Solid Snake

So I've never bought bags and boards for my comics. They've pretty much have always come w/ them for as long as I've bought them in a store, for my adult life. But now I want to buy the bags and boards, along w/ some boxes. My problem is I don't know wtf a good deal is for these things.

Could you guys help me out in recognizing good prizes for this stuff?

The Valeyard

The usual long boxes (with the lids on top) are generally pretty cheap. At least out where I live. Generally in the 4 to 5 dollar range. Short boxes are even cheaper.

If you're feeling wacky, you can grab a Drawer Box for like $15 bucks. But I only recommend that for seriously obsessed basement dwellers (like myself).

100 bag and boards range from the store you buy them from. I've seen some stores sell them for as much as $18 bucks ($9 for bags and $9 for boards). Other stores in the $14 to $16 range. The weekly show near my area goes for $10 flat so I usually stock up. I've discovered recently that I'm spoiled when it comes to comic shopping. You might be able to swing a deal with your local store if you buy a shitload all at once (like 1000 bag and boards).

Trevor

If you're ever going to have more than a few boxes, I highly recommend you invest in the drawer boxes.

Trying to find something or organize things in my dozens of stacked boxes is a huge pain in the back.

I'm slowly switching to drawer boxes and they are the (how would you put it?) fecking bomb.

PhantomStranger

What do you normally pay for the drawer boxes? Most of the shops I visit only sell the regular long boxes.

As for bags and boards, buying boards locally is probably your best bet since they are bulky and shipping eats into any cost savings over the Internet (unless you are buying in serious bulk). Bags ship easier, eBay or Amazon Prime provides a fair gauge of prices for them.

Trevor

I think they're about $16 each at my local shop. I think I can get them a bit cheaper direct from the company in bulk.

I've bought maybe 10 so far, and finally had a huge comic organization weekend last month. I transferred books around and set up two columns of the drawer boxes. They work really well, although I still need to buy those little anchor things to hold them together better, and buy another 40 or so to finish out the room. It's a lifetime project imagine.

reverie

Good to see positive reviews on the Drawerboxes.. I'm finally thinking of making the dive myself. I'd be getting the short boxes though as I've always found them more manageable and, though you need more of them, I like the fact they don't take up so much space coming away from the wall. Hopefully I don't regret that in years whenever we get around to moving and have a bigger place.

Trevor

Yeah, if you're going to keep collecting floppies, I'd really think about going with the long. Maybe re-examine your place and see where you could move things around to make longboxes fit.

For me, short boxes, while nicer for organizing runs and lifting purposes, would end up having to be covered up and access blocked to some, as there is only so much wall space.

madcougar

You have convinced me to switch over to drawer boxes. Seriously.

Cardsfan111

I just wanted to acknowledge this bit of comedy gold.

Trevor

So I guess you're not the one to give all my old regular boxes to then?

But I really think some kind of drawer box is best for anyone with more than a few longboxes of comics. They aren't perfect, and there are at least two companies selling slightly different types. But play around with them at a local store if possible, or watch some of the YouTube reviews and decide which type is best.

I bought 4 initially and experimented with them. I'm not sure if I bought the old version without the little separator notches the new ones have. That aspect of them looks wicked cool in some of the videos.

In a perfect world I'll be able to afford the time and money to get like 50 more of them and really organize things well.

dfmaverick2

As far as pricing, this is about what I normally see at my local stores (MN):

100 bags @ $6
100 boards @ $10
small drawer box @ $12 (recently raised up from $10, ugh)
large drawer box @ $15

BTW you fit less in the drawer boxes, but I like them so much more when it comes to stacking boxes. With the old boxes, I wouldn't go into some because there were 2-3 long boxes on top.

For current/modern comics, I like the Ultra Pro brand for bags since they seem to fit the comics & boards snug w/o a lot of extra space.

EDIT I stopped at one comic store today, and they wanted more than my regular shop for the drawer boxes at $15 and $18.

The Valeyard

If you have a LOT of comics, Drawer Boxes are the best. If you order directly from the company, they sell them in batches of 5. If you're only buying 5, the price breaks down too pretty much the same as buying them one at a time at your local store (thanks to the added shipping costs). Buying direct only works best when you're buying a ton at once (15 to 20 boxes). Then you'll start seeing an advantage with the shipping.

However if a local store doesn't care them, just know that ordering 5 at a time from them works out to the same so you're not getting screwed.

Store Locater Here

Be aware that without the BoxLox to keep your top boxes in place, you'll easily pull those boxes down when you open the top drawers. The lower boxes use the weight of the others to stay in place. The top not so much.

There are cheaper drawer boxes out there but the originals are still the best (for me). They're sturdy and stack well together. I've seen another company sell only an outer shell that you can slide your existing boxes into (sans lid). I haven't tried those mainly because I'm so happy with the originals. In fact, I just bought another couple boxes last weekend.

kgrogers1979

This is the best storage for comic books:



Seriously. I went digital years ago mostly because I was sick and tired of dealing with boxes, bags, and boards and all that crap.

Trevor

Very little, relatively, is available legally DRM-free.

And buying a hard drive and taking the time to backup stuff I've bought on Dark Horse or Comixology seems like a total waste of time and money to me.

Trevor

One good tip is to put a regular box on top of each stack of drawerboxes. It will hold the drawerboxes in place, and you don't really need a drawer on top since you can easily look in those.

kgrogers1979

I did not mean illegal downloading or backing up or anything like that. I just mean buying digital comics on Comixology and downloading it to your tablet or PC. Yes, you can't read them without the Comixology app, but who cares. You can still download them and read them offline. Even if Comixology does go out of business, the app isn't going to magically disappear from your tablet, so you will still be able to read them.

Trevor

True. But my thinking is that it is all a waste of time. In the very unlikely event that Comixology (DH, etc) go out of business AND don't have a plan for we purchasers to get our content; then I can easily find and download my legal purchases from somewhere. Sure, not entirely legal perhaps, but I would definitely get my books. But the chances of needing to do so are remote imo, so why waste time and hard drives to backup anything up?

rocket1312

Woah! kgrogers1979 is back! It's like he knew Taffer disappeared and could sense DVDTalk's need for a resident comic-book expert. Where have you been hiding for the last couple of years?

The Valeyard

He's the Reverse-Taffer just back from a trip through time.

And I wouldn't call Taffer an "expert."

rocket1312

I think it's probably more of a Captain Marvel/Rick Jones sort of deal. When one of them is posting, the other is trapped somewhere in the negative zone. Then again, maybe I've just been reading too much Starlin lately.

kgrogers1979

I just got bored with posting on internet message boards so I took time off. I'm surprised some people even remember me. I didn't think I was that well known of a poster.

I'm not really much of a comic book expert. Many people here have much more knowledge about comics than I do.

Trevor

Well welcome back anyway!

What'd you do with yourself the last two years?

And I think I may have misunderstood you a bit on the above storage issue. Yes, I do see the need for some hard drive space for some Comixology space and, for me mostly, Humble Bundle purchases.

rocket1312

Fair enough. Your secret is safe with me Rick Jones.

kgrogers1979

Thanks. I haven't been doing anything special. Just working, sleeping, and eating.

Solid Snake

It's only been like what? A month? You weren't gone too long. I always notice your name cuz I still read it as Krogers and some numbers.