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How to Keep Your Mint Comics Mint

Kids used to be the original comic book fans. They’d grab them off the racks of neighborhood candy stores and were most likely to discard the latest issue featuring their favorite superhero than save it.

Comic book buyers today, however, are more conscious of their long-term potential value, so they want to protect them from wear and tear. It doesn’t matter if your comics are investments or possessions, that said. The following advice will help you to keep them in mint condition.

Be attentive to where you read

Don’t rest your comic on the kitchen table; it’s probably going to end up getting splashed with water or stained with grease or jam. Keeping food and liquids far away from reading material, in general, is the best practice. Resting one on a dry bathroom sink or towel rack even quickly is dancing with death.

Storing them

Attics and basements are common areas to store stuff. The problem is that they both tend to be vulnerable to leaks and floods. As explained by Protect America, “the risk in collecting comics isn’t just that your valuables may be thrown away by mistake or stolen; it’s that they may disintegrate if you don’t know how to take care of them.”

Ease each comic into clear protective plastic before putting it into a cardboard or plastic box. Polyethylene and polypropylene bags are commonly used for archiving. Acid-free cardboard inserts are one more line of defense. They’ll give your comics support and prevent them from tearing or crumpling.

Temperature

All Storage Online argues that “the right storage unit for comics features two main components: climate control and plenty of darkness.” Mold and mildew spots can develop from humidity. Too much dryness, however, can cause the paper to get rigid and crack. Storage areas near radiators will make the pages of your comics brittle and crumbly.

Extremes of hot and cold should be avoided, although many collectors insist that comics correctly sealed in plastic bags and stacked in boxes will withstand seasonal temperature changes.

How you handle a comic while reading

Comic books are made to be read, so yours will most likely be subject to physical contact. The best protocol is to turn pages gently. Be careful you don’t have sweat or grease on your fingertips that will leave permanent stains. Folding or rolling a comic will alter its shape.

All this may sound a bit obsessive, but this advice applies to those who want their comics to survive a lifetime or accrue collectible value. Comics get scores between 0 and 10 when being valued. A 10 score is the equivalent of mint condition, so if you really set out to buy comics as a type of investment, take exceptional care of them. It will make a significant difference in how much profit you’re able to fetch.

Here at the GeeksCast Radio Network, we know just how much value comics books can fetch. Our years of experience and hundreds of articles and podcasts have given us a sense of how vast the superhero industry really is. It’s developed into a multi-billion dollar venture, and your older comic books are only going to get more popular as time goes on. Be sure to keep them in superb condition by following our advice.

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