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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 8, 2019 12:01:11 GMT -5
I got some '70s Avengers yesterday, some better than hoped, some worse... one has the cover off and a couple center pages also... and yet otherwise it's pretty clean and sharp/flawless. I'm tempted to ask the seller to consider refunding me (the loose bits not being visible or disclosed) down to the issue before it's price which did have and said it had loose center pages, but maybe not, just a few dollars difference...
I am however thinking of putting my old honours-roll junior high sewing skills into some kind of shape... I have some archival acid-free glue I might apply with a pin point to the breaks on the paper of the cover and the two interior pages... and then lining things up after suitable drying time and again using pins/needles line up where the staples go and put them back in. What do you think? I did one sort of repair on a Thor comic that had the bottom staple 'popped' on the cover... with a toothpick I got the piece of cover back under the staple and it looks great and has stayed tight... but never tried with glue before. I think I will practice on a scrap comic I have that had a couple pages ripped out first (it was replaced by the seller who didn't want the ruined copy back).
Have you ever done or tried anything, and was it a success or even disaster? I have done okay in getting grease pencil off covers with partly de-stickified pieces of tape applied over and over until 90% of it has lifted off. Also used one of those white rubber erasers on generally not valuable comics with a lot of surface dirt and sometimes had spectacular results (important to follow up by wiping a slightly damp with water and minimal soap paper towel and let dry between two backing boards and weight on top).
If I were to sell anything I would disclose anything done. I would want to do things only than can be undone again for anything worth say more than $5.
I may still chicken out of this bigger project, or find the glue isn't suitable. How do the pros repair paper so well? Is it some kind of rice paper paste colored to match? I think we've all seen those Amazing fantasy #15 before and afters where a poor copy with big chunks gone is magically made to look 100% complete front and back...
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 8, 2019 12:04:48 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 13:36:29 GMT -5
The pros do it well because well they are the best. But it's about having the right tools and the skill to use those tools. I have only repaired a comic to make it readable never to resell.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 18, 2019 22:33:42 GMT -5
I still haven't touched the comic in question. I went back and looked at how the Thor I did a much slighter repair to one popped staple is and it still looks good and like it was worth doing. I think I can do this well if I am methodical and careful, and it is completely reversible, even re-using the original staples. Also I did get a refund from the seller, and then refunded them back the amount the issue before it with loose center pages was sold to me for. It will be an Avengers #129 with repair to the cover and two inside pages with staples re-attached. Whether I call it any grade it would be "presents as a ____", but no plans to sell it. I still may just not get around to doing anything to it, who knows.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 19, 2019 9:01:42 GMT -5
The only type of repair I’ve ever done was to staple a book together caveman style. It was so it wouldn’t fall apart in my hands while reading it.
Those books are generally one step away from the garbage.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,533 
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Post by Confessor on Oct 22, 2019 3:31:31 GMT -5
I was reading an issue of Doctor Strange last night, which unfortunately suffers from a fair bit of spine roll and I was wondering if any folk here have any suggestions for getting rid of it? I was wondering if you could iron spine roll out (making sure the steam from the iron is turned off, naturally). Anyone have any surefire methods or tricks for eliminating this problem they'd like to share?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 9:19:36 GMT -5
I was reading an issue of Doctor Strange last night, which unfortunately suffers from a fair bit of spine roll and I was wondering if any folk here have any suggestions for getting rid of it? I was wondering if you could iron spine roll out (making sure the steam from the iron is turned off, naturally). Anyone have any surefire methods or tricks for eliminating this problem they'd like to share? Place in the Middle of a big stack of heavy hardcover books for 2 weeks. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 9:45:22 GMT -5
My best friend Jeff owned and operate a LCS for more than 30 years told me that this YouTube is the best that he seen.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 22, 2019 12:18:00 GMT -5
Thanks @mechagodzilla, I'll have to look into that document repair tissue paper shown a little I think, I might go with that instead of the acid free glue (it's meant for mounting artwork in frames and such). I'm not really worried about tears, I leave those alone.
I relate that there are people who's main enjoyment is reading a solid clean original copy, that's what I enjoy and value most, I don't understand the pro grading and locking away business for 95% of comic books. If nobody ever reads them who is going to care about and collect them in the future never mind play these extreme prices?
I have had fairly minor rolls that I used the stack of heavy books method on to improve. I've never done a heavily rolled one. I did repair peeling plastic laminate on book covers with a dry iron a number of times. Need a low setting and firm but fairly quick pressure. Some older laminates from the '50s or '60s this won't work on (similar to old Decca UK LP sleeves), they were less plasticky.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 12:28:49 GMT -5
You understand this better than I do ... beccabear67 and thanks for sharing what you already know. |
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Post by brutalis on Oct 22, 2019 13:50:34 GMT -5
REPAIRING comics? What the hell kinda madness is this? Comic books are meant to be read until they are torn and falling apart. They need to roll up on their own from having been constantly rolled up while being carried around in your back pocket. They should have invisible tape and duct tape holding them together. And fresh new staples replacing old rusty ones which have the pages pulled from them. Repair your comics. Who would consider such insanity? The crazy things adults will do for holding on to their precious childhood...    I jest of course. However you want your comics is your personal decision. Many of my most cherished back issues are the ones which are yellowed, dog eared and missing a staple. These are comic books that stand the test of time and you recognize that they have been read many times over and are well loved by someone. While "mint" is a preferred collection mode for many, I recognize that nothing is truly "mint" after it has been printed. How many hands have held and or touched the comic or book you just purchased between the printing press and packaging for delivery and then opened at the shop and placed on the wall for buying? How damaged has it become when mailed? Gimme my purchased off the spinner rack when I was a kid and held onto my adulthood over some pristine looking like its never been touched issue...
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 22, 2019 17:23:54 GMT -5
I recognize that nothing is truly "mint" after it has been printed. Personally I'm fine with FINE (even VG if the grader is really strict). I just like a decent, clean, supple, solid wholesome patriotic copy. I do also like the pages attached, especially the cover. My own quirk is that as I bought N. American newsstand editions up to 1983-84 I kind of want to have those editions, the others (Whitman and the diamond price and number area) feel like a reprint because of those bagged sets I would see. I'd rather have a FN newsstand than a NM direct one, but on later dates I'm not fussy. Don't want the British price issues at all with the exception of maybe an Invaders with Union Jack and/or Spitfire on the cover (but I don't mind the rubber stamped price on top of the regular edition at all).  Eccentric collector... two words that go together like science and fiction, Laurel and Hardy, or tooth and claw. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,533
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Post by Confessor on Oct 22, 2019 18:44:04 GMT -5
Many of my most cherished back issues are the ones which are yellowed, dog eared and missing a staple. These are comic books that stand the test of time and you recognize that they have been read many times over and are well loved by someone. Gimme my purchased off the spinner rack when I was a kid and held onto my adulthood over some pristine looking like its never been touched issue... I agree with you when it comes to comics that I bought as a child and have hung onto into adulthood. My dog-eared, coverless copy of Marvel Tales #142 (reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #5), for example, is one of the jewels of my collection, precisely because it's the copy I read and re-read umpteen times as a child. But when I buy old back issues ofcomics that I didn't own as a kid, I'm a little more demanding when it comes to the condition. Not that I'm one to fetishise over the condition of comic books, at all...I'm a thrifty collector and am usually perfectly happy with a VG grade or there abouts, rather than a Near Mint. But still, no way would I buy a tatty, coverless back issue of a comic that I was after these days, any more than I would've wanted to buy a tatty, coverless comic off of the spinner rack back in the early 80s. |
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Post by brutalis on Oct 23, 2019 7:58:04 GMT -5
I totally agree about the condition of any comic should be in a good to fine shape (or as close to original as can find) and my "jest" is mostly towards those whackadoodle's out there that "slab" a comic book inside a plastic/mylar tomb. Yeah, that makes perfect sense, to take something which is created for reading and seal it tight so that it's untouchable and cannot be opened and read. And then place such a high market value on it that is totally void of any true value should you open it again.
I also know that there are many perfectly enjoyable comic books out there that may be pushed aside without ever being purchased as "many buyers" are looking at resale value and not actually buying for reading purposes. That is the 2nd group my "jest" was aimed at in my post. For me, comic books are an enjoyable hobby and NOTHING I have ever bought was purchased with the intent of resale and making a profit. Not to say I haven't traded in or cashed in comics that became valuable to pay bills, or a down payment on a new vehicle when necessary. But I want to read my comic books, not have them valued and sold just for putting dollars into my bank account. Which is why a lot of my back issues are inexpensive (under $5 and issue) finds, usually with wear and tear and rips in them since my intention is to OWN and READ them. If back issue prices are too high and there is no collected TPB/OMNI available then I will gladly buy used and worn comic books and give them my love, devotion and continued reading! I have several long boxes filled with old western comics, war comics and comics bought during my youth that I truly adore reading without worrying over their price value has declined with every reading. This year I have bought more used $1-2 comic books at LCS, yard sales, Comic Convention and online with the sole intent of rebuilding series I had lost over time or for series I had never read before. And I am savoring each one of these old timers just as much as a brand new issue or Omni/TPB in pristine condition.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 23, 2019 12:41:28 GMT -5
I looked at that archival repair tissue stuff and it seems wonderful but at $15-25 for more than I would ever need it's a bit high for me... maybe if I had a bunch of such comics (I only have the two Avengers with loose pages and one '60s music mag that I can think of). Perhaps someday. I will probably dither for a year or so about this. I remember I did replace the staples in an old British music mag that had some rust... I took staples from something else and put them where the original holes were. I was afraid if I left the staples in the rust might spread and into discoloring the paper. The result was very sharp looking. I think with golden and silver age comics I almost prefer having a quality reprint over the original, such as the early '70s EC single issues, or Whitman and the first Gladstone Carl Barks ducks. I had a smattering of originals ducks (in fact for some reason I have the Dell Volcano Valley issues of Donald Duck) but became afraid to read those in case they were damaged however minutely. One was a very snappy Golden Helmet issue, and even the Canadian Luck Of The North was too valuable to hang onto for me at one point. I remember one late '40s Marvel with old papery tape all along the spine... shades of Pop Hollinger (the guy who put tape on spines and corners, pressed them flat and attached a name plate type label inside the cover... but it wasn't one of 'his'). There are stories of a two-story used bookshop not far from my parents' house that had the top floor full of comics and pulps throughout the '50s and '60s with a policy of the older they were the lower the price! Imagine classic late '30s/early '40s comics and pulps for mere cents apiece! |
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I jest of course. However you want your comics is your personal decision.