Comic Books A-Z

WOW! Ever wanted a list of comics with details? This is the place, folks. Credit goes to About (dot) com, but highly recommended.

PLASTIC COMIC STORAGE BOXES

Storing your comics in our our Corrugated Cardboard COMIC STORAGE BOXES keeps them in an environment that will protect the corners, edges, and flat surfaces. It also keeps them away from ultraviolet light, dust, and other airborne pollutants that can destroy or damage them. • Our boxes are super strong, properly sized and stackable. They come with 3" deep sturdy covers and die-cut handles that can be in the open position for carrying or closed position for storing. Divider cards fit in our boxes with the lids on. They are easy to assemble and need no glue or tape. • For even better protection, use our Plastic Corrugated COMIC STORAGE BOXES. They are made with acid-free, water-resistant, antistatic and vermin-resistant material. Bags Unlimited has designed STACKABLE FILE CABINET BOXES for our compact comic (XCC200) and long comic box (XLC300). No more stacking and unstacking comic boxes to find the comic book you are looking for! NOTE: We've improved the strength of the Long Comic File Cabinet by increasing the strength of the insert to a 250-lb-test material!

Drawn Together by Art with Aline Crumb

Author Q&A: Drawn Together by Art with Aline Crumb
Crumb fan? you will definitely want to read this.
If you're a collector, check out our sleeves for this as well!
www.bagsunlimited.com

WHAT DOES A GRADED COMIC MEAN?

What DOES a "GRADED" comic mean? The above article explains what a "Graded" comic is, and why it's important. Also important is STORING your graded comics. Every time a comic is touched, a residue of oil is left on it. After time, this oil can begin to break down the paper and cause your comic to lose value. Light, dust, temperature and other considerations must be learned when keeping a collection healthy and valuable. Bags Unlimited has been protecting comics since the early 1970's and we know our products! If you have any questions about how to protect your collection, please call us at 800-767-2247. Thanks! The Bags Unlimited Team

Original Puzzles From Jaymar Puzzle Company! Makes a Great Gift!

These handsome, uncut DISNEY PUZZLE SHEETS were created in the early 1990's by Jaymar Puzzles in Rochester, NY. The designs were created by actual Disney artists and purchased by Jaymar to convert into puzzles. The colors are vibrant and the images have excellent detail. They are available in either UNFRAMED or FRAMED format: UNFRAMED uncut puzzles come matted, with a corrugated backing and enclosed in a crystal clear polypropylene sleeve. FRAMED uncut puzzles have the following specifications: Black 1-1/4" wood frame; Black mat 1/16" thick, pH neutral and a 3% calcium carbonate buffer; Crystal clear acrylic front glazing, .093" thick; Corrugated backing. NOTE: Click on drop-down to see pricing of unframed puzzle sheets. $4.00 small order charge will apply to unframed, uncut sheet pricing if order total is under $25.00.

SAVE MY COMICS...PLEASE

e store comics to keep them valuable. Air pollution, ultra violet light, dirt and oil from fingers as well as rough handling all contribute to the deterioration of a comic. Storing a comic properly is essential to keeping it valuable. There are 3 major storage components to proper comic storage. They are a comic bag, a comic backing board and a comic box. Comic Book Bags Bags Putting your comic in a properly sized comic bag not only keeps dust, dirt and finger oils off the comic book surface, but helps prevent scuffing which can bring down the value of a comic book considerably. The three most popular comic bag materials are polyethylene, polypropylene and Mylar. Bags Unlimited carries New Comic Bags, Regular Comic Bags, Dell & Silver Age Comic Bags and Golden Age Comic Bags as well as Treasury Comic Bags in all three of these materials. All three materials are considered to be archival-meaning that there is nothing in the composition of the material that can contribute to the breakdown or destruction of the comic being stored in it. Mylar is considered to be the most archivally sound and is the choice of most museums and archivists as it has the longest shelf life of the three materials. Every day comic collectors can feel comfortable using polyethylene comic bags or polypropylene comic bags. Our comic bags come with a fold over flap that can be taped on the outside of the bag. We also carry comic bags with a reseal tape on the body of the bag (vs. the flap), so the tape doesn't catch on the comic and cause damage to the comic. Comic Book Mylar Sleeves Mylar Bags Comic Book Backing Board Backing Board Comic Backing Boards come in different thicknesses and acid-free properties. The basic purpose for using a backing board is to give the comic some stiffness, which helps keep the comic pages from bending, creasing or wrinkling. When a backing is placed in the center of the comic it protects the comic book spine from crushing. The second purpose for using a backing board in a comic is its potential to neutralize acid in the comic book paper. Acid in the paper that the comic is printed can cause the deterioration of the comic. Using an acid-free backing in your comic can potentially trap and neautralize acid in the paper. The three types of comic backing boards we offer are: economy comic backings, standard acid-free comic backings and archival comic backings. The economy comic backing should be used for short-term storage and stiffening purposes only. It does contain acid and can contribute to the breakdown of the comic. People generally use this board for quick sale items. The standard acid-free comic backing material is acid-free and can be used for long-term storage (over 100 years). The archival comic backing material is acid-free and buffered with calcium carbonate, which means that it will remain archival for 100's of years. Our comic backing boards are sized to properly fit into our comic bags. Corrugated Comic Book Boxes Corrugated All of our Comic Boxes are super strong and come with sturdy well-fitting lids and handle holes that can be left in the closed position for storing or pushed open for carrying. They are properly sized to hold a comic in a bag with a backing board. Our comic divider cards (used for categorizing) fit in our comic boxes with the lid on. All of our comic boxes ship flat which takes up less storage room. They fold together when you are ready to use them without glue or tape. Storing your comics in a properly sized box helps protect your comics from corner and edge damage. Putting your comics in a comic box also protects the comic from being exposed to ultra-violet light. Ultra-violet light causes inks to fade. Our comic boxes are made form either Corrugated Plastic or Corrugated Cardboard and come in several different lengths for your various storage/display needs. Comic storage boxes do not need to be acid-free if you have your comics in bags. For short tern storage the most popular material choice for comic storage boxes is corrugated cardboard. It is sturdy and reasonably priced. Corrugated plastic comic boxes are an excellent choice for long-term comic storage because the material is acid-free, water proof, vermin resistant and extremely strong. They are more expensive than the corrugated comic boxes, but the material properties of the plastic corrugated material make the extra cost worth the investment for long term archival comic storage. Plastic Comic Book Boxes Corrugated Plastic For More Information Call Toll Free: 1-800-767-BAGS or send E-mail to: info@bagsunlimited.com Fax: 585-328-8526 7 Canal Street · Rochester, NY 14608 Copyright © 2001-2004 Bags Unlimited, Inc. All Rights Reserved

INVESTING IN COMICS

When it comes to which comics to invest in, many forget one important ingredient about comic investing. The one thing most forget is getting the most value for your investments when it comes to buying them and the time to sell them. The debate about whether to get your comics third party graded by professional grading services like CGC and PGX still rages. Some refuse to get comics graded. I'm going to reveal why this is a mistake. There will come a time when you'll want to sell your comic books. Your main goal should be getting the highest return on your comic investments. Ungraded books will leave you with a higher risk of selling your comics or collection for far less than they're worth. Most collectors don't know how to properly grade. This leaves them wide open targets for comic dealers. There are some trust-worthy dealers out there, but there are also many comic buyers and dealers who are looking to rip you off when buying your collection. Many will under grade your collection and try to get your key issues as cheap as possible. Comic books that aren't professionally graded by CGC or PGX run the risk of too much subjectivity. You may think you're book comic is at a Near Mint, and it may be, but a comic dealer can persuade you that it's no higher than a grade of Fine. A comic that's CGC graded is considered "universal." That means whatever grade CGC grades the book, it's accepted by most collectors and dealers alike, making it harder for anyone to under grade your comics or to question the validity of it's grade. That fact is also important for many collectors as well. Many ebay sellers don't know how to grade and advertise their comics at grades higher than they should be. A comic that's CGC graded eliminates this problem. If it's CGC graded, you can be certain that you are paying for the grade the book is listed as. Both buyers and sellers benefit. Buyers don't want to pay for a book at a Near Mint price when it's real value is at a Fine, and someone selling their comic investments don't want to sell their comic at a Fine price when the book's grade and value is at Near Mint. Of course, getting your comic books graded by professional services like CGC or PGX can be expensive, as well as buying books already graded. This is why it's important to know which comics to invest in as well as which comic investments already in your collection that are worth getting CGC graded. Don't waste your money by sending comic books that aren't worth grading to CGC or PGX! Discover what are the best CGC comics to invest in by clicking the link, as well as the top comic investment choices to get professionally graded if you have them! Want even more comic investing advice? Visit my blog Total Comic Mayhem to learn even more secrets on investing in comics. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vic_J.

Is Anything REALLY Free?

Aren't we all just a little suspicious when we see the word "FREE"? I know I am. From experience, free isn't usually free, and that is sad. If we read something, we should be able to take it at face value...believe it, but it seems that we are suspect of many things these days. (I guess that is how the old cliche' was coined..."If it seems to good to be true, it probably is").
Well, at Bags Unlimited, we would like to redeem your faith in "FREE". No, really! There ARE things you can get for free at Bags Unlimited. "Like what?" you say? Well, let's start with FREE shipping east of the Mississippi, and Free WEST of the Mississippi if you spend 200.00. Samples are FREE! YOU CAN GET FREE STUFF TO HELP PROMOTE YOUR SHOW! Free stuff for Record Store Day...I mean, free is free! and we mean it!
So if you want to know what's free, follow our blog as we will update the Free stuff, and we will let you know about specials and sales.....you can even call us just to say HI!
click on this to find out what is FREE!
It's not to say that we don't have things that do cost money, but if you DO buy something from us, (and we hope you will), you will be glad you did. We don't scrimp on quality, we don't shave a little off the top and we don't misrepresent what we sell....we stand behind our products 100%.

So, check us out...at least sign up for our blog...you KNOW that is free!
Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading our blog.

Are Your Collectibles Worth Anything?

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE.....

books, magazines, comics, records, and everything else you have been hanging on to for.....? What was the reason again? Well, if you can't readily come up with a reason, maybe we can GIVE you one! ALL collectibles are worth SOMETHING, even if it's only sentimental.

Before you throw away that box of old digests, perhaps it might be worth a look see to go through them and see if they hold any collectible value. Lots of appraisers will gladly do this for you (make sure it's a reputable company), or you might be able to find a book on the value of your collection (which can often be a tedious job looking up price value book by book)....either way, it's probably worth at least checking.

Things that bring the value of an item up are:

 1. Are both the front and back covers still intact?

 2. Are the corners still flat on all sides?

 3. There are no rips or tears in the pages

 4. There is historical information published 

 5. It's numbered

 6. It's signed

 7. It's an original

 8. It's a misprint

 9. It's a first issue

10.The author is no longer living

These are just SOME of the things that bring a collectible up in value.

One of the ways you can ASSURE that time will not ravage your collection is by PROTECTING it with acid free sleeves and backing boards and even storage boxes.

If you store your collection in your basement, make sure they are stored in boxes OFF the floor (in case of flooding) and are no exposed to too much heat, and be sure not to stack boxes more than the allowed pressure of the box.

For more information on collection protection, please visit our website at www.bagsunlimited.com

Happy Collecting!

Marion

Backing Boards- What are they good for?

Backing boards are generally used as a stiffener for a displayed or stored collectibles such as prints, posters, comics, magazines, maps and other similiar items. They also keep the corners and edges from crimping and tearing. The quality of the backing is an important consideration that people often overlook. We stock boards that can be used for short-term, intermediate or long-term storage.
Short-term boards should only be used for quick-sell items or items of low or little value. Anything that is being put away for long-term storage, should use (minimally) an acid-free backing (intermediate)- preferably a buffered, acid-free backing (long-term). When a board is buffered, it keeps out acid for hundreds of years. The only way to tell for sure what kind of backing board is behind your collectible is to ask your dealer for the specifications- you can not tell by looking at it. People often confuse pure white boards as being "safe", but that is far from true. If you need a special size backing, we are manufacturers and can cut them to the exact you need, often as few as one hundred boards, depending on the size. Call us for samples and quotes!
http://www.bagsunlimited.com/
800-767-2247