The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[Chris]

Mine has been upright on a shelf since I got it. As have other older large HCs, without any issue. Infact, I think most people store their hardcovers upright on shelves... Takes up less space that way.

And I haven't heard any widespread problem with this. So I wouldn't worry about it... Might just be a bad copy.

[fieldy snuts]

At the top the glue seems to have come slightly apart from the spine but only a few millimeters or so, maybe 3 at most...but given time I could see it getting worse. I wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't for this thread.

Luckily my Jason Aaron Ghost Rider omnibus seems to be small enough to avoid this flaw.

[Victorian Squid]

[Victorian Squid]

Oversized, heavy, structurally weak, or damaged books should be stored flat....

http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets ... ethods.php

Or any other preservation site.

Marvel omnibuses qualify, in most cases, for "heavy", "oversized", and "structurally weak". Bender's and feldy's both qualify as "damaged" as well. Most books otherwise are fine upright if kept properly.

The rest of you could learn something about keeping your omnibuses and other large books from being ruined over time if you aren't as pretentious as to assume you know more than you do about everything.

[bkthomson]

runs to go lay his books flat.

[Victorian Squid]

This is, after all, what I do. I do have additional training in preservation of archive materials, but also the accumulated wisdom of book dealers over time as well as what I see on a regular basis with my own two eyes. Moreover I doubt one would have to search far and wide to find retailers who have run into similar issues with new books on their shelves as I've talked to at least two myself about these problems with the omnibus lines of both Marvel and DC (and at least one now stores them flat as a result).

[contramundi]

"Bookmaker, I would have words with thee..."

cool

[DMM]

I just checked, and my Captain America volume 1 (Brubaker) Omnibus' binding has come apart from the spine a little. It starts at the top and goes a little over halfway down--just far enough to allow the bottom of the pages to sink down and rest on the shelf with the bottom edges of the hardcover--which makes sense, gravity-wise. Kind of makes me wonder why they don't have the bottom of the pages line up with the bottom edge of the hardcover--it would prevent these issues when storing hardcovers upright in a shelf, as they ought to be.

[Victorian Squid]

Which takes a book that was in Very Good or Near Fine condition and downgrades it to merely Good. (Books are graded on a different scale than comics, of course.)

I just checked, and my Captain America volume 1 (Brubaker) Omnibus' binding has come apart from the spine a little. It starts at the top and goes a little over halfway down--just far enough to allow the bottom of the pages to sink down and rest on the shelf with the bottom edges of the hardcover--which makes sense, gravity-wise. Kind of makes me wonder why they don't have the bottom of the pages line up with the bottom edge of the hardcover--it would prevent these issues when storing hardcovers upright in a shelf, as they ought to be.

That's just it--they ought not to be. That's you confusing your own aesthetics with what is best for the book over time, period.

And the reason they aren't bound that way is that during the course of being read and shelved that would subject the book to a new set of stressors that would destroy it.

The real answer would be a) don't bind such a heavy book! or b) pay much more money on the production end to have a truly well-bound volume, something they ain't gonna do. And even if they did, many of the omnibuses are so large that they should still be stored flat anyway.

[DMM]

Well, maybe I'll store my omnibuses (I only have about 3 that are really big/heavy--the aforementioned Captain America [which is actually not that big as far as Omnibuses go], X-Statix, and Age of Apocalypse) flat on the floor underneath my one shelf from now on. Sheesh!

[Victorian Squid]

Well, maybe I'll store my omnibuses (I only have about 3 that are really big/heavy--the aforementioned Captain America [which is actually not that big as far as Omnibuses go], X-Statix, and Age of Apocalypse) flat on the floor underneath my one shelf from now on. Sheesh!

You can lay several of them flat atop each other on a regular shelf and not take up much more space than you would have upright.

Hey. these omnibuses are expensive but not really made that well. In many cases the desire for a complete omnibus of a run has resulted in a book with too heavy a page-block to safely store upright. I am merely trying to explain how to protect your investment in them over the long-term. It's like someone buying a watercolor and then sulking when someone tells them not to hang it in the shower.

If you were to go to library stacks with valuable books, or anywhere books were truly cared for or curated, you would find many heavy, over-sized volumes stored flat. Not places like Crap-a-Jillion or Half Assed Books.

[bkthomson]

Ok. Ok. All is well. My Thor Omnibus is laying on it side, and always have been. No need to worry, I'm not Bender!

[GHERU]

wow, this is the rare case of Bender's bitching doing some good
thanks, Fatty, I have turned my Omnibuses on to their side, luckily they all looked ok

[Greg]

Fuck!!

(Runs to lay Dave McKean's Cages flat!!)

[GHERU]

Fuck!!

(Runs to lay Dave McKean's Cages flat!!)

bow chi chi bow wow