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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jan 9, 2015 23:48:05 GMT -5
I do hope no one does this with Golden or Silver Age books. Those are national treasues and like famous old buildings they should qualify under the National Landmark Act. Slabbing them in Mylar is as far as that should go with rarer comics Take a look at these:  The contents? The Superman stories from Action Comics #7-58, Superman #1-20, World's Best Comics #1, World's Finest #2-8, and New York World's Fair 1939 and 1940. These books were done in the late 40s so it's not total sacrilege. If I'm not mistaken DC has a set of bound volumes in their library for research purposes. I'd never seriously considered binding my books until I saw the most gorgeous leather-bound set of the complete Cerebus run selling on ebay one day a long while back. I generally prefer my floppy copies to trade paperbacks of any kind, but I'm a sucker for black leather binding with gold embossed lettering. So I doubt I'll be attempting book binding of my own anytime soon, but I have to admit this thread makes me curious to try it. Hey Shax, think this would help with your reviews?  Batman from 1983 to 2011, including all crossovers. 'Tec from 1987 to 2011 Legends of the Dark Knight 1-41 Gotham Central complete Shadow of the Bat complete Gotham Knights 1-21 Eight volumes of minis and one-shots. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2015 8:03:47 GMT -5
I want to do this with books I KNOW they'll NEVER put into collection. Like, the entirety of Alpha Flight vol. 1. Or Master of Kung-Fu. A friend of mine has the black & white reprints of Will Eisner's Spirit sections from the early '70s all bound together in a hard back book. It's a real nice looking item to have, especially as they were quite flimsy to start with. Binding them has made them much easier to store, more attractive to read, and ensured their survival for the last 40 odd years. I've told him I want it bequeathed to me when he dies.  I really want to do this with my volume 1 because I want to put them on my bookshelf. As it is now, I have all of volume 1 out on my shelf because I am still reading it (taking a break right now) in magazine holders, so that I have easier access to them than having to pull them out of long boxes. But it still isn't very pretty to look at. The thing is, my Alpha Flight collection is a bit of a mess. I have issues 1-8 in singles, then the rest of the Byrne run is in TPB, then when Mantlo's run begins with #29, I go back to having the rest of volume one in singles. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
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Post by shaxper on Jan 10, 2015 9:24:08 GMT -5
Hey Shax, think this would help with your reviews? Batman from 1983 to 2011, including all crossovers. 'Tec from 1987 to 2011 Legends of the Dark Knight 1-41 Gotham Central complete Shadow of the Bat complete Gotham Knights 1-21 Eight volumes of minis and one-shots. just peed my pants, lost consciousness, hit the floor, and dreamed of glorious bound leather. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2015 9:37:15 GMT -5
Seeeeee???
It can be so pretty.
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Post by MDG on Jan 10, 2015 10:36:58 GMT -5
These books were done in the late 40s so it's not total sacrilege. If I'm not mistaken DC has a set of bound volumes in their library for research purposes. I think Greg Theakston mentioned that he razored pages out of these volumes then bleached out the colors ("Theakstonized" them) so DC could produce the first sets of Archives. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 10, 2015 10:51:36 GMT -5
Roy Thomas mentioned many times that Jerry Bails had a bound collection of All-Star Comics featuring the Justice Society Of America as far back as 1960
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jan 10, 2015 13:02:30 GMT -5
These books were done in the late 40s so it's not total sacrilege. If I'm not mistaken DC has a set of bound volumes in their library for research purposes. I think Greg Theakston mentioned that he razored pages out of these volumes then bleached out the colors ("Theakstonized" them) so DC could produce the first sets of Archives. That didn't happen to these particular volumes (they were sold at an auction) but I think you're right, DC's own volumes were destroyed to produce the Archives. When I first heard of the Theakstonization thing I was mortified but knowing that the issues were already pretty much destroyed made it better. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 10, 2015 23:59:35 GMT -5
OK, That Batman set is amazing... I admit it.
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jan 11, 2015 3:26:23 GMT -5
OK, That Batman set is amazing... I admit it. The owner said the total cost was around $1500, or a dollar per issue. Thats a pretty cheap for 64 hardbacks. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Jan 11, 2015 14:34:15 GMT -5
While I would never do this, it looks awesome! And hey, if its lower grade books with roungh spine and covers, why not? They look great and if I do ever decide to try this, I now have a link.
I have a stack of 30-40 beater books that are too rough for my collection but I am hoping to turn them into a work of art. I will post it once completed.
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jan 11, 2015 21:50:26 GMT -5
While I would never do this, it looks awesome! And hey, if its lower grade books with roungh spine and covers, why not? They look great and if I do ever decide to try this, I now have a link. I have a stack of 30-40 beater books that are too rough for my collection but I am hoping to turn them into a work of art. I will post it once completed. I think this is something where the strongest advantage actually lies with modern material. Older comics are printed poorly on cheap paper and when they're reprinted they're usually (hopefully!) a much higher quality presentation. But modern floppies are already printed just as well and on glossy paper, so theres no material reason to upgrade to a trade. Binding lets you have your cake and eat it. The old argument is "monthly or trade wait?" One lets you follow the story as it's released, the other is much more convenient to store and read. If you want both you need to double dip on the material or sell your floppies and buy the trades. Binding presents a third option. For $20 you could get your issues put into a hardback thats built better than DC and Marvel's books and you can include the issues you want in the order you want (especially useful for events). |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
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Post by shaxper on Jan 11, 2015 22:19:31 GMT -5
For $20 you could get your issues put into a hardback thats built better than DC and Marvel's books and you can include the issues you want in the order you want (especially useful for events). This is an excellent point. Some of us pay upwards of $200 for out of print collected editions when you can have a custom job done to suite your every whim for no more than a licensed trade would cost. I'd LOVE to know where that Batman collector goes to get his books bound. |
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jan 11, 2015 22:41:06 GMT -5
For $20 you could get your issues put into a hardback thats built better than DC and Marvel's books and you can include the issues you want in the order you want (especially useful for events). This is an excellent point. Some of us pay upwards of $200 for out of print collected editions when you can have a custom job done to suite your every whim for no more than a licensed trade would cost. I'd LOVE to know where that Batman collector goes to get his books bound. He started at a company that no longer exists but switched to Herring and Robinson, who seem to be the most popular bindery at the moment. At their current rate each book would cost $25.50 to produce, up to 2.5" thick. A no frills volume (just spine lettering, no lines or fancy logos) is $18.50. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2015 7:18:00 GMT -5
This is an excellent point. Some of us pay upwards of $200 for out of print collected editions when you can have a custom job done to suite your every whim for no more than a licensed trade would cost. I'd LOVE to know where that Batman collector goes to get his books bound. He started at a company that no longer exists but switched to Herring and Robinson, who seem to be the most popular bindery at the moment. At their current rate each book would cost $25.50 to produce, up to 2.5" thick. A no frills volume (just spine lettering, no lines or fancy logos) is $18.50.What?  What am I waiting for then??? I think I am going to get this done with Dixon's "Robin" series, too. Without having looked, do you have to remove all the staples and put them in order before mailing them off to the company, or do you just print out precise instructions and the company does it for you? Those are the things I need to figure out before I do something like this. And I still need to figure out what I want. |
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jan 12, 2015 11:37:57 GMT -5
He started at a company that no longer exists but switched to Herring and Robinson, who seem to be the most popular bindery at the moment. At their current rate each book would cost $25.50 to produce, up to 2.5" thick. A no frills volume (just spine lettering, no lines or fancy logos) is $18.50.What? What am I waiting for then??? I think I am going to get this done with Dixon's "Robin" series, too. Without having looked, do you have to remove all the staples and put them in order before mailing them off to the company, or do you just print out precise instructions and the company does it for you? Those are the things I need to figure out before I do something like this. And I still need to figure out what I want. They have all of that information in their FAQ on the website. There are three types of binding: Oversew, glue and hand sew. Oversewn books can be 2.5" thick and are very durable but they don't open as flat. Glued books can be 1.5" thick and open a litter flatter but it doesn't work with glossy paper. Hand sew can be 1.5" thick and the book will be built like a Marvel omnibus but the process costs $10 extra. Hand sewn books require you to leave the issues intact as part of the binding process, as thread is sewn through the folded spine. Oversewn and glued books don't need intact issues since they're cut into individual pages so you can remove double page ads and backcovers, which add up to a considerable amount of thickness in older books, and also mix trades into your binds. So between the three methods there are pros and cons depending on what you want: A smaller and more flexible binding with ads at a higher price, a larger and less flexible binding with reduced ads at a cheaper price or a compromise that is only available for older books. Since older books usually have more margin to start with and are printed on newsprint it's pretty convenient to get a monstrous 2.5" oversewn book, since the book will be lighter than it looks, hold a lot of issues and still read well. A lot of people also make custom title pages and TOCs to stick in the front of their book and some even put together extrensive DVD extras in the back. There are a lot of options for how you want your book to look and read. A lot of choices to make before making a decision. |
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