Comics UK

Have you given any thought to what will happen to your collection after you go to the big slap-up feed in the sky?

Have you included your collection in your will? I have no relatives or friends with an interest in comics, and I doubt whether anyone I know could be bothered to sell them on ebay, they'd most likely put them out for recycling.

Should I decide to include it in my will, to whom should I bequeath my modest collection? I'm thinking here of any organisations that could make best use of them, so no answers of 'me', please

No one I'm being buried with mine.

Interesting question and not as daft as it sounds. There are though a number of issues to consider here. The main one being that the paper that most British comics was printed on is of a very low quality. So there is very little chance of passing on a comic collection from one generation to the next. Because after a certain amount of time, it will become so brittle and brown it will just crumble away.

Some of my Victor and Hornet comics are already suffering and have to be handled gently. For more information about conservation of comics please visit my website www.victorhornetcomics.co.uk

Therefore, if a collection is to be passed onto anyone, perhaps it should be to a library. Which would ensure that the comics life could be extended. Preferably one that is interested in comics and has the money and suitable storage facilities to store the collection. I know of one Aussie comics fan who did just that Down Under.

I expect the situation would be slightly more difficult here in the UK. Not to belittle our fantastic libraries (and excluding the British Library), but I get the impression that comics are not regarded highly. With some institutions being a bit sniffy about them.

An alternative might be to send them to a comic/cartoon library abroad. The French have a large (they say the largest in the world), comic library/museum. (Would they take British comics or would they be sniffy about them?)
And no doubt an American institute/university comic library would take them.

VictorHornet wrote:Interesting question and not as daft as it sounds. There are though a number of issues to consider here. The main one being that the paper that most British comics was printed on is of a very low quality. So there is very little chance of passing on a comic collection from one generation to the next. Because after a certain amount of time, it will become so brittle and brown it will just crumble away.

I keep hearing this but it's not entirely accurate. Much of it depends on how they're stored and how they were treated in the first place. I have comics dating back over 100 years that only have a hint of yellowing. (More cream than yellow. No brittleness.)

I bought a bunch of 1930s/40s AP comics recently that look excellent. Not a hint of browning, foxing, or brittleness. Unfortunately I've bought more recent comics that look like they've been kept in a shed for 20 years.

Keeping comics in the dark, away from damp, direct sunlight, radiators etc seems to help. It's down to paper quality as well of course, but storage is the key.

Lew

I'm with Lew on this. I have many issues of The Big Five dating back to the twenties that wouldn't look out of place on one of those bookstalls on Crewe station tomorrow. I also have comics from the late 1800s that do not appear to have deteriorated in any major way. Mind you, I do have all my collection in box files, boxes or cupboards. Whatever the condition they were in when I bought them, they will not be allowed to worsen while they are in my safe keeping if I can help it. I owe them that duty of care. They will be treated like members of my family.

Phoenix wrote:They will be treated like members of my family.

...You keep your family in cupboards???

- Phil Rushton

philcom55 wrote:

Phoenix wrote:They will be treated like members of my family.

...You keep your family in cupboards???

- Phil Rushton

Doesn't everyone?

philcom55 wrote:...You keep your family in cupboards???

Great response, Phil. I can't even come up with a humorous rejoinder. It must be the first time I've been lost for words since Dean Holdsworth missed an open goal near the end of extra time in the 2000 FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa, a goal that would almost certainly have given Bolton Wanderers their first FA Cup Final appearance since our emphatic 2-0 victory over Manchester United in 1958. We are still waiting!!

Unfortunately my 3 nephews and 1 niece show no inclination to wanting my comic collection (or any "old stuff" as described by them).

So I'd like my 50 most treasured comics in the coffin with me along with my old fluffy toys, with my childhood friend who gave me part of their collection having the option of having the remaining 1,150 of mostly IPC comics (or perhaps some of them). It will be a very crowded coffin

I like VictorHornet's idea of giving them to a library (perhaps overseas, as I am half Italian). Though despite being the home of Panini, the Italian comic industry seems smaller than ours eg.
www.fumetti.org

Lew Stringer wrote:

VictorHornet wrote:Interesting question and not as daft as it sounds. There are though a number of issues to consider here. The main one being that the paper that most British comics was printed on is of a very low quality. So there is very little chance of passing on a comic collection from one generation to the next. Because after a certain amount of time, it will become so brittle and brown it will just crumble away.

I keep hearing this but it's not entirely accurate. Much of it depends on how they're stored and how they were treated in the first place. I have comics dating back over 100 years that only have a hint of yellowing. (More cream than yellow. No brittleness.)

Keeping the comics stored as you do Lew will help to prolong their lives, but won't hold off the invetible unless they are stored in specialist libraries. And even then they might only be viewed in future decades on special occasions. Researchers viewing computerised copies only. It would be interesting to see what state comics are in in a hundred years from now. Anyone got a number for the TARDIS?

I should perhaps declare that my training is in Librarianship, not conservation of paper which this falls under. So whereas I'm aware of the issues, I'm not an expert on the subject. Anyone out there with the specialist knowledge?

steelclaw wrote:No one I'm being buried with mine.

I'm going to have all my comics and books (those I've not been able to give to good homes), made into wooden/paper blocks and then have them used to build a mausoleum around me!

Or you could go out on a raft in a blaze of comic-fuelled flames, like a Viking with a sense of humour!

VictorHornet wrote: Keeping the comics stored as you do Lew will help to prolong their lives, but won't hold off the invetible unless they are stored in specialist libraries. And even then they might only be viewed in future decades on special occasions. Researchers viewing computerised copies only. It would be interesting to see what state comics are in in a hundred years from now. Anyone got a number for the TARDIS?

As I've said, comics I have from over 100 years ago still look fine. I don't know how they'll look in another 100 years but by then I expect humanity to have devolved into savages in a bleak Mad Max landscape on an Earth ravaged by global warming, volcanic eruptions, disease and earthquakes.

Not to mention the giant meteor that wipes out life on Earth in 2050. At about 2.30 on a Tuesday afternoon.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Lew Stringer wrote: Earth ravaged by global warming, volcanic eruptions, disease and earthquakes.

Not to mention the giant meteor that wipes out life on Earth in 2050. At about 2.30 on a Tuesday afternoon.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Global warming Nah Ice age

I cannot believe that anybody would want to be buried with comics or cuddly toys, or anything really, without previously making provision for a torch and a copious supply of batteries. Personally, I'm going to put my collection in storage because I won't be requiring any kind of torch. It is probably not well known but members of the Order of the Phoenix do not actually die in any way that would make sense to you and yours. Our corpses are burnt in our caravans but we then return to a youthful life out of the flames. I should therefore be around to witness the Mad Max scenario that got Lew so excited that he forgot to sign his post, and if the giant meteor causes the sort of conflagrations that did for the dinosaurs, I should survive those as well. I'm not sure my story papers would be quite so fortunate in the latter scenario though, and anyway who would I discuss them with?