No! Not that! Anything but that!

I sometimes cringe when I see old comic book supplies. They have the feel of outdated gym equipment in that they often look incredibly dangerous to the very things they’re supposed to be helping.

Maggie Thompson wrote an interesting article in the Comic Buyer’s Guide a few years ago in which she recounted the saga of evolving supplies which collectors could use to better protect their comics. It was a good read, and heartwarming in a geeky way to hear her recount the joys of improved tape and getting actual plastic bags that were made specifically for comics. The wonders of modernity! Granted, many of the plastics used were volatile and bad long-term solutions for preserving paper products, and early backing boards, which I still encounter, were acid-laden paper killers, but they were a step up from the “leave them out in the open and spill Kool-Aid on them” method of preservation. If I can track an online version of that article, I’ll try and post it here.

Did anyone out there use these 1970s-era Marvel binders? Were they bad? Good? The comic book version of a medieval torture rack? My first thought was that (*gasp*) you might have had to punch holes in your comics to  insert them. Closer inspection would indicate that that wasn’t the case, but I’m still curious.

Bind your comics in the Mighty Marvel Manner!