Comic books are basically extremely fragile stacks of paper staples together. Condition of said clumps of dead trees can make or break a book, so to collectors...every tiny flaw is the end of the world. Ok I might be a tad dramatic but condition is key in this industry. No denying it. The crazy thing to me is how books even maintain a sweet condition in the first place.
Tons can go wrong at the printer, shipping to the distributor. Receiving, organizing, and reshipping said books to shops. Shops selling, customers manhandling and collecting. Seriously...think about it. That’s why it’s not surprising at all to see great books in bleh conditions. The good news is that some flaws can be remedied...
I’ve written about it in the past a bunch but I’ll give a quick recap. I press books on the side. What that means is that I can take a comic that has certain attributes and flaws, and...well...fix em and even get rid of some all together. This is NOT restoration at all and only has a positive affect on the book. Unless you ruin it. Then that shit’s on you. But if you know what you are doing, you can breathe new life into a beater.
Through the use of a learned technique, a ton of practice, a steamer, and a dry mount press...I can work magic from time to time. I also have a second press that I keep at room temperature to cool the books back to a normal state while keeping flat. I won’t bore ya with the details, but basically pressing a book can get rid of or fix waviness, spine roll, some water/moisture damage, non color breaking creases and some other flaws. By steaming, then applying the heated pressure, it almost irons out the book. Then I cool it. Something can’t be repaired but what can, sometimes repairs it to a point where it can increase the value exponentially.
I do not advertise this although I eventually will. For now it’s just good customers and friends that I offer these services for. I charge $15 a book and that drops to $13 if you are bringing me 15 or more books. It’s a time consuming process so I gotta make it worth it.
Usually I try to do a bunch at one time. Say 20-30 books. I’ll just get some grub, pop on sone tunes, and crack away at it for hours upon end. I love when I can help repair someone’s precious books and even make them some tasty $$$.
Anyway, I did a big batch last week that I’ll pop up soon but I juuuuuust did one today that only had 3 books. I forgot to do these in the last batch and the customer is popping in this weekend so I had to crank em out ASAP. Nothing in this batch is super amazing but they all came out nicely. Let me show ya...
First one I did was a copy of New Mutants #87. John bought this from ya actually. I think it’s the only one he got from us. We had it on the wall about a year ago. I think it was like $50 bucks or something like that. We sell this book often as it’s an inexpensive key issue. It’s the first appearance of Cable. This book was a decent raw copy but definitely had its flaws.
BEFORE
You’ll notice that the front cover had some wavy lines on top. There’s also a color breaking crease that I make better but can’t eliminate completely obviously. Then there are the creases on the back corner areas.
You’ll see that the back cover ends up looking fantastic. The top front cover waviness is gone but that pesky color vreaker is still visible. Either way, the appeal of this book jumped with the addition of a press.
AFTER
Next up was a beater copy of Uncanny X-Men #244. This book houses the first appearance of Jubilee. Not a super expensive book to begin with so I hope he didn’t pay a bunch for this copy. Not only did this have some doo doo water stains through it which is a practical kids of death, but it was bent in several places. You can even see some of the brown stain on the Spidey head/UPC area. Waviness abound. This book...probably wasn’t worth paying to get pressed but people do what they want. I just oblige.
BEFORE
You’ll see in the pics below that it cleaned up nicely from its original dogshit state, but it’s still got a ton of problems that a press can’t fix. Eoitjet way, he now has a presentable copy.
AFTER
Lastly for today’s tiny batch is a fan favorite cover by a fan favorite artist...on a fan favorite title. Oh, featuring a fan fav in character as well. This book is a constant mover at any shop or convection. These get gobbled up quickly. I’m talking about The Amazing Spider-Man #607. This beautiful cover features a sexy Black Cat done up by none other than Jeffrey Scott Campbell. It’s a popular book that in nice shape is a solid $50 bill.
BEFORE
You’ll notice that there’s just a bunch of stress on the front cover. That back bottom left corner and top right are problem areas.
Now lares look after I show it a bit of love. Both the front and back look a zillion times better. That back corner vanished and it’s overall, improved. Tastiness!!!
AFTER
I’ll definitely post that big batch from last week in the coming days. Lots of cool silver age goodness in there.
Blewitt