I gently tap the button with the Avengers logo on it. One panel in the chest-high cabinet clicks as my request is acknowledged. With a smooth hiss and a puff of air the climate-controlled, humidity-free drawer glides forward. LED lighting along each side blinks on, banishing the darkness that its contents are usually hidden in. The glow highlights the meticulously organized row of bagged and boarded comic books. I can now peruse the well-spaced row of books, pulling out the one I want. Pressing the button a second time, the drawer slides back into place. This is what I want!
What I Have:
Shaking my head I snap back to the real world. Reaching forward, my fingers slide into the cutout slot in the front of the white, cardboard long box stuffed with comics. With a tug I muscle it forward, stopping before it slides off the hand-made plywood shelf it rests on. Steadying the box with that hand, my other hand gingerly reaches behind the box. Trying not to bloody my knuckles on the shelf above it, my fingers feel for the slot in the back. With a slight grunt, the fifty-pound box gets lowered from the shelf onto the floor so I can dig through its contents.
Some people may envision comic collectors as chubby fanboys & fangirls in striped shirts. My struggle to find the comic I'm searching for reminds me that it's more likely they are neckless powerlifters with biceps, quads, and glutes chiseled from lifting and squatting these boxes.
Whoever designed these twenty-eight-inch long cardboard boxes to protect our comic book treasures deserves a Nobel prize. They are capable of holding more than sixty pounds of books. They can be stacked, carried, and slid while protecting our treasures as well as any old west bank safe. However, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, an early computer programmer, was once quoted as saying, "The most damaging phrase in the English language is 'We've always done it this way...'".
"But we've always done it this way..."
I've spent hours on Google, Pinterest, Reddit, and other sites searching for the perfect storage system. I've found awesome ones that any collector would be proud to house his treasures in. There are space-saving designs and systems meant to showcase your best issues. Some literally build a room for their comics. The ideas range from basic and efficient to artistic and expensive.
However, I can't seem to find the one that works best for me. I want mine to be something that will make my grandkids' eyes go big when they sneak down to my basement office. I want to somehow display my favorite comics. But I also want something practical. I want to be able to easily locate a book I'm looking for without giving myself a hernia or making it a full afternoon project.
The wooden boxes you see in my picture above will always be a part of my storage system. My dad built those for me back in the 1980s when I asked him if he had anything I could store my books in. We both figured that those six boxes would be more than enough to hold my current and future collection. To me, those boxes will always be more valuable than whatever comics I might have in them.
The Ultimate Storage System...
My storage bench works. It will hold my 7700 books plus the few more I selectively buy each week. A curtain hangs across the front of it and the top doubles as a workbench for my models. But it's not convenient, and more importantly, it's not cool. I'm hoping you can share some of your ideas and systems in the comments below. After all, the best collection is only worthwhile if you can enjoy it.
Let's hear what you've got...
