Anyone here ever done it? Vince B from 11 o' clock comics has been talking it up lately so I decided to have two volumes made to try it out. He recommended librarybinding.com.

The first volume I'm having made:

Day of Vengeance Infinite Crisis Special
Shadowpact #1-25

The second volume is (all the post Ennis Punisher Max stuff)

Punisher Max #61-75
Force of Nature One Shot
Little Black Book One Shot
Naked Kill One Shot
Punisher Max Xmas Special

Depending on how those turn out I've got more in mind.

We've had 2 threads on this topic, but I can't seem to find them when I search.
Can someone help me?

would you have them remove the pages that have only ads on both sides?
how much does this cost?
I've been considering it, but I dunno... I do buy just for reading, no grand delusions of getting rich some day off my funny book collection.
What happens to all the covers?

I know it's good to keep the comics readable but wouldn't it be just as easy to buy a trade or omnibus and not destroy the comics? I know I'd only do it with readers but still.

I'm working on getting all appearances of a character in chronological order, including appearances in titles besides their own - some of that isn't going to be in a TPB.
Also, I've noticed that especially with DC lately that their TPBs are something like "collects issues 12-14, 17, 19, and 21-23". Screw that, now I still have to buy 15, 16, 18, and 20...

Nope, I had them leave the ads in. The covers are bound along with the issue. I've heard from people that had all the covers removed and added at the back or had extra ads removed due to trying to fit as much in as possible but I'm not gonna get that wild with it. I just want the books in a volume where I am more likely to re-read and look nice on the shelf.

Well I wouldn't do it for books that I could get easily in hardcovers or omnibuses. I can say with certainty that they will not make a Shadowpact omnibus. They do have trades but they didn't put the issues in order.

I'm mainly doing it for books and series that aren't being collected like one-shots or putting together series that go together but aren't collected together.

I don't collect comics at all with any expectation of them being worth money, I collect them to read them this makes it easier to do that.

one of my mom's aunts collected comics when she was younger... wonder woman, flash, green lantern, x-men to name a few.

she found out that i collected x-men so she lent me 2 bound volumes of silver age x-men. i remember them being from issue 8 onwards... it was sad. but i was glad to have been able to read them. i dont remember seeing marvel masterworks back then (18 years ago?) so i was happy to be able to read some early stuff... but it was sad nonetheless.

not saying that the newer stuff would get expensive one day... but a kid who would see these books 20-30 years from now would probably feel the same way i did.

There's lots of different ways to have your comics bound. A library style binding is one - This is basically a hardback with cloth covering.

Creating a bound volume is not uncommon, or at least did'nt used to be.

Would be nice if someone could bring back those old threads that thomas4d4 mentioned.

I don't collect them either hoping they'll be worth money at anytime. I collect them because I love to collect stuff To me it's a challenge to find the best ones I can at the cheapest price. So to me damaging even the screwed up ones drives me nuts I hate seeing the quarter boxes with comics loose in them, yeah I'm anal on alot of things stuff like that silly things drive me nuts, so doing comics that way just wouldn't do for me.

Well as far as the worth goes, I've seen a bound copy of Cap #100 - #125 fetch good money on E-Bay. And just think that the book you read 18 years ago is probably in the same condition that you read it in 18 years ago! I love the smell, the letters pages, the Bullpen Bulletins, and the adds of those old Marvel comics. You're not going to find that in a reprint book!

It's definately a grey area as far as what this does to the value. But, as thomas4d4 mentioned that Cap volume still sold fairly high.

One thing to remember about a bound volume, is that the books are still the books. If you have some rare or valuable comics, and they happen to have been bound in a volume, it's possible they might be really well preserved compared to other issues of the same, that were tossed around, creased up, etc.

i remember them being in good condition as it was bound probably in the 70s. everything was trimmed though... thats what i remember.

im wishing marvel masterworks were actual scans of old books... same as the hardbound 500 amazing spider-man covers i picked up. covers were actual scans of old books... some were in non-mint so you could actually see yellowing, staining, and creasing... it was lovely. marvel masterworks looks too clean for me... but im getting them anyways :p

The trimming is unfortunate, and would be a factor. if I were ever doing a bound volume, would line up all the comics at the top page edge, then leave the foredge and bottom uncut. This was a common practice in older books, and you often hear the term "uncut," that's what it refers too.

Still, given a rare or valuable book, what would be preferred - a book in FR/GD, etc, condition or a FN that had been trimmed. It's hard to say exactly, ideally it would be better never to have been trimmed...

The Marvel Masterworks are pretty cool.

Got my first batch back today:




The Shadowpact volume collects Day of Vengeance Infinite Crisis Special & Shadowpact #1-25.
The Punisher volume collects Force of Nature, Little Black Book, MAX X-Mas Special, Naked Kill and then #61-75 which is all the post Ennis Punisher MAX issues.

I was so pleased with how they turned out I immediately sent out three more volumes to be bound:

Deadenders #1-16
Wolverine (One-Shot's) 22 Wolverine One Shot issues that came out in the last two or so years
Wolverine (Mini's) The End, Logan, Manifest Destiny, Old Man Logan

Very nice!

so your punisher volume is 25+ issues, the Shadowpact looks thicker
here's the big question: how much $$ did it cost for each?

also, did you have them leave out 2-sided ads? where's the covers? how do 'splash' pages look, ya know the ones where 1 image covers two pages like a 'centerfold'.

The basic cost for each volume is $15 and then shipping (UPS or they now also do media mail if you like). Everything that you see on the two volumes is the basic cost except for the Punisher front cover stamp which cost an extra $4. Their are a bunch of extras that you can choose if you want to but the basic price for what you get is incredible. They have tons of colors to choose from and from what I've read the recommended max size is around 25 issues per volume.

The first batch I didn't remove anything from the issues. The covers are binded right along with the issues. I plan on leaving ads in but if you want the ads removed you need to do that yourself. For my second batch I removed the 3 or 4 page previews that were in the back of some of the Wolverine issues that were for different unrelated Marvel series. And for the Giant Size Wolverine I removed the 30 or so pages of reprint material that they threw in the back of the issue.

As far as centerfolds go it isn't 100% perfect because they have to do some trimming to bind them but it looks about the same as you would see in a tpb or hardcover.

And I think you miscounted on the Punisher volume it's 19 issues and the Shadowpact volume was 26 issues.

I got to say again; Very nicely done! Looks professional, and skillfully bound. That's coming from someone who does bookbinding.

For the price, and knowing what kind of time and materials go into a job like that, seems very reasonable. I might even send him some.