posted February 13, 2003 10:33 AM               

I was worried about losing art and dialog in the spine, but it wasn't much of a problem. There were only a couple of two-page spreads in the whole run. You lose about a quarter of an inch in the binding process, but every thing was still readable. On a normal single page, you can still see the white panel border in the center.

And it was pretty quick, too. Less than 3 weeks from the day I mailed the comics off. Mr. Banks was very nice to deal with. He sent emails when he received the books, and when he sent it back to me, along with a preview picture. If you're interested, his email is:

dpbanks@earthlink.net

and his website is:

http://www.dpbanks.com

posted February 13, 2003 10:52 AM            

First rate work, and quick delivery!

I had my entire run of Sandman Mystery Theatre bound into a set of light tan (think:sand) hardcovers, and am very pleased at the results.

posted February 13, 2003 11:00 AM               

This time around I had three books made for myself -- Strikeforce: Morituri 1-20, a complete run of Young Heroes in Love, and a complete collection of J2 and the Wild Thing series with J2 back-ups. I also had two smaller collections made up of Disney comics done for my niece and my daughter, for when they are old enough to read.

Next up I'm sending the complete run of Alan Moore's Supreme, the complete Chronos series from DC a while back, and the complete run of Byrne's X-Men: the Hidden Years. Unless I change my mind an go with something else. I was going to have a Miracleman book done, but I flipped through some of the later Alan Moore issues and there were just too many captions which started right at the spine. I'll wait on those in case new collections do eventually get released. I have a list of about 30 custom hardcovers I want to make and it is fun picking which to send each time.

posted February 13, 2003 02:02 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by BillNolan:

Next up I'm sending the complete run of Alan Moore's Supreme,
- Bill

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This may or may not change your mind, but I believe those are being reprinted shortly in HC.

posted February 13, 2003 02:09 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dylanfan:
This may or may not change your mind, but I believe those are being reprinted shortly in HC.

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Two volumes at $75 ea. or one at around $50? Hmm...which should I choose?

Plus, I pre-ordered the first tpb before they announced the HCs (great planning on their part with that!). And since I pre-ordered it, I was stuck buying the first tpb even tho' it featured the worst printing job I have ever seen on a modern material tpb. AND the first tpb leaves out (according to the solicitation for the HC) about 100 pages of material which IS included in the $75 HC. I am so unimpressed with the Checker Book Publishing Co. right now...

posted February 13, 2003 09:01 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by jk4w:
How much does this cost & does it damage the originals ?

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posted February 14, 2003 07:23 AM               

I've put up all the pictures I have.

These are my first three books in the process of being made and done:
http://home.attbi.com/~jenolan/hardcovers/books1.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~jenolan/hardcovers/books2.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~jenolan/hardcovers/books3.jpg

These are the latest ones:
http://home.attbi.com/~jenolan/hardcovers/nolan2_3bks2.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~jenolan/hardcovers/mouse3.jpg

posted February 14, 2003 09:18 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Cloneranger:
After reading about GDL's and BillNolans's custom books, I decided to get one done. I sent in Jungle Action 5-24. I got the book back yesterday and I'm very pleased with it. I opted for a black cover with gold lettering. It looks great!

I was worried about losing art and dialog in the spine, but it wasn't much of a problem. There were only a couple of two-page spreads in the whole run. You lose about a quarter of an inch in the binding process, but every thing was still readable. On a normal single page, you can still see the white panel border in the center.

And it was pretty quick, too. Less than 3 weeks from the day I mailed the comics off. Mr. Banks was very nice to deal with. He sent emails when he received the books, and when he sent it back to me, along with a preview picture. If you're interested, his email is:

dpbanks@earthlink.net

and his website is:

http://www.dpbanks.com

And now I have to decide what to get bound next!

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Thank you for the report.

Your very positive experience and description does make the option more attractive -- although the box still seems more useful for my family (who may want to liquidate/distribute my collection one day).

Thanks for posting so those of us who are on the fence can get a feel for how we would react to the finished work!!

posted February 14, 2003 11:36 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Cloneranger:
With the options I chose for the cover and cover lettering, it was $42.50. That included return shipping.

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posted February 14, 2003 11:37 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Old Dude:
Damn! That is like making your own archives! And they look great!

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posted February 15, 2003 12:38 AM            

What about letter pages? (This I'd like, if all letter pages could be moved to the back of the collection.)

------------------
"It never hurts to help." - Eek the Cat

posted February 15, 2003 01:58 AM               

It would save you forty bucks.

Or are you guys just to embarassed to have comic books laying around?

posted February 15, 2003 03:21 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by REKLEN:
Why don't you just use a three hole punch in the spine and put them in a regular binder.

The holes rip out after repeated readings.

Or are you guys just to embarassed to have comic books laying around?

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Highly unlikely with this crowd, don't you think. For me, I like to have big fat comics with durable bindings lying around.

-Scott

posted February 15, 2003 07:39 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Registered Member# 16603:
Something just occurred to me... What about ads? Now, for pages that have a story on one side and an ad on the other I guess it's unavoidable, but what about pages that have ads on both sides? Are they discarded?

What about letter pages? (This I'd like, if all letter pages could be moved to the back of the collection.)

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16603,

They don't take the comics apart at all. It's all there, ads and all. They stack the comics up, sew them together as-is, and bind that sewn package in a hardcover.

posted February 15, 2003 07:43 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by REKLEN:
Or are you guys just to embarassed to have comic books laying around?

Reklen

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Why did this subject offend you enough, personally, that you felt the need to make your spiteful comments? Rough Valentine's Day?

posted February 15, 2003 09:54 AM            

After expensive trial and error I've found I prefer the slimmer volumes--you lose less information in the middle and they lay better while reading. I tend o go with 12 issues a volume of a standard monthly. With a magazine, I find 5 issues a nice fit. I had the whole Alan Moore Supreme run bound in one volume a couple years ago (about 18 issues, I think) and it just looks overstuffed to me and doesn't open the way I'd like.

After a some intial confusion, the bindery and I now have a pretty mechanical relationship. Amidst all the medical journals and such they do for libraries, I'm The Comic Book Guy (ouch!). Every 2 to 3 weeks I pick up my order and drop another off. I'm paying considerably less than $50 a volume, however.

posted February 15, 2003 10:57 AM               

Plus, part of the cost does go toward the return shipping of the finished product. This is a convenient service for me, since the only book binding company listed in my local yellow pages is Kinko's, and I don't think they're capable of this level of quality, if you know what I mean!

I'm sure some of the cost we've been paying goes to the sales rep. who organizes everything, but it's worth it. He maintains customer files, so that all the books I send end up looking uniform. And the finished products are definite top-quality. They are securely sewn and well bound. I think the cover text is even hand-stamped, but don't quote me on that. I'm not trying to sound like a salesman, but I've been very happy with the ones I've had done and I've never run into a problem losing readability in the spine area no matter how thick the book was.

posted February 15, 2003 11:23 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by REKLEN:
Why don't you just use a three hole punch in the spine and put them in a regular binder.

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If you're going to do that, you might as well get those little plastic things that you can insert into the middle of a comic and then put in a binder.

However, the binders never seem to sit right on the shelf.