BCW offers a wide variety of boxes to store your comic books, gaming cards, sports cards, card holders, records, and other media such as video games and dvds. If you have never folded one of these boxes on your own, the first time you fold them can be somewhat confusing. Since there may be some question about the proper way to fold these boxes, we have created videos for each one of our boxes, which includes information about what the boxes store and how to fold them. If you are having trouble folding these boxes or aren’t sure which box you need, check out these videos:
To grade comic books, trusted companies such as the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) and the Comic Book Certification Service (CBCS) will evaluate comic books, grade them on a 1 to 10 scale, and encapsulate each comic in a rigid plastic frame, called a slab. A grade of 10 is a flawless comic, but that grade is rarely awarded. These comics will be protected for years to come, and a graded comic will have a higher secondary market value. The obvious negative of getting a comic slabbed is you cannot view the interior pages without breaking the slab, and the risk of damaging the comic in the process.
To store comic books and keep them safe, most collectors place each comic in an archival-safe bag along with a firm backing board to support the comic and protect the edges. The collection is then placed in a “short box”, holding about 150 bagged and boarded comics.
Storing comics has always had a challenge keeping the comics upright when the box is not full. If the is box is completely full, there’s no problem as the comics naturally keep themselves upright with the ends of the box supporting them. However, if the box is only partially full, the comics can topple over like a row of books without a bookend. Collectors can easily solve this problem by placing some comics sideways in the box or using another object as a bookend inside the box. Nonetheless, this issue has always been annoying to collectors.
The BCW Comic Book Bin solves this problem by keeping a partial collection upright at all times. The Bin is made from molded polypropylene panels that are snapped together (see the the second video below). This manufacturing process allows the Bin to have several features not possible with the traditional cardboard short comic box. The Bin uses special Comic Bin Partitions that fit into evenly spaced notches. The Comic Book Bin comes with one Partition. This Partition is movable, so you can use it as a bookend to keep a small collection of comics upright. As your collection grows, you can shift the Partition to the next slot, and so on, until your Comic Book Bin is full. If you want to fill all of the available slots with a Partition, packs of 3 extra Partitions can be purchased separately.
While you may find the Comic Book Bin assembled at your local comic shop, they are normally unassembled, coming in five panels and one partition. The panels snap together to make a sturdy bin. Please review the video below to see the simplest sequence to assemble the Bin.
Golden Age comics and graded comic books are too large for the Comic Book Bin. While BCW is considering making a Graded Comic Bin, our cardboard Graded Comic Boxes are our best solution for CGC/CBCS slabs at this time. We are also considering a Long Comic Book Bin, but at this time our cardboard Long Comic Boxes or corrugated plastic Long Comic Book Boxes are our best options. For magazines or Golden Age comics, our cardboard Magazine Box is BCW’s best storage solution. If you want to lobby for other products, or suggest product improvements, please comment below. We’re listening!
While today’s comic books are normally 6 5/8″ wide by 10 3/16″ high (Current size), these dimensions were not always standardized. Throughout the history of comic books, publishers have made comics is different sizes (learn more from this article). For the purpose of bag and board sizes, BCW has simplified the sizes into three groups, or ages.
Golden Age – circa 1938 to 1955
Regular/Silver Age – circa 1956 to 1969
Current/Modern Age – circa 1970 to present
To keep comic books preserved, they’re normally stored in bags with boards and you’ll want to get bags and boards sized appropriately for your collection. If you’re not sure what size of bags and boards you need, please measure your comics, and compare with the sizes listed below.
BACKING BOARDS
Modern Backing Boards Same width as Current comics
We make a simple distinction between bags and sleeves. We define the bags as having a flap that wraps over the top, while the sleeves are open on the top.
In many instances, such as comic bags, you can select bags made from polyester or polypropylene. Which material is best for your needs? There are several factors to consider to make the best choice.
Both polyester or polypropylene are considered archival-safe by the U.S. Library of Congress (learn more at the LOC page). The different chemistry between polyester or polypropylene gives them different attributes as sleeves and bags. BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched PET (polyethylene terephthalate). BoPET is commonly called Mylar, the brand name of BoPET developed by the DuPont company. Polyester is inert and has no plasticizers or other chemicals that will damage collectible documents. Polyester is almost completely impermeable to liquids and gases. Polyester is transparent and does not yellow with age. Polyester film is the material of choice for archiving many of the United States’ most valuable historical documents according to the Library of Congress. Polypropylene is also archival safe, however it is gas permeable.
Polyester sleeves and bags are more rigid than polypropylene counterparts. This gives polyester bags a brilliant, shiny surface. Polyester bags are strong and unlikely to tear, while the flexibility of polypropylene bags may be a better solution for some needs.
If price is a consideration, polypropylene sleeves and bags are more cost effective than those made from polyester (Mylar). This makes polypropylene the popular choice for large collections.
For all of the bags and sleeves offered by BCW Supplies, we clearly define what material is used in its production. The description is found on the product’s respective webpage.
