It’s unfortunate for us comic book collectors, but our perishable paper comic books are facing two very persistent enemies – time and the environment.  Comic books were always meant to be perishable and quickly disposed of, so the early issues were made of the worst possible paper.  If you read the earlier post about the super storage tip, you saw the basics of the two stop system for keeping your non-CGC or PGX comics in perfect shape.  Today we’ll talk about and link to some example about why microchamber paper is so important.

Microchamber paper is used to absorb the off-gassing that occurs when paper ages.  Although the process slows if you keep your comics in a cool, dark environment, it still occurs.  I urge you to take a look at some examples of how using microchamber paper can help your collection.

Take a few seconds and click on the links below (they will open in a new window or tab).

Effect of Microchamber Paper on Vintage Paper and Newsprint (make sure to scroll down on the page)

The Chemistry Behind the Process (if you are really serious about this and want to know the nuts and bolts)

As you can see in the experiments and pictures, the benefits of microchamber paper are impressive to say the least.  If you are now going to insert a few sheets into every comic of your collection, at least insert them into your most valuable books stored by the super storage tip.

If you are looking to purchase microchamber paper you can check it out on Google, look at this thread on the CGC forums, or the Amazon links below.

Do you every wonder what size comic bag (especially Mylar) you should use for your comic books?  Should you go with Modern, Silver, Standard, Gold or Super Golden Age? They aren’t cheap, so it’s frustrating when you try to fit that 1970’s comic in a Mylar bag only to find out it’s too small.

Well your troubles are over!

Thanks to our friends over at the CGC Boards, there is a handy visual guide to how different comic books fit into each bag, from Golden Age to Modern.

Click Here for the Visual Guide to Comic Book Bag Sizes.

Looking for a great way to store (and preserve) your comic books? A great idea was floated on the CGC forum and I wanted to share it with you.

One of the downsides to traditional bagging and boarding is you can’t see the back of the stored comic book without taking it out of it’s bag. Of course, every time you remove the comic you risk damage, so most collectors have to decide whether to ignore looking at the back or take the risk. What to do?

The solution is to put the comic book in a Mylite (1 mil) bag with a piece of piece of microchamber paper and tape closed. Then put the comic into a Super Golden Age size Mylar Snug (usually 4 mil thick) with a backing board. This storage method protects the comic book and gives support, but still allows you to take the comic out of the snug and inspect the back without actually touching the book. The microchamber paper is what CGC uses to help with the off-gassing of the comic book paper in a sealed environment.

This method is ingenious!

Obviously you want to use this on your more valuable comics, it would be overkill for anything less. I’m working on converting my books now.