Everything You Need To Be Comic Book Geek Chic

I have a lot of patience.  It took from 1977-2010 to finally close a case file (you can read about this sort of thing in any of my books and you KNOW where my online store is!).  So,two years ago when being Comic Book Geek Chic became the "in thing" I subscribed to twenty You Tube channels by the "new evangelicals" as I like to call them.

I was already subscribed to five old time comic fan channels.

How many of those twenty are still "huge comic fans" and have channels?  None.  Seriously, one started gradually collecting vinyl records and then his mid-life crisis introduced him to motorcycles.  Each one he was very evangelical about.  Others just vanished.

The old timers -Captainstrangelife, hippycollectables, Kostenbraunstar et al -still going strong. Nothing "chic" about them and you can find links to their channnels on the Blog list.

Now we have more newbies -all videoing their "Hump-day hauls" -and I'll explain.  I kept hearing "today is "hump day" and I assumed that it was the only day of the week these people were allowed to have sex ("hump").  In fact "hump day" is a moronic way of saying "It's Wednesday -we are on our way to the weekend" -whoopee.  "Hump day" is also when comics hit the shops so there are LOTS of "my hump day comic haul" videos on You Tube -all by more newbies.

Oh!  They have also picked up on comickers who have shown their comic purchases while parked in their cars and on breaks.  If I hear one more newbie say "Hi. Here I am in my car--"  I'll ****** scream.  Well, there is a steering wheel in front of you, a car interior, windows so I think even Forest Gump could tell you were in a ***** car.

Ass heads.

BUT, when you start these videos you think "Hello. What's going on here?" Because the geek chicster puts on cotton gloves...ooh, is this going to be "one of those" videos?  No, it is so that the comics that have been hit by dust, packers fingers, store staff fingers and so on are NOT touched by any human skin because if it was it would immediately be devalued to 1 cent or burst into flame.

You'll see these advertised for "genuine collectors"....

Now, if you are dealing with a very rare document, say Magna carta or very rare archives -yes, even I've worn them then because 18th and 19th centuries newspapers are very delicate and important to preserve.  A newly printed few dollars comic book....feck off.

I love that two bloggers even wore face masks to prevent breath getting on comics.  Look, from the moment the comics -or anything- is printed/made it is decaying.  That includes human beings.  So, gloves and face masks just put a big neon sign over your head reading "arschloch"!

Bags, well, yes, you want to stop accidental spillages onto books or kids or even (bad memory flash-back here) gerbils from ruining your comics okay. 

I've been berated a few times that I do not bag and board all my comics. Firstly, **** off.  It's none of your concern.  Then I get "Oh, so you do bag some comics just not the reading copies" -NO NO NO NO NO NO. I do not have 2, 4, 6 or even 10 copies of a certain comic in various "grades" but one grubby one to read.  I have ONE copy. Yes, I have comics and I read them.  Some very old ones or ones I read a lot I do bag especially since dust and mold can be a problem.  But I do not go out buying Mylar bags -if I do buy any they are bog standard comic bags....

 
But I tend to use plastic document sleeves -you know the 50 for £1 that are supposed to go into ring binder folders.  And, no, I do not back board unless its a rare, flimsy comic.

And they hunted down the Nazis and left me alone -terrible, isn't it?




And I do not go out and buy archive sheets that go into comics to absorb any moisture and thus prevent rot.

Think about it.  Newsprint paper in a PLASTIC bag and a sheet to absorb moisture.  Plastic bags "sweat" ever so minutely but you have a sheet that ABSORBS moisture IN your comic.

Here is something you need to consider.  NOTHING will stop your comic from rotting. I'm not even going to go into why your comic collection is NOT going to make you rich -just search this blog or You Tube. But, and I am sorry to bring this up, how long do you think you are going to live -70, 80 years? You die and your books will either be dumped, burnt or sold off.

You are being ripped off for every penny.

Now, one final point, and it does cement the theory I have written so much about.  Up until TVs The Big Bang Theory, geeks were looked down on.  The TV show made them look "cool" so out came the fake spectacles to look "geeky" and as the TV show mentioned comics more so the morons thought it cool. So Comic Geek Chic was born.  Now, in that TV show the character Sheldon Cooper kept boxes of disposable cotton gloves to wear while reading comics.  Up until that time, as I mention, I had only ever seen rare document archivists wear gloves but never comickers.

But people saw there was money to be made so to the bags, boards and double thickness storage boxes (I picked up 20 for £20 that are the same size as archive boxes and REALLY tough -you will not get a comic storage box from a store or online supplier for that money!) came the cotton gloves and face masks.

All of this marks you out as being a dupe, trying to look cool and with money to waste.