Reorganized 12 out of 24 long boxes this week. Only took 7 hours. Ouch.
I don’t reorganize often, mostly because my collection is already in good order. But if I start pulling out books for research, or in some foolish thought that I might actually read them (*gasp*), I wind up with extraneous books laying around in piles that need refiling. Plus, my weekly purchase from my LCS and my monthly arrival from DCBS means those new comics need their place! So yea, every 8 months or so, it’s time to reshuffle. And this one was overdue.
At current standing, I have 24 long boxes and 2 short boxes. The breakdown is as such:
12: DC
3: all Titans
3: Independent/Small Press/Self Published
2: Marvel
2: Wizard/Hero Illustrated Magazines
1: New 52 DC
1: reference
My storing habits used to fluctuate for years. Originally, I would alphabetize my collection (more or less) regardless of publisher. When I started selling on Ebay back in the previous century (heh), it made more sense to group by publishers so I would have easier access to dispose of titles (it was because of Ebay that my collection shrunk down, especially for Marvel. Eventually I probably built it back up over the years). If I moved to a new apartment, that would give me an excuse to reorganize in a new way. I once tried the Murd method of purchase chronology, meaning, any new books would just be filled behind books I bought the week/month before. But that was too much for my head (anyone remember that scene in High Fidelity where he’s reorganizing his record collection as “autobiographical”? It was kinda like that – only without the comfort). Eventually, I settled on the “system” above and it’s done me well for awhile, especially since 9 of my boxes are Collection Drawer Boxes. Easy access means less shuffling around.
Doing the math, one of my long boxes can store around 300 comics, all bagged/boarded. Drawer Boxes are a bit shorter, so maybe those can store around 275. With two short boxes, and misc comics that are in regular boxes, that means my collection is roughly around 7500 comics (not counting magazines, reference books, oversized hardcovers, etc). Makes me wonder just how many books I would have if I hadn’t done the ebay thing.
From the breakdown of boxes above, the 12 DC boxes are all pre-Flashpoint. And while they are alphabetized, I’m sure I would drive anyone with OCD mad with some of my filing choices. For instance, all Batman or Superman related titles are filed under B or S respectively. Meaning, my Superman is mixed in chronologically with my Adventures of, Man of Steel and Action, etc. Same with all of the Batman titles (but not Nightwing, that’s mixed in with my Titans). Same with my Justice titles: Justice League International comes before JLA. JSA follows JLA. But the Brad Meltzer Justice League of America is filed after JSA because that’s when it was released. And then when I got to the letter M, I pulled all of my Grant Morrison comics and filled them in chronological title order. I did the same thing for George Perez – except all of his comics, covers, etc. come immediately after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Why? Because that’s where it makes the most sense for my collection. I’m also not a fan of spreading out crossovers. For instance, all of my Blackest Night related tie-ins are mixed in chronologically with the main Blackest Night issues. But don’t look for them under B. Blackest Night as a whole is right in with all the Green Lantern comics that spawned the event.
Don’t try to figure it out. Haha.
All the rest are fairly self explanatory. It takes 3 long boxes to file all of my Titans related comics including Teen Titans, New Teen Titans, Teen Titans Spotlight, New Teen Titans vol.2, Team Titans, Teen Titans vol.2, the Titans, Teen Titans vol.3, Outsiders (Judd Winick-era), Titans vol.2, random Batgirl and Robin issues, Superboy by Jeff Lemire, Teen Titans Go!, various mini-series, oneshots, etc. The 3 Indie title boxes are grouped mostly be publisher: Action Lab, AdHouse, Ape, Boom, Comico, Dark Horse, Eclipse, Free Comic Book Day books, IDW, Image, Markosia, Oni, Top Cow, Viper, Virgin, Wildstorm, etc. Included in this box, under M, are a bunch of Movie Adaptation comics and a section under C for CGS-related comics, Comics NOW!, easter eggs, etc.
My Marvel comics have been pared down over the years to those that I really want to keep and to those that I just haven’t sold off yet. These 2 remaining boxes are all pre-Marvel Now. I have a healthy chunk of Bendis-New Avengers but the rest are mostly storylines, events, mini-series, etc. including issues of Born Again, Simonson’s Thor run, Operation Galactic Storm, Human Fly, Hickman’s F4/FF, Secret Wars, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Annihilation, etc. And slowly I’m rebuilding my Black Panther and Age of Apocalypse runs.
The 2 Wizard/Hero Illustrated mags are for reference – as is the box of reference comics that include Secret Files, Galleries, Handbooks, Amazing Heroes, Sourcebooks, Marvel Saga, Official Index books, etc.
And lastly, the New 52 DC box, which also spills over into two short boxes, is anything that I’ve been purchasing recently including Marvel Now and Indie titles including Morning Glories, Saga, etc.
Oh yea – and then there are some miscellaneous regular package boxes that have my Who’s Who and OHOTMU books, trades that I’ve pulled to read, and oversized books such as my Born Again Artist Edition, Invisibles Omnibus, etc.
Whew.
This will definitely last me for a good year. My hope is that I don’t have to buy any more long boxes, which means I need to do another purge at some point and try to sell off comics that I don’t want. I don’t know if I could go extreme and whittle things down to just under ten boxes, but it certainly would help if I ever decide to move again. But for now, the Rios collection is organized.
And an organized collection is a happy one.