The Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast!

The Third Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: Spine Care or the Regrets of a Comic Book Collector.

 

No, this isn’t about visiting the chiropractor, I’m talking about your comic’s spine, essentially your comic is about 35 to 36 pages of paper in between a cover held together by two staples. 
Hi welcome to another Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast.  When I started doing research for this blog, I realized that I have made a lot of mistakes as a collector, huge huge mistakes.  Did I mention they were HUGE Mistakes.   The steps and measures I took to “protect” and “restore” my comics just DID NOT WORK.  In fact I did more damage rather than good. 

I dug out a few issues I totally damaged.  DAMAGED!!  Okay here we go.

Avengers #251.  Written by Roger Stern, Pencils by Bob Hall and Inks by Joe Sinnott.  Note the left hand side of the book, I placed tape there because the pages were coming loose.  That was a dumbass move (No, really??)

Fantastic Four Annual # 18.  Written by Mark Gruenwald, Plot by John Byrne.  Pencils by Mark “Doc” Bright and Inks by Mark Gustovich.  Over the years the tape damages (duh!) the cover.

Uncanny X-Men # 192.  Written by Chris Claremont.  Pencils by John Romita Jr and Inks by Dan Green.  For this one I guess I thought I only needed to repair half of the book. I think the top part was damaged.

Web of Spider Man# 4.  Essentially a new series written by Danny Fingeroth.  Pencils by Greg Laroque and Inks by Vince Colleta.  For this issue I was trying to keep the pages together, the staples were loose, so loose, the  pages were coming apart.  Note the colour change on the cover.  Can you believe it, I thought it was cool when the colour started changing. Sigh

The Incredible Hulk Annual # 13.  Written by Bill Mantlo, Pencils by Alan Kupperberg and Inks by Gerry Talaoc.  This is the best(?) example of how to totally damage your comic with tape.  Note how the cover’s colour has also changed and the oil(?) that’s seeping into the cover itself.The tape itself is degrading and coming loose.  It has not kept the book together and the comic is damaged.

Uncanny X Men # 185.  I bought this comics from a classmate who just wanted to get rid of some old comics.  The spine was already damaged when I got it.  The Spine was in horrible shape but I thought yeah tape will cure all.  I wondered what the inside of this issue would look, at first I thought “Nah!” but I took a look inside, here’s what it looks like.  Turn away now, this wont be pretty.

The oil from the tape has gone through the cover all the way to the pages inside and it has degraded.  Note the original spine damage.  That looks bad but how bad could it get?  Well the answer to that question is next.

Uncanny X Men # 187.  Truth be told it was a bad idea for me to buy this issue but it was cheap and hey I had the sure fire cure for all spine damage: TAPE!

The Amazing Spider Man # 268, yes I damaged a great John Byrne cover.  Hey wanna see the damage inside?  You do??

Look at the damage I brought to this comic book.  The tape has really degraded over the years to the point where it has left that terrible residue on the pages and as I opened the book, the tape came off. The pages came off the cover.  Just look at that colour and damage. Sigh. However when I got the book I noticed that the previous owner did not know how to take care of his comics either.  Hey I’m not alone in the world Yay!

This is my biggest regret.  Uncanny X Men # 193.  A great issue.  Great story, Great artwork but I read it so many times, the comics was damaged and again I turned to tape and it looked like I didn’t do a good job at all.

Looking back at these various issue I remembered how much I loved reading them but I wish I also had the presence of mind of not adding to the damage.  Some of these issues I bought off the rack and some I bought from classmates who didn’t know what they wanted to do with their comics or just lost interest in them.  They are great issues but they’ve all seen alot of wear and tear.
So remember don’t use tape on your comics but even though all these comics are beyond repair at this point I am relieved and just plain happy I did not do what an old class mate of mine did.  When he saw what I did with my comics, he decided to take it to a higher level, he used DUCT TAPE ON ALL HIS COMICS. DUCT TAPE!!!  Thank God I side stepped THAT mine field, I only used ordinary tape, whew!

Do you have the same regrets I do, made the same mistakes I did?  If you did, I’d love to hear from you. Thank you for reading, I appreciate it!  Any comments?  Until the next Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, take care.

#avengers xmen spiderman fantastic four hulk johnbyrne#comicbookcare