Alright, I know that it has probably been dealt with before in here, but what kind of collector are you?

Do you bag and board religiously, constantly fearful that you don't know which side of the board is, in fact, acid-free?

Do the usual vault rules apply? For those of you who haven't memorized Mallrats (i.e. you guys that have lives), the rules are 'Touch not, lest ye be touched.'

Or are these things you might say?

I don't care what condition it's in; I READ it.

I bag and board them when, and if, I damn well feel like it.

What the hell does acid-free mean, anyway?

Who gives a crap what it's worth? I'm not selling it. It's mine.

I don't know where I lie, but I think that I'm closer to type 1 than I was a few years back. Recently I stopped doubling comics up on a single board to fit more into a box. Acid was suddenly an issue. And when I catch my niece scribbling in an old book that I gave her to read, I get a little annoyed.

Does anyone else have a problem?

Most of books are in order on top of eachother in separate piles in my closet. I bag some important books, Ultimate Spider-Man#1, Ultimates#1, Origin series etc and they sit on the top shelf but apart from that I can just open the door and pretty much pull out whatever I please. I do have all the 'Just a Pilgrim' books in the draw in there but thats because I want them in good cond, I'm not ganna sell em.

Bagged and Boarded. and if you touch them, i will your bones and make you my bread. all my issues are in seperate white boxes, organized by:

Top Cow/Image (Witchblade, Darkness, BOTP, Universe, Fathom)

Wolverine/Orgin/Annual

Ultimate Universe (X-Men, Spider-Man, Ultimates, and issue 1 of Marvel Team-up)

New X-Men

Discontinued/Mini serries (Cable, Deadpool, Uncanny X-Men, Capt. America, X-Factor, Highroads, Apache Skies, X-Treme, Evolution, The Heralds, Jango Fett and Fury

When collecting in the 70s and 80s, I board and bagged everything, washed hands before touching, etc etc. Now my current "collection" of comics are just in a big piles throught the house. The get damaged, I don't care...

i would not could not waste money on backing boards, bags, and the time it takes to bag everything. i just read 'em. i keep my comics in long boxes, but that's more of a means to reduce clutter than anything else. i do keep them alphabetized, but i keep everything alphabetized.

I keep all my comics in boxes with bags. No boards. Unless its an Origin, or something that'll keep and be worth money. Not that I will ever sell, but it's nice to keep them in good condition. I'm not under any delusions that much of my collection will ever be worth more than cover price, but I like to keep them to read. No one may read my books unless they also collect. I learned that lesson when a girl was reading my Fury #5 and she had sweaty palms - you know how that goes...
I think the biggest reason I bag and box my collection is as a detterent. People see them in bags, they tend not to go through them when I'm not watching.

Every issue in a bag and board: everything. Not because I'm stringent, but my store always sells them that way with no extra cost, which is great. Probably wouldn't bother doing it myself, but might do bags alone.

I'm probably split halfway between 1/2, pretty particular about the condition but not much about the rest.

Oh, the second type, without question. Everything I own that is bagged and boarded was B&Bed more than ten years ago, unless I bought it that way. I stopped "collecting" a decade ago, so I don't even like calling myself a type of collector. I buy to read. That's it. That's my only motivation. Hell, it's one of the reasons I love the trade paperback trend ... no lingering guilt from my collector days about letting them get beat up.

I do have a few things on my B&B list. I have a full run of Hulk "Tales To Astonish," and only the first half of the run is boarded. A bunch of silver age DC that needs the treatment. I think my run of the first SHIELD series, as well as my sub-150 Fantastic Four, all need the treatment, too. But I'd be doing it only because I plan on selling them off, anyway. With reprints and Essentials and the rest coming out, I'm getting rid of just about everything I can get in reprinted form.

Anyone want a Tales to Astonish run? Daredevil #1?

I keep them in a stack in the corner of my room. If they get bent, oh well. I didn't care anyways. I get comics strictly to read them, not to collect them. If I buy an issue #1 that's worth something yet it sucks, I feel a pang of regret for buying it.

i get boards when it occurs to me. most of my books are bagged and boarded cause i put 2 issues in an bag with the board between them.
anyone can touch my comix--and if i mess it up, no big deal.
i'm no brodie, but i like them in decent shape.