i rather read comics than collect them
i don't believe in sealing them, i just put them on a box.
not like i plan to sell them off in the future. unless there is another paper shortage where comics are being recycled (like in ww2) today's comic will not be worth a lot.

what do you guys do with your comics?

I don't buy comic books. I'd just as soon buy the graphic novels once a comic has had a long enough run. With manga this works pretty well. Sometimes it's not as good a thing with American comics, though. The Spawn graphic novels were plain awful. Important events would happen in miniseries which weren't part of the official comic series and thus wouldn't appear in the graphic novel. You would miss key story elements all over the place because of it. The only actual comic books I still have are a handful of Tin Tin books and the original print of Kingdom Come. I don't treat either like collector's items.

I only borrow comics from my boyfriend, and they lay in a pile by my bed until I return them.

But as for comics I've drawn, I periodically collect all the sheets from the chaos of my desks and numerically stack them, then stick them under the pile in my shirt drawer. It is a big pile.

isukun
I'd just as soon buy the graphic novels once a comic has had a long enough run.

You mean Trade Paperbacks. Graphic Novels are single shot comic books of a certain length, Trade Paperbacks are collections of issues of a comic series in one volume.

You mean Trade Paperbacks. Graphic Novels are single shot comic books of a certain length, Trade Paperbacks are collections of issues of a comic series in one volume.

Actually, as far as the industry is concerned, there is no distinction between "trade paperbacks" and "graphic novels." There are two terms used to describe the same thing. Check any major online bookstore and you will be hard pressed to find any that even have a "trade paperback" category among their various book selections, while they do distinguish between comics and graphic novels. Also, publishers tend to be about 50/50 on which term they use. You'll find some who use the term trade paperback, like Marvel and Dark Horse, and you'll find quite a few who use graphic novel, like DC and Viz.

I've never seen any source with any sort of professionalism mix the two up. I've seen DC repeatedly use Trade Paperback.

Check their website and you'll see they list all compilations under "graphic novels." Amazon, Books-A-Million, and Barnes and Noble also list out compilations in their "graphic novel" section. All libraries also use that designation for anything which isn't a comic book or magazine. Call it crazy if you will, but somehow, it seems like the people who create, sell, and archive these things would have some clue as to how to categorize them.

Going from the original post, I agree that collecting comics for monetary or "completeness" is absolutely ridiculous. Comics are meant to be read and enjoyed, many times over if it warrants it. I got rid of all the plastic bags and cardboard backings for my collection years ago. I use them for reference, now.

yea i agree...i remember a comic shop owner laughed at a kid's face when he wanted to sell his spawn #1..he though he would get a lot for it. poor kid.

it's not really an investment. if you want to invest on something, then go for stocks, not comics.

In order to collect all of my favorite comics, I'd need a lot of printing paper and ink.

You heard me.

Yeah, I hate people that collect useless things, but I hate even more when people collect useful things and then refuse to use them. Comics are supposed to be read, if you don't read them then you've sucked the purpose out of them.

I like my comics to stay in good condition, because I want them to last so I can reread them and I don't want the binding to break. I'm like this about all my stuff though. A friend of mine isn't. He buys manga and they're always all bent up and the plastic stuff on the cover is coming off and everything. That doesn't apply to just comics either, it also applies to video game systems. He's on his second Nintendo DS, which is already starting to break because he doesn't take great care of it.

In conclusion: Take care of your stuff. Don't seal comics in plastic, but respect the work and try to keep the binding intact.

I'll hit the local comic book stores every once and again, picking up whichever comic grabs my attention. I'm not a big comic book collector myself, and have never really strived to get EVERY SINGLE issue of a certain series. So I'll usually stick to small, independant comics that I find funny. I'll buy 'em, read 'em and store them on my book shelf for future reading. If there's a comic that I feel is extra close to my heart and worthy of preservation, I'll wrap-it-up, lock it in a treasure chest by my desk, and pray I don't loose the key... again. Unfortunately, I rarely experience the moment when I crave a second reading of one of my comics. It varies though, some times I remember a panel from one of my comics I just HAVE to dig up and read. I do try to take care of my comics though. They tend to get dusty, but never ripped or stickified.

Come to think of it, I have been following a series called "Reid Fleming: World's Toughest Milkman" by David Boswell. There haven't been a whole lot of issues, so collecting them all has been pretty easy. The illustration is great and it's always good for a laugh. Plus, the David Boswell is local and always happy to whip-up some custom drawings for eager fans. The Flaming Carrot, though no longer running, is also in my collection. Good stuff, good stuff...

What few comics I have sit in my bookshelves along with all my other books. I don't like any of my books to suffer any dammage, but I don't take extra special care of any of them either, They just sit fairly neatly in shelves... Mostly. Some of my books sit in stacks under a large desk.

There might be some old Mad magazines in a box somewhere though... Anyway, you shouldn't put books or comics in plastic if you want to preserve them, not the usual soft plastic anyway. I know people in the rare book trade, they only use mylar.

I read graphic novels, and usually I don't buy them (I either borrow them from friends, take them out from the library because my hometown's library is magical and has craploads of anime & manga & misc. other comics, or I read them at the store) But I can think of 2 different comic books I have (disincluding grapgic novels, which I treat like books and thus bend the bindings). One of the is a Sailor Moon one from way back, but I cut it up and made a collage of it.
The other one (a Star Wars one.. weird) came in plastic wrapping, so I kept good care of it, because I assumed it was worth a lot of money.
So I guess my comic care has no rhyme or reason ^_-