Bags, Boards, and Boxes – Recommended Brands and Stores

[Blips]

I’m looking for recommendations on what brand of bags and boards to buy and where to get them. Is there an online store I could use as a one stop shop to get everything including boxes or do you buy storage from your local comic shop? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Remnant]

I prefer the ultra pro bags (the resealable are nice but seem be just slightly smaller than the unsealed variety which for some issues can be too snug a fit for my liking) and have no preference on boards. For boxes I use cardboard short boxes. Eventually I will be building (or at least retrofitting) furniture to house my single issues. All of these I buy at my LCS with bags being the only exception. Sometime the price on Amazon dips below what I pay for them at my shop, so I will pick up a bag or two at that point.

[awongus]

It really depends on what ur storage goals are. If ur just looking for short term (a few years), then the regular plastic bags, boards and boxes available from ur local shop should be fine.

If, on the other hand, ur looking for long term (archival) storage options, or u simply want to do it right the 1st time , then I would highly recommend E Gerber. I buy ALL my storage supplies from them (with the exception of CGC stuff), and couldn't be happier. Great customer service, and best prices on mylars I've found anywhere.

[Blips]

Originally Posted by awongus

It really depends on what ur storage goals are. If ur just looking for short term (a few years), then the regular plastic bags, boards and boxes available from ur local shop should be fine.

If, on the other hand, ur looking for long term (archival) storage options, or u simply want to do it right the 1st time , then I would highly recommend E Gerber. I buy ALL my storage supplies from them (with the exception of CGC stuff), and couldn't be happier. Great customer service, and best prices on mylars I've found anywhere.

I'm leaning toward E Gerber for the one and done option. Do you use their acid free boxes? Those are super expensive compared to the costs for just bags and boards. Even the E Gerber website says they're "not essential", but "desirable" if you're using their bags and boards.

[awongus]

Originally Posted by Blips

I'm leaning toward E Gerber for the one and done option. Do you use their acid free boxes? Those are super expensive compared to the costs for just bags and boards. Even the E Gerber website says they're "not essential", but "desirable" if you're using their bags and boards.

I did buy a bunch of their acid free boxes initially, and was quite pleased with them. Then my house flooded and they got damaged, so I just went to my local shop and replaced em with the new plastic boxes. They're not cheap...but they're waterproof.

Honestly, I think the acid free boxes r probably overkill. With acid free boards in mylars, u should be good to go.

[Clark Kent]

Are there protective sleeves available for the huge hardcovers, ala an omnibus or Absolute edition? I've never really seen them in anything except very thin plastic sleeves.

[rui no onna]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread.

I've never really been into collecting American comics but the MCU franchise got me into subscribing to print versions of certain titles - Black Widow, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) and Mockingbird. For most of my comic reading, I'm quite content with Marvel Unlimited and Comixology.

I want to keep these comics in pristine condition. Is it safe to use Mylites 2/4 with just toploaders and no backing boards? I kinda want to be able to see both the front and back comic covers. I was thinking of using toploaders to add rigidity instead of backing boards but if toploaders are too flimsy, then I'm fine going the Mylites+backing board route.

I realize I'm likely spending more on storage supplies than what the comics are worth but this is meant to appease my OCD rather than an attempt to maintain value for reselling purposes.

Thanks!

[Jpapp25]

Originally Posted by rui no onna

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread.

I've never really been into collecting American comics but the MCU franchise got me into subscribing to print versions of certain titles - Black Widow, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) and Mockingbird. For most of my comic reading, I'm quite content with Marvel Unlimited and Comixology.

I want to keep these comics in pristine condition. Is it safe to use Mylites 2/4 with just toploaders and no backing boards? I kinda want to be able to see both the front and back comic covers. I was thinking of using toploaders to add rigidity instead of backing boards but if toploaders are too flimsy, then I'm fine going the Mylites+backing board route.

I realize I'm likely spending more on storage supplies than what the comics are worth but this is meant to appease my OCD rather than an attempt to maintain value for reselling purposes.

Thanks!

I'd assume you'd be fine if you get the thicker top loaders, although those get expensive fast if your collection starts to grow. I have always used bags and boards, just so that there is less a chance of me accidentally bending any of the comics. Last time I picked up a set of 100 bags/boards I believe it was about $17-$18, so not too bad as far as cost.

Also, a long box might not be a bad idea either.

[rui no onna]

Originally Posted by Jpapp25

I'd assume you'd be fine if you get the thicker top loaders, although those get expensive fast if your collection starts to grow. I have always used bags and boards, just so that there is less a chance of me accidentally bending any of the comics. Last time I picked up a set of 100 bags/boards I believe it was about $17-$18, so not too bad as far as cost.

Also, a long box might not be a bad idea either.

Thanks! Doubt the collection growing too big will be an issue. As I mentioned, I'm quite content with using Comixology/Marvel Unlimited for majority of my comic fix. Alas, I've just spent money I was planning on using to buy an iPad Pro 12.9 on a whole bunch of Blu-ray anime collector's edition sets so I'll have to be content reading on my current iPad's 9.7" display.

So far, only ones I plan to collect as individual issues are the ff so really quite small:

• Black Widow Vol 4 (2010) - 8 issues (complete)
• Black Widow Vol 5 (2014) - 20 issues (complete)
• Black Widow Vol 6 (2016) - 6 issues (ongoing)
• Hawkeye (2016) - not yet released
• Mockingbird (2016) - 7 issues (ongoing)