Can you see the problems here? Comment if you do.
photo credit: benchilada

All right, so you know how to look at a comic and decide what condition it is. Now, how do we keep the new, off-the-shelf comics in great shape?

The bare minimum:

Some collectors will tell you that just bagging the comic book is enough.  I disagree with that.  You should remember four things when taking care of your comics.

1. Comic books are little more than news paper with colored ink and staples, usually.  This means they are vulnerable to several elements – moisture/water chief among them.
2. Fading of colored ink can and will happen with age, but it can be delayed with proper care.
3. Comic books are food for mice, bugs, and small animals that find a way into them.
4. One person’s storage area for valuables is another person’s pile of junk to be sold, or worse, thrown away.

Toby is a Comic Book store cat and wouldn't mess with the books, but look at the clear plastic bags the comics are in behind him.
photo credit: Kevin Steele

 
So other than an environmentally controlled, safe, dry place where there are few to no pests with access, you will need:

1. Polymer or Mylar protective comic book bags.
2. Cardboard backings to fit in the bags.
3. Comic Book boxes.

Certain cardboards and papers have a slight acidic quality to them.  This means that not just any slab of cardboard can be used inside the polymer protective comic book bags you are placing your favorite issue of Stuperdoom the Harbinger of Mucus.  Luckily for you there are specially made comic book boards that you can purchase at your local comic book store.  The easiest way to do this for your collection is to buy an equal number of bags and boards, then sit down in front of your favorite TV show and start putting the boards into the bags (yes all of them).

Next, you’ll put that stack of pre-prepped collectible comic book saving merchandise into the box you bought.  Yes that’s right, there are special boxes designed for the size and shape of your comic books.  I recommend the shorter boxes.  They may not hold as much as the long boxes, but about the seventh time you have to move your collection from one location to another, you’ll thank me for the smaller size.  Aside from the weight and bulk issue of the larger boxes, the shorter ones don’t stand as far out into a room if you have to stack them against a wall.  Also, shorter boxes fit in the back seat of your car better than the longer ones.  Finally, it’s easier to sort a collection into several short boxes than to try and decide what bits will all fit in the long box.

Okay, so you have the prepared bags and boards in the box. Now go to the comic book store and buy your favorite comics.  When you get home, read them and as you finish the book, place it in one of the prepared bags with the board.  The dull side of the board should be facing away from the comic.  The shiny or treated side protects the comic from the acid in the cardboard backing.

If you are going to use tape to hold the bag flap closed (I don’t for mine though some I have bought were already taped) only use one small piece of tape.  When you go to take that comic book out of the protective bag later to read, scan, or share and show off, that tape becomes an obstacle that will try to grab the back of your comic book.  Tape on cover equals possible torn book, possible removed color from the area it connected to, and in general more headache than its worth.  I close my bags by folding the flap over the board and the comic and tucking it down into itself.

Finally, this bit of advice.  I don’t care if you live in a dry cold climate that never floods, keep your comic boxes off the ground.  Get a shallow coffee table or a couple of bricks and some two by fours, and keep your comic boxes a few inches to a foot off the ground.  This way, when that bathroom pipe unexpectedly explodes, or the pilot flying over your house loses his cargo of bowling balls during your once a year drizzling rain, or when the steam cleaner breaks and dumps its payload onto the carpet, your comic books have that minor safety measure.

Also, please, for the love of Pete, mark your boxes with something indicating that they are very important to you.  Don’t let your mother stop in and think she’s helping by cleaning all those unopened boxes out into the mud of your garage.  If you have a storage container where you are keeping your collection, lay down a tarp or packing/moving blanket and put your boxes on top of that, then another tarp or water resistant canvas to cover the boxes.  Again be sure they are marked clearly as valuable collectibles.

Closing:

So now you know how to appraise and take care of your collection.  Next we’ll talk about where you can buy and sell your comic books.  How to track down that hard to find issue, and how to make your books more valuable to others attempting to buy them.