Organizing your collection
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 2:09 pm
I’m getting ready to rearrange my comic collection again and it got me curious, how do other people organize their collections?
I used to have everything alphabetized together, but as the collection expanded over the years, and as space limitations became a factor, I started to break the collection out in to “families.” So, I keep my Marvels separate from the DCs and independents. Within the Marvels, there’s the X-Section (Uncanny, New Mutants, Excalibur, etc.), the “main” section (Avengers & related titles, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Sgt. Fury/SHIELD, etc.), and the miscellaneous section (crossover books, short-run series, stuff that doesn’t fit in the other sections). That’s three islands of just Marvels. Yeesh!
In the main section, I generally have things grouped again. All the Spider-Books are together; Avengers are grouped with Cap, Iron Man & Thor; Defenders are grouped with Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer & Hulk; you get the idea. The same goes for the X-Section. The miscellaneous section is still alphabetized (although the anthology books like Marvel Comics Presents are off to the side). However, with the upcoming rearrange, I’ll have to break out the alternate reality stuff and make a new (fourth) section (and to do so, move the DCs and independents to another part of the basement, making them less accessible).
Also, because I’m crazy, I keep the Spider-books all mixed together, chronologically. So, a few issues of Amazing, an issue of Web, a few issues of Spectacular, some more Amazing, etc.
Also, I number them back-to-front, so the newest comics are at the front of the box.
I used to have a shelving system I built which long boxes were put into, so I could stack them against the wall and still have them be accessible, but now I use drawer boxes. No more need for shelves, because the boxes stack themselves and turn into a giant cardboard filing cabinet all by themselves!
How do YOU do it?
I used to have everything alphabetized together, but as the collection expanded over the years, and as space limitations became a factor, I started to break the collection out in to “families.” So, I keep my Marvels separate from the DCs and independents. Within the Marvels, there’s the X-Section (Uncanny, New Mutants, Excalibur, etc.), the “main” section (Avengers & related titles, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Sgt. Fury/SHIELD, etc.), and the miscellaneous section (crossover books, short-run series, stuff that doesn’t fit in the other sections). That’s three islands of just Marvels. Yeesh!
In the main section, I generally have things grouped again. All the Spider-Books are together; Avengers are grouped with Cap, Iron Man & Thor; Defenders are grouped with Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer & Hulk; you get the idea. The same goes for the X-Section. The miscellaneous section is still alphabetized (although the anthology books like Marvel Comics Presents are off to the side). However, with the upcoming rearrange, I’ll have to break out the alternate reality stuff and make a new (fourth) section (and to do so, move the DCs and independents to another part of the basement, making them less accessible).
Also, because I’m crazy, I keep the Spider-books all mixed together, chronologically. So, a few issues of Amazing, an issue of Web, a few issues of Spectacular, some more Amazing, etc.
Also, I number them back-to-front, so the newest comics are at the front of the box.
I used to have a shelving system I built which long boxes were put into, so I could stack them against the wall and still have them be accessible, but now I use drawer boxes. No more need for shelves, because the boxes stack themselves and turn into a giant cardboard filing cabinet all by themselves!
How do YOU do it?