i am of the thought that comic books are for reading and meant to be carried around until they show the love you have by the poor shape the comic book is in. Many of my best read comic books i still have and show the enjoyment and pleasure i had from the multiple readings i gave them. Just a few weeks ago i was in one of my regular go to shops All About Books and Comics (shout out to owner Alan) and bought several sets of collected issues (10-15 issues) all bagged together for less than $10 for each group. One was a complete and well read run of Jack Kirby Eternal's series of which i only ever had 3-4 issues of. Another was random selections of very well read Marvel Westerns and horror comics including Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, War is Hell,etc) and the last collection being assorted funny comics with various Archie and DC kids comics. Every comic in these packs was old, torn, ripped, and read to pieces yet they are the best comics i have read in awhile due to that fact! I truly love to drive "collector's" insane when i am at the shops with rolling up my purchases without a bag or if only a few comics i will roll up and place in my pocket if only to see the collector folk squirm and grimace. I don't want my comics pristine and mint slabbed inside a piece of plastic looking like they were never touched. My comic book collection is for reading and re-reading the rest of my life. I have never paid outrageous prices for any comic i want always prefer to search and find that middle range price of a well read book. Gimme that $5 over the $75 priced issues. I have nearly complete runs of Fantastic Four and Avenger's that i bought at cover price for current issues coming out and then searched the bags and boxes of old used book stores and the emerging comic book stores for all of the older issues in their runs i needed and wanted. I singled out All about Books and Comics because he was the 1st used book store turning into a comic book store here in Phoenix. I spent years during the end of the 70's into the early 80's digging through everything he had when his shop was filled with just boxes and brown grocery store bags and comics piled into mountains where things may or may not be alphabetized and you never knew what wonders you may find with every pile you uncovered. Oh for the joys of the pleasures of the olden days...

Yes, nowadays I am mostly looking for reading copy version of Bronze Age comics. Sure, it would be nice to have everything in mint condition, but the tattered ones (that's OK with me as long as none of the pages are missing) was WAY cheaper, plus I don't have to worry so much about maintaining the condition. It if gets a little bent during use, hey, it was already not in such great shape.

I'm probably in the minority but I prefer books that are in good shape. I don't like rolled spines or torn covers, front or back.

At one time I did buy poor quality books because I wanted to study the art.

For most of my collecting days I had them in bags but never had backer boards.

For some reason I have lately become very obsessive about the appearance of my books. I've sold off a lot of the ones in poor shape. I just don't want them in my collection. I bought new bags that are clearer, my old ones were cloudy. I've also bought backer boards and are putting them on all my comics. I've been selling some key books that were in mid grade and using the money to buy higher grade copies.

However I only buy comics I like. I don't speculate and have only paid over $30 for about two books.

And I still don't understand slabbing. I like my collection to look good but I still like to be able to pull them out of the bag and read them.

Nothing wrong with liking good condition comics.  I recently sent back a bronze age Captain America that I needed to complete my Englehart run to Lone Star comics because of condition.  It was advertised to be in Very Good + condition, but all of the white parts of the characters on the cover (it guest starred the Avengers) were colored in with a dark blue marker.  It cost $8.50, plus shipping, so I couldn't live with it like that.  I ended up getting another copy from Ebay for about $11 total and was much happier.  So I don't mind paying for good stuff too.

I may also be in the minority in that I have always stored my comics flat. I've never owned long or short boxes. Many years ago I bought a bunch of plastic bins that have drawers and I stacked them up. Most of my stacks are no higher than 5 inches. I guess I could do this because I never had any long runs of a title. I just collected books by artists I liked.