I moved my collection from long boxes to bookshelves as soon as I had enough of my floppies replaced by collected editions that the TPB+floppy mixed collection wouldn't be too hard to browse through in bookshelves. I probably have a smaller collection than most here. It all fits on two full-size plus two half-size bookcases. Marvel heroes get one full-size bookcase and DC heroes the other, and independents and DC/Marvel non-hero books are on the half-size bookcases.

The Marvel case is organized by families of titles, so FF and related are all together, the mutant titles are all together, etc. Within the families, the books are organized by in-universe chronology, rather than by title. This isn't the mess it probably sounds like, since I'll buy ominbuses or over-sized deluxe editions whenever available, so I can turn my head from the keyboard right now, look at the bookshelves, and immediately identify where Stern's Spider-Man is, or the second omnibus of Claremont's X-Men, or whatever. It also helps that, while I don't keep any books in my collection which I have no intention of re-reading, and I make a point of evaluating books for re-reading worthiness, it just happens that Marvel has had a lot of long runs I really like which have been collected in over-sized editions.

I organized DC a bit differently. I have only three different families of titles: Batman and all related, the Perez + the Rucka Wonder Woman, and then everything else. I still organize DC by in-universe chronology, but obviously with the DCU there's a lot of room for interpreting in-universe chronology. The main reason I took the kitchen sink approach to the DCU (rather than breaking it down further into JLA, JSA, Green Lantern, etc) is that, aside from a few team books and the Batman and WW runs I separated out, DC has rarely had anything I would consider a good run on their solo characters. I've found plenty of good single issues, or maybe a mini-run here and there, but very little that would warrant a title or character getting its own section in my collection, unless I wanted one or two dozen tiny sections, which I don't. At first it was annoying trying to figure out where to place stories in the chronology, but once it started coming together, tying it all together became half the fun of collecting the books. So for DC, I have a lot more single issues in my collection. I'm thinking about trying out one of those custom book-binding services, at least for the particularly satisfying groupings of floppies I have settled on. But aside from custom bindings, I'm at least getting some comic-book holder thingies from Amazon. That's what I consider the only artificial constraint I put on organizing my DCU floppies - these comic book containers hold about a dozen books, so I try to group my floppies into sets of about 12.

The other categories on the half-sized bookcases are stuff like: Independent heroes, Pulp, Historical Fiction, Vertigo, and Conan.

The way you organize your comics depends a bit on how you intend to reread them. I do plan to someday reap the benefits of my labors and take a couple years to read the entire DCU from Demon Knights through to the LoSH. I only ever did a chronological start-to-finish like that with Conan (twice - I love Roy's and Kurt's Conan!). But if that sounds like a slog you would never want to go through, then alphabetical might make more sense.

My organization system is odd to most.

For individual comic-sized issues, I divide them between completed series and uncompleted series, with Conan, current titles, local small press books, signed books, variant covers, EC reprints, and the Walmart 100 page giants not included. I also keep a short box of stuff in my "to read soon pile" which is a mix of current stuff I haven't read yet or older completed series I want to get to soon.

I have a special case where all my Conan stuff is displayed/organized in the reading room, and all the Conan comics go there. Some are in the Conan short boxes I bought when Marvel relaunched the series.

Local small press books are kept on a small magazine rack on my desk. The Walmart books are in other magazine racks on the same desk. Current comics are are as well, as all these I add to regularly and it makes for ease of access to have them on hand. If a current series ends, it goes with completed series, assuming I have all the issues. I keep the EC stuff in another magazine file, for when I want to read a quick story but not a whole issue (these are the Gemstone reprint issues I pick up whenever I see them, the one original EC issue I own-Piracy #1-is kept with them).

Signed books and variant covers are usually framed and on display somewhere.

Completed series or runs (if I am only interested in a particular run and will not be getting other issues in the series, it goes with these)are organized alphabetically and kept in file cabinets. They are bagged, not boarded, with 3-6 comics per bag (I use Silver Age bags, you can fit more Bronze Age books than Silver in such a bag, and more modern books than Bronze, so it is usually 3 Silver, 4 Bronze or 6 modern per bag. The bag is taped shut and there is a sticker on the back of the bag listing the contents within. I keep them in the file cabinets as the only time I need to get to these series is if I am pulling them out to read them (or adding a series I just completed to the file cabinet).

Incomplete series are stored alphabetically loose in short boxes which are on plastic shelving units and are easy to get to, so if I acquire more books it is easy for me to put them where the belong. When I complete a series, it either goes into the to read box of into the filing cabinets until I want to pull it out and read it.

Magazine size.digest size, treasury sized, or other odd sized comics are kept separately. Trades, hardcovers and OGN are kept on bookshelves in the reading room, not in the office with the rest of the comics. The reading room however, is currently getting refurbished and eventually repainted, so a lot of trades are simply in stacks on shelves in the closet or in storage totes until I finish.

I keep a document listing everything I have backed up on a flash drive and in the cloud, that I update as I buy stuff. I also have a document listing month/year from 1929 to present that has stuff I own listed by cover date by issue (including stuff in trades or in reprint issues like an 80 page giant and including comics strips listed in the month they first appeared in print) that I use to keep track of what I have read. This is also backed up on flash drive/in the cloud, but it is not quite complete-I did the bulk of the document 5 years ago, and it was complete then, but I have not added everything I have bought to it, but I do add stuff as I read it if it is not listed already.

It's probably easier to show than explain this list, so here's a couple sample months...



the 4/5 is how many read of the total for that month, the x before a listing denotes it has been read, and these are listed under a sub-heading in trade to indicate they are in a collected edition, not individual issues of any sort.



an asterisk in front of an individual issue listing means I also have it in a collected edition somewhere

if I have a story reprinted in another comic, it gets listed as such and the source is listed as well, but when counting read/unread, I tally them with the reprint issue, not the issue they originally appeared in, which I admit is a quirk of mine.



I only mark something as read if I have read it since I returned form my last hiatus from comics in 2012, so some things which I read previously to that but haven't read recently are not marked as read.

I also have about half a short box of coverless comics, some are reading fodder, some are fodder for craft projects of different sorts, so they are not cataloged at all.

Like I said, my system is odd, but meant to facilitate how I like to interact with my books.

-M

Alphabetical would be nice , but it will make certain titles bleed into other boxes instead of having all the same title in one box. I place all the books for specific titles in one box. Example: I have about 4 Thor short boxes and they number 25-29. I included all Thor annuals, mini series, spin off books related to Thor in those boxes. My Superman books are more challenging , I have 3 short boxes and about 4 long boxes of the title including related books( Lois Lane, mini series, annuals).  I have them all listed in Google docs and use that as a guide whenever I venture to my attic to sort them. 

I stopped collecting floppies in the early 90s, and sadly don’t have them anymore. When I did, I kept my box contents in alphabetical order by title, ignoring publisher.

I started buying comics again a little over three years ago, but mostly in Omnibus or OHC Deluxe formats. I also collect various TPBs from the Marvel Epic line. These are sorted by type of book format, then alphabetically by company. One side of the bookcase is Marvel, the other DC. I almost never get anything post-1993 from Marvel, but am willing to give works from DC after that period a spot in my collection.

Now you can store over 1400 comics in a floor space just two square feet, or store over 4200 comics in a small closet AND HAVE EVERY COMIC AT YOUR FINGERTIPS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO LIFTING!

Each box is designed to be stackable and support up to five boxes filled with comics on top of it without collapsing.
They will even support the other boxes if the bottom drawer is completely removed.
Handles at either end to make them portable.
Ends reinforced with 4 layers of cardboard so they withstand pulling, unlike regular boxes

This is a project I'm still hoping I can complete this year.

My collection is a mix of long and short boxes, and amazingly, there is variance in those as well. Lids are not interchangeable from different manufacturers, sizes vary, etc, so I've been wanting to throw out all the old boxes and completely convert to DrawerBoxes, www.collectiondrawer.com/comics, as seen here.

With my two back surgeries I'm going strictly with short boxes, and will get comic boxes and magazine boxes.

These are like banker's boxes, or file cabinet drawers; they're more expensive but worth it IMO.



Here's a description :

"DrawerBoxes™ are stackable cardboard boxes with drawers that create a file cabinet-like storage system for organizing your comic book collection, making them more accessible. The ultimate comic book supply.

The secret in making them stackable is in the materials we use. Each shell comes with a support sleeve custom manufactured with extra heavy duty corrugated cardboard with an ECT (Edge Crush Test) rating exceeding 70# per inch. The sleeve not only extends completely to the front of the shell, where support is needed the most when the drawer is open, but also completely covers the tops of the shell, helping transfer the weight to the sides.

Four dividers are included with each DrawerBox that can be used as Upright dividers when used with our optional BoxSort rails or can be used as a traditional divider if the legs are removed along the perforations."

I'll be going all in with the BoxSort divider rails and BoxLox anchor systems as well.

In the past, I've blended them all and alphabetized A-Z but with the volume it didn't work out very well. Later I separated into Marvel, DC and indies including imprints like Vertigo, Epic, and anything not specifically Marvel or DC branded in the alt mix. That worked somewhat better. I might continue this with the bigger more represented publishers in my collection i.e. Dark Horse, Image, Valiant, Vertigo, Epic, First, etc.

Because of the easy accessibility of each drawer, I'm only going to alphabetize each drawer and track it in my ComicBase database program listing whatever comics I have. There are columns to search publisher, cover date, credits, etc, as well as four custom fields, one of which I am going to make Box # so I can identify where that issue is at.

I'm later going to make some character collages appropriate to each box, say the DC box, with DC characters on the front in a jam style collage.

Not there yet, but I'm going to do it. The nearest distributors are in Chicago and St Louis. I was thinking of maybe driving there directly to save shipping, but for the gas and time I would have in it, not to mention the wear and tear on the car, I think I'll just pay the freight.

While I love my collection, 99% of my comics in the last 4 years or so have been digital, which is extremely handy, so I have a mix and some duplication there as well, so I can give my username and password to my kids, all of whom live 3-4 hours away, and they can read at their convenience.

Really looking forward to getting this done finally.

Nice !

They say you can stack em 6 high. Not sure how high I'm going to go. I've heard about putting a board on top to help stabilize it as well, and using that as a shelf. I'd probably do that and use it as a surface for light things, nothing heavy.

How do you like em Shax ?