From: Paul Adams <[p--l] at [ERC.MsState.EDU]> Subject: [INFO] Protecting Comics Guide - Version 2.1 (1/2) Date: 1 Mar 1997 07:13:01 -0700 Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info To Preserve and Protect _______________________ Version : 2.1 (1/2) Date : 1 February 1997 Written By : Paul Adams e-mail : [p--l] at [erc.msstate.edu] Confused about how to protect and store your comic books, or whether you need to at all? I certainly was and since people in the Usenet group rec.arts.comics.misc often post contradictory information, I went and did a bit of research and this is what I found. Not surprisingly, there is contradictory or incomplete information in the press as well. I have tried to weed these out. Comments, constructive criticism, &c. are welcome. Flames are ignored. As always, no warranties are expressed or implied; this document may contain errors; any action you take based off information in this document is done at your own risk; I disclaim all liability for direct or consequential damages resulting from use of this information. In short, you are responsible for your own actions. Finally a note on the price for these items. The prices quoted here are an average price. With a little bit of looking you can find better as well as worse deals. Generally the more you buy of an item, the less expensive it will be. For example, acid-free boards can be bought at about 6 cents for 1000 boards via mail order with shipping included. At the local store acid-free-at-time-of-manufacture boards go for 10 cents per board. In other words, shop around before buying. Paul Adams -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes since version 2.0 include : Minor correction to contributers list. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: I. Protecting Your Comics ( Short Version ) II. Protecting Your Comics III. Paper and its Deterioration IV. Protecting Against Damage V. Comic Bags VI. Polybags VII. Backing Boards VIII. Storage IX. Micro-Environments X. Summary XI. Sources for Supplies XII. Sources Consulted -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Protecting Your Comics ( Short Version ) ___________________________________________ How do I preserve my comics? - First, handle the books with care. More damage occurs from mishandling than will ever occur by any other means. Secondly, store the comics a dark, cool, dry place. Third, bag and board your comic collection. Why bag a comic book? - Bag your comics to protect them from damage from water, insects, and people. What type of bag do I need? - For long term storage use only Mylar bags. For intermediate storage, meaning for about two years, polypropylene or polyethylene bags will do. What type of backing board do I need? - For long term storage use only "acid-free" boards. For intermediate storage, "acid-free-at-time-of-manufacture" will do. What is a good way to store the comic books? - For long term storage buy an acid free cardboard comic book box and store in a dark, cool place. For intermediate storage, store in a dark, cool place using a cardboard box ( I used to use old Hammermill boxes as they are used to carry acid-free paper ), a chest - preferably cedar, a drawer in a desk or chest of drawers, or something similar. Will bags harm my comic book? - Bags made from polypropylene or polyethylene will harm your comic over time, that is why they need to be changed every so often. Bags made from Mylar will not harm your comics. That said, it is important to realize that mishandling or improperly storing a comic will do more damage than a bag ever will. What about polybags? - Polybags, often called ploybags by those that hold them such gimmicks in contempt, are made from polypropylene or polyethylene and thus will harm your comic over time. They are also made thinner, at about 1.5 mil, than regular comic bags, at about 3 mil. ( 1 mil = 1/1000 of an inch ). Will an Archival Safe bag do? - Archival Safe is supposed to mean that the bag or board in which you have stored your comics will not harm the comic itself in the long term. Many advertisers claim their bag is Archival Safe, but unless they use Mylar D or Melinex 516, do not bet your comics on it. Many advertisers claim their board is Archival Safe, but unless it is "acid-free" with a 3% calcium carbonate buffer, do not bet your comics on it. II. Protecting Your Comics __________________________ Before delving into how to protect your comic books, some terms first need to be defined so that there is no confusion by what is meant. Preservation means those steps taken to insure that an item remains in its current state. The steps taken are generally non-intrusive and instead deal with changing the environment in which the item is located as well as limiting the amount of usage the item will receive. An example of preservation is storing comics in the dark, bagging and boarding the comics, and careful handling of the comic when reading it. Conservation means those steps taken to prevent any further damage from occurring to the item. Conservation includes preservation, but is more encompassing as well. It can include surface cleaning and deacidification as well as changing the environment ( which is preservation ) that the item is in. Restoration has been sometimes used as a synonym for conservation, but it is better said to be those steps that try to return an item to its original or an earlier state. An example of this would be to restore a comic book that is in good condition to one that is in very fine condition. In general, this article will deal with the preservation of comic books and will not deal with conservation or restoration. Those topics are beyond the scope of this article and I refer the reader to _The Overstreet Comic Book Grading Guide 1st edition_ for more information. Why Even Try? With this background, the first question that needs to be answered is "Why even try to preserve comic books when they are going to turn yellow eventually since they are printed on cheap paper?" In the humid climates such as the Southeastern United States, comic book pages will turn yellow in about 10 years. In an average climate, the pages may turn yellow in about 15 years. However, when preserved in a dry, cool climate inside Mylar bags, preventing the pages from turning yellow can be stretched to 40 years or more! When talking about how long it takes for the pages to begin browning , the difference is even more astounding. In a warm, humid climate they begin browning in about 20 years; in an average climate it will take about 30 years; when preserved in a dry, cool climate in Mylar bags they will begin browning in about 90 years or more! Thus by preserving preserving your comic you can extend their lifespan by over four-fold. Now, before looking at how to preserve comic books, one needs to understand a bit about how paper is made and what causes it to degrade over time. Understanding how this degrading process occurs will help you in knowing how to protect your entertainment and monetary investment in your comic book. III. Paper and its Deterioration ________________________________ Paper is generally made from wood pulp that is suspended in water and matted into sheets. This can be done in one of two ways. The first way is take logs, shred them, and form pulp. This is the cheaper of the two ways and is thus used most often in newsprint and comic books, but it leaves impurities in the paper. Up to one-third of the paper can be composed of these impurities such a lignin, a complex woody acid. Lignin breaks down in the presence of oxygen and ultraviolet light. This light-induced oxidation of lignin is what turns newsprint yellow. The second method has the wood fibers being prepared by digesting wood chips in chemicals. During this process, much of the lignin and other impurities are removed. This process is more expensive and is thus used most often in stationary and hard cover books. Other ways paper can deteriorate, other than light-induced oxidation of lignin, is by oxidation of cellulose and acid hydrolysis. Oxidation of cellulose occurs when oxygen molecules in the air attack the cellulose fibers in the paper causing the paper to darken and increase in acidity. Acid hydrolysis is a reaction involving heat and acids. The acids can come from the lignin, the air itself, oxidation by-products, &c. Finally, there is evidence that links light to the start of biological processes that lead to brown or rust colored spots, more commonly known as foxing. Acidity and alkalinity are measured in units of pH on a scale from 0 to 14. A pH of 0 is the most acidic; a pH of 7 is neutral; a pH of 14 is the most alkaline. The pH scale is based on powers of ten, thus a pH of 3.5 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 4.5. Newsprint usually has a pH of around 4.5 when it is new while degraded paper may have a pH of 3.5. Although some paper today is being made acid-free, the paper from which comic books are currently being made are not. Finally, extremes of humidity and temperature, insects, rodents, mold, small children, careless friends, &c. can cause a comic book and the paper it is printed on to deteriorate. IV. Protecting Against Damage _____________________________ Simply storing comic books upright or flat in a cool, dry, dark place and properly handling them will go a long way towards preserving them. A cool place helps prevent acid hydrolysis; a dry place protects against humidity damage; a dark place will help prevent light-induced oxidation of lignin. Light Outside of proper handling of a comic, the easiest way to preserve it is to limit the amount of light the comic gets, both in terms of quantity and quality. The quantity of light is how long the comic is exposed to the light. The quality of light refers to the type of light that a comic receives. It is simple to see how to limit the quantity of light, but what type of lighting is of the best quality? Incandescent bulbs are the best quality light to expose comics to when reading - and they are meant to be read and enjoyed, not locked away in some dark hole forever. Natural light from the sun has, and fluorescent lighting fixtures produce, ultraviolet spectrums. The ultraviolet spectrums ( both A and B components ) provide the energy needed to cause damage. It is also important to remember that light damage will occur every time you read a comic and that the damage is cumulative. Temperature and Humidity More difficult is controlling the temperature and humidity of your collection. What is desired is that the comics undergo no wild swings in temperature or humidity. For every 10 degree drop in temperature, it is estimated that paper life will double. Lower temperature will also inhibit the growth of molds and fungi. However, as the temperature drops, the relative humidity rises. Therefore simply throwing your collection into a deep freeze will damage the comics from the higher relative humidity. When paper absorbs moisture from air with high relative humidity, the paper fibers expand. Similarly, air with low relative humidity ( below 35% ) will cause the paper to lose its moisture and the comic will contract. Thus cycling between low and high humidity will put stress on the comic book's paper fibers and damage will occur. One way to keep humidity from being a problem is to use silica gel to reduce the moisture in the air. Small packets of silica gel can be found in shipments of cameras, electronics, guns, pharmaceuticals, &c. Another way to obtain silica gel is to order it. Ads can be found in coin magazines for such products. One manufacturer (Hydrosorbent Co.) claims that once the silica gel has been saturated by water, a built in indicator turns from blue to pink. Bright blue silica gel indicates as close to 0% relative humidity (RH) as can be obtained. Turning from blue to violet indicates a RH between 20 and 40 percent; from violet to rose indicates a RH between 40 and 60 percent; from rose to pale pink indicates a RH between 80 and 100 percent. The device can then be reactivated in any oven. A balance needs to be maintained then between temperature and humidity. Internationally recognized standards for the safe storage of paper ( including comics ) says that a temperature range of 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 percent relative humidity is ideal. While this may not be possible for all collectors, attempts should be made in keeping the environment of the collection stable. If using silica gel, a violet to rose rose color is desirable. Other Means of Protecting Comics Storing comics upright or flat and proper handling will keep the comic itself in good shape. Storage in this manner, though, will not protect against all the possible damage nor natural aging. For that manner, even bagging and using backing boards will not keep the comic book from natural aging. Since bagging and boarding comic books will not stop them from aging, why should you bag your collection? You should bag your collection for the simple reason that you need to protect your investment, whether investment means enjoyment or monetary. Often comic books are damaged by insects or water. You can protect against this by bagging. Insects do not seem to like to chew on plastic as much as they do on the paper that comics are made out of. Similarly, bags protect against water damaging your comics. Bagging, as stated earlier, will not halt the aging process. To try and halt the aging process, one might consider deacidifying the pages of the comic and/or sandwiching the book in lucite, but deacidifying pages is controversial, and sandwiching the book in lucite is expensive. How controversial is deacidification? Consider this, past efforts at deacidifying have ended up ruining comics by turning the pages yellow faster. If you still want to do it, then get a professional. The saying "You get what you pay for" applies here. Upon deciding to bag, the next question is what kind of bag do you need to buy? The answer to this depends on your budget. You do not need to buy a bag for every single book if you cannot afford it. Instead you can put two in a bag back-to-back so that both covers show. For those on a real budget, more can be put into a bag if needed. If money is less of an impediment, then one bag per comic is best. But still which kind of bag do you need? V. Comic Bags _____________ There are three main types of plastic used in making comic bags. Polypropylene Uncoated and untreated polypropylene is excellent for archival purposes. Unfortunately the only means of sealing it is to add polyvinyl dichloride, PVDC, a relative of polyvinyl chloride, PVC. This is harmful to the comic book in the long run. Additionally it contains other solvents and additives to assure clarity and to increase the flexibility of the plastic. These are also damaging over the long run. Eventually even the bag itself will turn yellow and develop a film on the outside. This film is the byproduct of the reaction between the plasticizers, additives, and coatings ( such as UV coatings which are now popular ) bag and the McGee oils used in ink. On the plus side, polypropylene is inexpensive, costing around 5 cents a bag, and will prevent much of the damage discussed above. Polyethylene Uncoated and untreated polyethylene is a good moisture barrier, but has a high gas transmission rate. It also shrinks and loses its shape under warm conditions. Additionally it contains other solvents and additives to assure clarity and to increase the flexibility of the plastic. These are also damaging over the long run. Still, it is inexpensive costing around 4 cents a bag. Mylar 4 mil Mylar ( 1 mil = 1/1000th of an inch ) is the most expensive type of bag as well as being the best for archiving your comic book. It does not degrade or turn yellow with time except when exposed to UV light. Thus it is inert and is very impermeable to water. Its disadvantages, besides its expense, is that in relation to the other polybags, it is stiff. This may damage the comic book if one is not careful. Another disadvantage is that some do not have a sealing flap like the prior two do, while others such as Timelocks, sold by Bill Cole Enterprises, do. Mylar type D is made by DuPont Company and is an uncoated polyester film. An equivalent material is Melinex 516 by ICI Corporation. Either is the preferred material for archiving valuable documents in according to the U.S. Library of Congress. It is expensive at about 55 cents a bag. Mylar-Lytes In order to remove the disadvantages of 4 mil Mylar, 1 mil thick Mylar comic bags have been introduced. Since it is thinner, it is not as stiff and is less likely to damage the comic book. It also has the sealing flap found in the polypropylene and polyethylene comic bags, but it costs more at about 22 cents a bag, though less than 4 mil Mylar. Even though these are the three main types of plastic used in bags, the bags themselves come in a myriad of shapes and sizes. The different shapes that they come in vary from your the standard bag to ones that can be placed in a three-ring binder to others which have a Mylar sleeve so that the comic can be read without your fingers touching the comic. There are basically five sizes, though with a little searching other sizes can be found. The five sizes are : Golden Age : 7-7/8" X 10-3/8" ; Fits most pre 1950 comics Silver Age : 7-1/2" X 10-3/8" ; Fits most 1950 - 1962 comics Regular : 7-1/8" X 10-3/8" ; Fits most 1962 - 1972 comics New Comic : 6-7/8" X 10-3/8" ; Fits most 1973 - current comics Magazine : 8-5/8" X 11-1/8" [ For those not understanding the notation the Golden Age size is seven and seven-eighths of an inch wide and ten and three-eighths of an inch tall. ] Archival Quality In a strict sense, an archival quality product is one that does not harm your comic over the long haul. The Library of Congress and National Archives standards state that the sleeves for archival storage be made of a polyethylene-terepthalate (PET) polyester film. The only such film that meets their requirements is Mylar D or Melinex 516. Many advertisements are claiming their products are of archival quality, contain no PVC, or are Mylar-like. The problem arises that many uninformed people think that they are buying something as good as Mylar for a better price. Beware of such products as generally they are not made from Mylar D or Melinex 516 and are thus not of archival quality. They may be used for short- to intermediate-term storage only. In general, if it says "contains no PVC", "has UV protection", etc. it is not archival quality. VI. Polybags ____________ Polybags are made from either polypropylene or polyethylene and thus will harm your comic over time. An example of polybagging a comic can be found in X Force #1, which was bagged in a 1.5 mil polyethylene bag. The ink used on the bag was a solvent with a low lead content. Since it is known that the bag will harm the comic, what about the ink on the bag? I have not yet found an answer to this, but I have written off to get information on it. Stay tuned ... Since the polybag will harm the comic, is it better then to take the comic out of the bag and store it in Mylar? The simple answer is yes if you want to preserve the comic. Will this not reduce the value of the comic? Again the answer is a simple no. The reasoning is simple. If the comic is left in the bag and the bag turns yellow and slowly damages the comic, who will want to buy it? Another way of looking at this is provided by John Danovich, an editor for Hero Illustrated. Take a comic that the retailer is selling as "mint in the bag", and buy it. Later, try and sell that book back to the retailer as the comic by itself and the bag by itself. The comic will be bought for the right price. Try and videotape the expression on the retailer's face when you ask him to buy the bag. The point is, the bag, box, or package is worthless *without* what it holds. Therefore, it stands to reason that it is worthless period. Now if a trading card or some such item is enclosed in the bag, be sure to keep it as some dealers consider it part of the comic. If you are really intent on maintaining the value of the comic and still think that the bag is worth something, cut away enough of the top of the bag to take your comic out. Store the comic in Mylar with an acid free backing board. Store the promotional item with the comic. The polybag can be stored on the other side of the backing board. VII. Backing Boards ___________________ Backing boards are used to help support your comic books in upright storage and thus keep them from damage by bending. Like paper, cardboard is itself acidic and can contribute to the damage of comic books. Backing boards have additives to protect against this. There are three basic types of backing boards for use in protecting comic books. "Acid Free at Time of Manufacture" Backing Boards Such boards are generally spray coated with an alkaline substance. This will protect the comic book for awhile, but eventually this buffer will wear off and cause premature aging. It is best for intermediate storage only, but it is less expensive being about 10 cents a board. "Acid Free" Backing Boards Such boards that have a 3% calcium carbonate buffer throughout and have an alkaline pH of 8.5 or greater meet the U.S. government's minimum standards. Since the entire board is alkaline and not acidic, there is no buffer to wear off and no acid to cause premature damage. It is more expensive costing around 25 cents a board. "Active Charcoal Acid Free" Backing Boards Bill Cole Enterprises, Inc. has a product called Life-X-Tenders (TM). It has a layer of activated charcoal sandwhiched between two acid free backing boards. The active charcoal is included to absorb any harmful gases that an aging comic will give off, as well as any airborn pollutants. The cost per board is $1.44 if you buy in lots of 25, but goes down considerably to $0.72 if you buy 6,000 or more. :) An obvious question about this product is if Life-X-Tenders (TM) absorbes gases, will it ever give them off and how often does it need to be replaced? Bill Cole Enterprises, Inc. claims in its advertisement that the board will never give off the gases it absorbes. The company also recommends replacing the boards every five years at the most, more often for more expensive books. Backing boards come in different sizes that mirror those for bags. The only difference is that they are slightly smaller, about 1/16", in width so that they will fit in the bag. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mylar is a registered trademark of DuPont Co. Melinex 516 is a registered trademark of ICI Corporation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1994-1997 by Paul Adams. All rights reserved, but no harm askin' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \ ___ / Paul Adams \ /___\ / [p--l] at [erc.msstate.edu] ____________\___/__.__\___/____________ YF-22 \ \ / / \__/\___/\__/