashamed to say that aside from a few titles, I don’t treat my comics very well. I have a box set aside for my Fantastic Four comics and another for all my other favorites, but the rest tend to get piled on bookshelves or even on the floor. I guess it’s because 90% of the comics I buy I’ll never want to read again.

Oh, Brian, I have read longingly about those HON cabinets in the past…it’s not in my forseeable future, but I envy your storage!

I’m using short boxes stuffed into a closet right now. I do bag and board, which I realize isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but it’s a part of collecting I enjoy—the reading is fun and the hunting, but I also am relaxed by anal-retentive mild OCD activity like keeping up my comic collection.

Diamond distribution boxes – I figure, if they’re good enough to ship our books in, they’re good enough to store them. Keeps them nice and flat – and I can have as many as I want, since the local shop just throws them out anyhow.

castewar, that’s one I hadn’t heard of. But it sounds like a good plan. Especially since you get them free from your local shop. For me, I have quite a few issues I haven’t read yet, so I like the easy-search capability of the filing cabinet.

And Matt, I thought I was the only one who actually enjoyed the “bag and board” aspect of collecting. I too find it relaxing.

-b.

Dumped in boxes via a means of organization only I really understand, and when the boxes start exceeding the alotted space, it’s time to get rid of something.

Except for my Green Lantern collection, which I keep in a “Hey Kids! Comics!” spinner rack.

Oh, you lucky duck. I really want a spinner rack!

I have a question about storing your individual books…

When you bag and board, how do you seal the bag, if you do? Tape? Stickers? Or are you a folder?

I store mine in unapologetic stacks, and have no qualms with rolling them up and placing them in my back pocket.

This has taken YEARS.

Before I would have bagged and boarded each individual PAGE if I could have found a way to.

We’re working on a feature that allows you to bag and board individual neural-firings as you read a comic. I think we’ll be able to roll it out once we get the fatality rate below 50%.

I use tape to seal my bags. Also blood.

Blood’s good.
Gives you “street cred”.

I do not have very many comic books. When I worked at the store, I would read the books and then put them back on the shelf. And then I dated a guy for a few years that had about as many comics as the store had in the front, so I just borrowed from that. Thus, I use the little upright magazine organizers. They’re super cute and are from the Container Store and have a little place for labels. We geek girls have to manage to still be cute somehow.

PS. Make no mistake though, when the stare closed, the owner said we could take what we wanted. So I picked up a Diamond box and filled it with TPB. They’re just on a shelf. They all start on volume 3 or 4 or something akward to let people borrow.

I store my comics in stuff from The Container Store, too. Instead of cute li’l magazine holders, though, I use their plain old corrugated “Best Box”. It’s just the right size for two good-sized stacks of comics, about as much you can carry at once without hurting yourself. All you need to do it stick some boards in the middle to keep the stacks from sliding into each other (I’ve since replaced these with sturdy HeavyInk mailing envelopes).

Only problem is that they’re more suited for long-term storage. It’s a real hassle to dig through stack after stack of books if you’re just looking for one measly issue. I need to set-up another system for recent issues, stuff I’m likely to look back-on sometime soon.

I think it’s silly how much use I get out of The Container Store. Grown-ups should not have that much fun in a room full of boxes.

The Container Store is fun and I am not ashamed to admit that. There are containers there that I have no idea what their purpose is but I have no doubt that if I bought in… I would find a purpose for it.

I would be all over a viable Container Store version of the “long box” or “short box” that didn’t feature that weird up-angle that most plastic bins I’ve found feature. You know how they all start slightly smaller on the bottom and then the sides angle upward. Makes storing comics very tricky for us OCD types.

First, though, I think I’m gonna get me some drawer boxes someday. They seem relatively inexpensive and would allow me to stack up all my short boxes in the closet and then just pull out the “drawers” for each issue I wanted to find.

Or maybe the money would be better served helping to feed the poor…NAH!