The chat at my LCS that made me rethink how I store my floppies

Was at Comic Kingdom in Portland last Saturday picking up my pull list and got to talking with the old guy behind the counter about how I bag my books. He asked how tight I seal them and I said pretty snug. He told me he's seen too many books get spine roll from bags being sealed too tight, especially in humid weather. Said he leaves a little breathing room now and uses a slightly bigger bag for thicker issues. Been doing it for a week and my books definitely lie flatter. Anybody else adjust their bagging after talking to a shop owner?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_rodriguez2d ago

Actually I'm gonna push back on this a bit. I kept my bags loose for years and all it did was let my books slide around and get those little dents on the corners from bumping into each other. Snug bagging has kept my older books way flatter than the loose ones ever did, especially the thin 22 page issues from the 90s that just bend in the middle if there's any wiggle room. Plus humid weather is exactly when you want a tighter seal to keep moisture out, not let it breathe. I had a stack of dollar bin books that got wavy from being bagged loose in a damp basement. That snug pressure keeps the humidity from getting in between the bag and the cover.

grayw322d ago

Exactly, I've seen the same thing with my older Valiant books from the 90s. Those thin issues are super prone to spine roll if they have any room to shift around in the bag. @sage_rodriguez is right about the humidity too, I had a run of X-O Manowar that got those wavy pages from being stored loose in a closet that got damp. A snug bag is just the way to go for long term storage, especially if you keep them in a box that's not climate controlled.