Comic Filing Questions
 

I have several long boxes of various runs. Most are easy to figure out how to file such a long box of Archie TMNT followed by the early Mirage run. Another dedicated to IDW TMNT. However, I was wondering if there was any good order to file away the various mini-series from the micro-series to The Last Ronin?

Also, I have various mini-series and one-shots mostly DC I don't know where to file or what order. I put Blackest Night and Brightest Day with the chronlogical 2004 to 2021 Green Lantern series. However, I have things like Run Riddler,Run set and a few other Batman villain one shots and a couple of DC Comics Christmas specials along with mini-series like World Finest (1990), Trinity, and company-wide crossovers Doomsday Clock, Identity
Crisis, finite Crisis, Final Crisis. Would you put it alphabetical or chronologically?

Also, I have a complete collection of Brave and the Bold Batman team ups as well as the second volume and Hal/Barry mini-series. Would things like Batman: Phantom Stranger, Batman/ Deadman: Death and Glory, and Batman crossovers with Marvel's Hulk, Spider-Man, Punisher, Captain America,and Daredevil go in a Batman mini-series box or filed after the Brave and the Bold sets?

How would you file sets like Batman Adventures and Batman and Robin Adventures sets as well as Batman and The Outsiders vol. 1, Batman and Robin (2009), and Batman '66 that are completed when I also have a couple of series with just select arcs in Gotham Knights and Legends of The Dark Knight? Thanks for your input.

Why don't you just order the comics by release date, the year they came out?

Because that doesn't strictly work, for reasons which will become clear.

I've got 20-something longboxes. It can sure be a pain for lots of reasons.

Here's how I do it:

- Stuff like Superman, Batman, Sonic & TMNT which easily fill up multiple boxes on their own get their own dedicated boxes. That adds up to be roughly half of what I own.

- Everything else gets boxed in alphabetical/chronological order. Ex: Stuff with numbers in the title, like DC's "52" series, goes first, the stuff starting with A, and so on.

- I don't put stuff like "Blackest Night" or other company-wide cross-overs in with Green Lantern, even though it's GL-centric, since it does include the entire DCU. That series is in the "B" section. For my own "ease of use" for when I go to read it again, for series such as that one or "Final Crisis", etc., I put the one-shot spin-off books or connected mini-series in the box in-between the main mini-series' issues, so I remember to read everything in proper order. For example with Final Crisis, I put the "Superman Beyond: 3D" issues in-between issues #5 and 6 or wherever it is, instead of in the "Superman" boxes, since even though they're Superman-titled books they're meant to be read in-between issues of the main "Final Crisis" books.

- If the storyline continuity of a spin-off is vague, or else it doesn't truly connect with the main series such as the "Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds" mini, I'll put it in the box directly following the main Final Crisis issues.

- Things like one-shots, Annuals and mini-series for ongoing characters can make things VERY confusing. Therefore, I don't have one set way of doing it. I basically just sort of eyeball where it could fit in storyline-wise, if possible. Like the 1987 Superman-related Annuals are placed in-between issues of the ongoing series based on when they probably should have occurred in-story. "Superman: Aliens" clearly took place shortly after he came back from the dead, so that's where I put it. Etc. etc. It's not a perfect system by any means but it mostly-works.

- Mini-series or one-shots that are clearly "Elseworlds" or otherwise out-of-continuity, or just plain don't fit snugly anywhere, I place after the ongoings. For example, if you went through my Superman boxes, it would go Silver Age books - Byrne-Era through "Flashpoint" - New 52 era - Misc. mini-series and one-shots.

- Probably THE most annoying thing with this sort of thing, is that with characters like Superman or Batman who have multiple monthly books (plus those extras like mini-series or one-shots constantly), sometimes the monthly books intersect but other times not. Those two characters' books are a HUGE pain to organize.

For example, in the late-80s "Batman" and "Detective Comics" only ever told self-contained one- or two-issue stories, but set roughly at the same time. So with those, I simply put them together in release order - The Dec. 86 issue of "Batman", then the Dec. 86 issue of 'Tec, then the Jan. 87 issue of Batman, etc. If there was a two-issue 'Tec story, I'd put both issues together and THEN the next issue of Batman. You get the idea.

BUT, then "Knightfall" happened, so the Bat-books were officially intertwined for several months, so there definitely couldn't be any segregation of the main books in storing them. It wasn't too different from how I'd already been storing them, other than having an official reading order.

THEN the books got segregated again, though, and 6-issue or longer arcs started becoming the norm and continuity became vague. This made it VERY tough to organize things. So what I did was, I'd group all of "Hush" together, for example, followed by whatever the 'Tec books had put out during that time, followed by "Shadow of the Bat", then the next Batman arc, followed by the next 'Tec arc, etc.

So it's like a very odd mic of chronological, alphabetical, and reading-order. I'm probably not explaining it very well but it honestly works okay for what I need it for. I mean if you ever plan on reading the books again, it's pretty much the only way to do it without having to search for stuff. Like if you kept Action Comics where it's "supposed" to be alphabetically and likewise put Superman way back under "S", if you wanted to read anything from 1991 through 1999 it would be a complete mess since the books were integrated week-to-week. Thus it became easier to just group certain characters' books by "section" rather than purely alphabetically.

It's a hassle, I don't envy you. :lol: Back in 2017 I got all my comics out of storage and had to re-organize them, and I hope I never, ever have to do it again. And if someone else looked through them, it might look "out of order" because of this weird system I use, but it's honestly the best thing I could come up with.

With the exception of my Iron Man collection which has it's own boxes, it's own area and shelving; generally I just file titles alphabetically by publisher.

So, Marvel A-Z; DC A-Z; Image A-Z, etc.

Your oversized stuff like the oddly sized Mirage TMNT and the recent Last Ronin mini tend to work well in magazine bags and boards in a magazine box.

Don't become too constrained by the "need" to file all of your TMNT comics together. Aside from personal preference like Leo's bagging crossovers together, I've found the best thing to do is really just to treat your collection like a comic store with that kind of filing.

It took a week, but I managed to go through 11 long boxes for the first time in a decade. WHAT A TASK!:o

I have a complete set of New Teen Titans #1-#55(Tales) followed by the 3 Annuals and four part spotlight issues and then the two parter drug awareness thing and finish it off with the X-Men crossover. I also have Teen Titans Year One and The Lost Annual after it. I have a single issue from the 2003 series #34(NW/Superboy go to the Artic for IC fight). The only other Titans thing I care to own is the interwoven storyline A Lonley Place of Dying which I have placed in chronological order with the Batman title. However, that is not enough to fill up a long box so I have the Super Friends 47 issues and the Super Powers three miniseries chronologically after that.

I also have specific issues of Wally West's Flash title that I don't know where to place. Right now its in the back of my DC-wide mini-series box stories like Return of Barry Allen, Wally's wedding issue, any Dick Grayson appearance, Wonderland arc, Rouge War arc. You get the idea.

Green Lantern wise I have it like this: Green Lantern: Rebirth, 2005-2011 set, chronological specials and annuals, Blackest Night, Blackest Night Batman 3 issue mini, Brightest Day, 2011-2016 set, chronological specials and annuals, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps set, GL Corps final issue #57 (Hal vs Cyborg Superman) single issue, chronological specials and annuals, The Green Lantern Season One,Blackstars mini, The Green Lantern Season Two.

I have a third box of TMNT just IDW one shots and mini-series. One box is IDW ongoing with Universe 25 issue set behind it. Then there is another with IDW TMNT that has everything from the four micros up to Last Ronin. I am including the four Batman crossovers and MMPR ones as well. Should I put it in publication order? I have not figured that out yet. I realize only so many of us on this message board collect comics beyond Ninja Turtles, but I thought enough of you might be in the same boat as me on this one.

Reading stuff like this makes me glad I only ever collected TMNT comics and never got into DC/Marvel, etc comic collecting.

Just having all the Mirage TMNT comics, the Archie comics, Image, and IDW already takes up huge space for me. This is why I started to sell off the single issues when IDW started putting trades out, it's much easier to store and then re-read in book form when I want to go back to them. Even just TMNT comics alone take up a lot of space if you have all of the big 3 series (Mirage, Archie and IDW).

I think I solved the Batman titles question. I will go with completed series alphabetically Batman '66 (and Meets Archie mini), Batman Adventures with specials, Batman & Robin Adventures with specials, Batman and The Outsiders vol.1(1983), Batman and Robin (2009) volume, the select issues of Batman Chronicles, the Batman Confidential 'Wrath Child', 'The Bat and The Cat', and 'A New Dawn' arcs, the select issues of Gotham Knights('Transference',Dick is formally adopted, Signalman issue, Spook issue, 'Pushback') and the 'Prey' and 'Grimm' arcs in Legends of The Dark Knight. Then alphabetically place the Batman related mini-series like All-Star Batman & Robin, Dark Victory, Gotham After Midnight, Long Halloween, Mad Monk, Monster Men,etc. While keeping the first mini-series Untold Legends of The Batman (1980) behind Batman #400 in my Batman #150-#400 long box.

However, I am not still not sure about my DC mini-series and specials box.

I am creating spreadsheets to document the contents of each long box. Finally modernizing my organizational skills.

I went through this when I was younger and then I realized how it caused problems trying to organize by "story" or by "crossover" or theme.

Alphabetically by publisher and then just go in and pull out what you want to read when you want to read it. :lol: I'm laughing at the "situation" not anyone's filing system. I've got about a 60 longbox collection organized this way and it's the only real way to go. Just keep titles by titles. Also, one-shots and mini-series typically file by I.P. alphabetically anyway - a Batman mini for example normally starts with "Batman: Mini- XYZ" and the few exceptions that don't can still just go in alphabetically by title.

Also, like you I keep spreadsheets on my "inventory" and "collection". It's been an evolving monster for 20 years and for the last many years I just did the same thing as the boxes..... Tabs for each publisher, alphabetically. And when you need to find something quickly or you forget an entire title you can search by "Ctrl-F" and jump right to where you want to go. :)

I love this stuff - been doing it for decades now, which sounds crazy considering I'm still under 45 years old. I keep master sheets of costs and quantities as well. They self-compute when I add books to the inventory. It helps me run the metrics of what this monster hobby has cost me over the years. :lol:

I suppose the "bundle it by story and crossover" thing can work when you have a somewhat small collection. But take the Superman "diamond" numbering system from back in the day as an example. Instead of filing "Action Comics # whatever (1991 Diamond number 1) and then putting "Superman the Man of Steel # whatever (1991 Diamond Number 2) after it, it's still better to just file Action comics with Action Comics and Superman the Man of Steel with Superman the Man of Steel.

((Strokes beard Hogan-style)) "Yeah... That doesn't work for me, brother."

My wife and I once spent a few weeks reading the entire Superman run from '86 through Infinite Crisis in one straight shot. If I'd had everything segregated by title it would've taken a ridiculous amount of time to pull everything out, arrange it into reading order, then put it all away afterwards.

Since it was already arranged in reading order (those "Diamond" numbers on the covers were a godsend back in the day), all I had to do was pull a stack from the box, read them, then put them right back where they were, then pull the next few, etc.

If I had to skim through multiple boxes trying to pull the correct issues of Action, Adventures, etc. in reading order it would've been an incredible hassle.

There are only two situations where a story crisscrosses from one title to another in my collection 'A Lonely Place of Dying' between Batman (1940) and New Teen Titans vol.2 and 'The Lightning Saga' in Justice League of America (2006) and Justice Society of America (2006). I don't have any issues of NTT vol.2 or JSA so I place them in the storyline's reading order. Stories like 'Prodigal' I have the Batman and Detective Comics actual issues, but did not displace them from the title's order and had no intention of buying any other issues of the respective titles.

The one-shots are going to be a problem. I need to figure out where Penguin Triumphant, Run Riddler Run, The Riddle Factory, Two Face Strikes Twice, Catwoman: When in Rome all go. I am also trying to figure out what to do with my retro-Batgirl tales in Batman:Batgirl, DC First:Batgirl/Joker and GirlFrenzy:Batgirl and Batman oneshot from 1987 do I place them in front of Batgirl (2011)? Batgirl: Year One as well? Robin: Year One and the Year One Annual do I put that behind the Nightwing arcs that I own?

Some of these are a cinch like my beloved Batman (1940)#150-400 box. Others like DC minis and Batman minis and completed sets like the Animated runs, Outsiders, and '66 while now solved were not easy then the titles I have just select arcs in alphabetically

The more I think about it I will put the Batman team ups behind Brave and the Bold (2007-2010).

The only oddity in the DC minis and one-shots box is a Sonic/Sabrina crossover and Archie Meets The Punisher. Marvel wise since I don't count Star Wars as Marvel per say I have maybe a hundred books all Spider-Man 100th issues and about ten others aside from that with Spider-Man meets OG SNL, Hobgoblin Lives!, Spider-Man: Blue, Spider-Man Life Story, Marvel Knights The Last Stand arc, Superior Spider-Man set, Renew Your Vows mini and ongoing set and Secret War (1984) and Civil War (2006). I am much more of a retro DC guy.

Non-canon, they'd go before or after the ongoing runs, depending on your personal preference.

Right now each of those are in my DC mini-series long box. Once I finish computing everything in a couple of days I will post the contents of the box that is giving me trouble.

I mean... (and honestly as a point of conversation)...

A) how often do you really go back and re-read old $#!(? Seriously...
B) That's what basically everyone has to do when compiling a run out of bins anyway - it's not that complicated for people building a story, right?
C) Pull it from the bins when you are going to read it, put it all in a pile and then read it!

I mean honestly, to each their own - it's a comic collection. But there's a reason that every LCS.... maybe on Earth? Sorts their bins alphabetically by publisher (although the clever ones occasionally bag entire stories together, but that's clever marketing not organization).

I dunno.... Like I said, 60 or so long box collection. So by the situation there aren't many other ways for me to do it.... LOL!

"How often" isn't the point. The point is, when I do want to, it takes ten seconds to pull them out in reading order and then ten seconds to put them back in the box when I'm done.

Rather than meticulously pulling stuff from the "Action Comics" box, the "Adventures of Superman" box, etc., shuffling them into reading order, then separating them to put them all back.

It might be "organized chaos" but I know where every single thing is when I do choose to look at it. I might "only" have about 25-ish boxes worth, but every bit of it is pre-arranged so that every single storyline can be pulled, read, then put back within seconds.

:) Much of my life is organized like that - "I know where it is when I need it". :lol:

So what do you do with say the rest of your Superman run that never crosses over into a DC event, or for example when they got rid of the diamond numbering?

I mentioned that as well. It's still in "reading order" but it goes by storyline.

For example, the pre-Infinite Crisis run. Action Comics, Adventures of Superman and Superman each had their own 12-issue arc in 2005-ish; they all ostensibly took place roughly around the same time in the DCU, but they didn't cross over much and can more or less be read in any order. So I just put them in the box grouped together - the 12-issue Action Comics run, then the 12-issue Adventures of Superman run, then the 12-issue "For Tomorrow" run in Superman.

That's how I arranged all the Superman (and Batman) books once they stopped doing "triangle numbers" or integrated stories. "This 6-issue Batman arc, then this 6-issue 'Tec arc from the same year, then the next Batman arc, then the next 'Tec arc..." etc. etc.

One-shots, mini-series and Annuals, I sometimes have to guesstimate where they'd fit but I'm always pretty close. If it's an Annual which has no connection to canon, I just put it in between stories by cover date - most DC Annuals used to come out in Summer, for example, so if it had an August cover date I'd put it in front of the August ongoing issues, unless the August issues were in the middle of an ongoing storyline, in which case I'd stick the Annual in right after that. If the mini or one-shot is blatantly non-canon, it would go in the "Superman - Misc." section which is after the ongoing series stuff.

It works better than I'm explaining it. But again, pull out any storyline from "Maximum Carnage" to "Death of Superman" or whatever, it's all in "ready-to-read" arrangement. Which is for me the most important thing.

Long, long, LONG time ago, when all I had was Superman and Batman stuff, I did just put stuff together by title. But I got sick of digging around whenever I wanted to read "Knightfall" or "Death of Superman" or whatever, so I finally just put everything in reading order and it's been that way ever since.

There's no real "right" way to do these things; the important thing is just that you know where stuff is when you're looking for it.

I also put "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises" with the rest of my Batman DVDs, even though they start with "D". Because they're Parts 2 & 3 of a trilogy, and the first movie started with the letter "B". Fight me. :trazz:

I have like 35 plastic bins in the garage of everything DC from like the 60s on. I organized everything in chronological order. So like if DC released a new Green Lantern comic in 2007, but it was set around his origins, it goes even before Showcase #22 from the 60s. Same with everything else.

Which is fine for ME... though if I ever wanted to sell it all, it'd be hell to try and sort out now.

I would love to rid my life of the cardboard and have plastic boxes with lids for my collection, man. For so many reasons.

If you guys were going to sell your entire comic collection, how much do you guess it would be worth? Some of you are probably sitting on thousands of dollars, maybe close to a million.

I have all of my costs tabulated going back to the first comic I bought. That probably sounds impossible, but it was incredibly easy to do about two decades ago because I could rely on cover price for most of my books at that point, and I used to keep the dealer stickers on the bags and boards when I bought a back issue.

But people forget all of that add-on costs to the hobby. Costs of long boxes, short boxes, drawer boxes, bags, boards, mylars, mylites, etc. I track the actual book costs, but if I wanted to add the supply costs in, it wouldn't be hard to amortize a cost in there given the average costs of Bags and boards packs. Generally if I bought a book as a bargain bin book or off the racks I had to B&B it. Other add-on costs are like accounting for shipping and tax when you start using a mail order service like DCBS, but you can retrieve all of that as well just by downloading your history from those vendors. There is also other stuff like Microchamber paper or mil cases to consider.

The hobby really adds up over the years and the supplies though, but it is possible to go back and account for close to every penny you spent even if you didn't log it as it happened over time.

To your question - there's also a big difference between logging your hobby costs and comparing that to what it's "worth". The truth is that the majority of comic books are bargain bin fodder.

This is the contents of the DC mini-series and assorted comics box I am having trouble sorting appropriately.
-DC Rebirth special
-Convergence: Detective Comics 1&2
-Convergence: Nightwing & Oracle 1&2
-Convergence: Speed Force 1&2
-DC Special #28 featuring Earth Shattering Disasters.
-Christmas with the Super Heroes (1988 ) reprinted stories
-DC Christmas Special 2008
-DC Christmas Special 2010
-Zero Hour
-Identity Crisis set
-Infinite Crisis set
-Final Crisis set
-Doomsday Clock set
-DC: The New Frontier
-DC Silver Age mini-series set
-World's Finest (1990) mini-series set
-World's Finest (1999) mini-series set
-Trinity mini-series set
-11 select issues of DC Comics Presents (including 1st NNT preview)
-Superman:The Wedding Album
-DC vs Marvel set
-Batman/Hulk
-Punisher/Batman
-Batman/Daredevil
-Daredevil/Batman
-Batman/Spider-Man
-Spider-Man/Batman
Batman/Captain America
-Batman film adaptations 1989-1997, Mask of the Phantasm,Subzero,World's Finest adaptations
-Robin Year One
-Batgirl Year One
-Batman Special (1987)
-Batman: Batgirl one-shot
-DC 1st:Batgirl/Joker
-Girl Frenzy: Batgirl
-Secret Original Special (1989)
-Catwoman: When In Rome mini-series set
-Batman: Mr. Freeze
-Penguin Triumphant
-Run, Riddler, Run set
-The Riddle Factory
-Two Face Strikes Twice! set
-Legends of the DC Universe #6 (Robin meets Superman),#10 & 11 (Batgirl)
-29 select issues of Flash (1987)
-Flash#13(temporary death of Bart Allen)
-Flash plus Nightwing
-Flash: Grodd (2013)

What's the problem? If you were sorting alphabetically then it's an easy fix - just do that and in instances that there aren't prefix titles, then refer to the copyright box in the comic for the published title and use that as your alphabetical marker.

If you aren't sorting alphabetically, then specifically how are you sorting that these titles caused a sorting issue? Given the convo in this thread, gonna disregard use of the word "appropriately" above.... :)

I was thinking about having the Batman crossovers with Marvel characters behind Brave and the Bold (2007) volume in the Brave and the Bold long box.

Also, I did not know if the various villi an focused specials and things like Catwoman: When in Rome should be placed in a certain order or a different box to itself.

Additionally, I was not sure about the Batgirl related comics if it should go in the long box with the two Batgirl volumes and Batgirl and The Birds of Prey with Black Canary/Oracle:Birds of Prey.

I'd probably take a huge bath if I sold my collection. For one thing, with large collections you almost always have to sell it as a lot, which means you're gonna get no more than a buck per issue and usually much less. Anything "of value" can be sold on its own for a decent amount but having a large collection in and of itself doesn't mean anything.

I have some stuff that's worth a little bit... most of the Mirage TMNT, early Archie Sonic comics, some early Image stuff I inherited from my Dad like Spawn #1, and a few Superman and Batman books that are worth something.

BUT none of it is graded - which is a whole expense in and of itself if you hope to get anything close to the value of what you're trying to sell - so technically even those aren't "worth" much of anything.

Collecting comics for any reason but love is a fool's errand, unless you're specifically collecting rare books and have the money to get them graded and appraised.

:o
Wow.

Sortthemalphabetically

Yes, I can attest to the difficulty in selling them off. When I went through my entire collection last week I found 41 comics that were duplicates due to upgrades or purchased as a lot and had little choice to get what I actually needed or in the case of Birds of Prey Infinite Crisis era min-run I ditched it. Some of them were pretty nice like I had 3 Batman title issues (#180,198,210) in the Fine range that could have sold around $30 each, but the sure way to unload them and ensure mutual profit is to let them go as a part of a lot to my LCS. I walked out with $80 and all 41 comics taken off my hands.

Is there a master list of all the Batman and Marvel character crossovers? I am missing the first of the two Batman/Punisher because it's not really Batman. Otherwise, I think I have them all. I am going to the first show in driving distance in 20 months tomorrow so I am curious.

Every Green Lantern related book since 1947? Not to mention that you hate the only Green Lantern that I read in Hal Jordan that is impressive and an accomplishment. I mean, I HATE Jason Better Off Dead Todd so I skip his whole period as Robin in my collection until the first part of A Death In The Family storyline.


There does seem to be quite a few Sonic readers/collectors on here. Hopefully both being under the IDW banner we can get a crossover imagined since their brief time being under the Archie banner simultaneously.

I had to get a new long box separating my Batman related mini-series and ongoing sets since it was overloaded. Not sure exactly how to organize it breaking it down.


Dark Victory for example is 'D' but should it go behind Long Halloween and have the Long Halloween special behind Dark Victory for canonical reason? If not it would be Batman: Dark Detective, Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: The Detective. Same with Batman & The Monster Men and Batman & The Mad Monk. Ma goes before Mo, but Monster Men canonically comes first. There is also Dark Moon Rising banner that both fall under. If that is the case I would need to file them both between Dark Detective and Dark Victory.

Also, Super Team Family was a short-lived mostly reprint title from 1976-1978. I have the #11-#14 arc that ties in with the Justice League of America volume one title. Should I place it in front of my Justice League of America volume one set along with my copy of Mystery in Space#75 or in my Brave and the Bold long box?

My collection is a mess. I have long boxes by titles, mostly DC, everything Superman, Flash & GL from the 70s through 2011. The main ongoings are by title, with the mini series & one shots & crossovers of other titles (if I wasn't already collecting that title) [like when Flash & GL had the 3 parter with Green Arrow, the GA book is either in the Flash run or GL run]. Then I started reading way too many comics, so they're actually just dropped into boxes as they came out every week. And then to make that worse, I moved a couple times & some stuff is not in order at all. I used to keep the comics in medium priority boxes I had taped up & cut open the tops of so I could just drop the books in... somewhere during the move, some of those got mixed up despite me numbering them... And then they got moved & put into long boxes.... disaster. Lol. I keep my MOTU in its own boxes until the last run of DC books. I keep the TMNT stuff all together on its own. I also try to sort each short box now by title. Once its full, open it up & put everything together by title then drop it back in the box. Or take it out & sell off something I probably won't ever read again... I need to get my collection out of the house, resorted & sell some of it off. I also have a "locals" box for artist/writer stuff that I've met & had signed if it doesn't fit anywhere else. And then a box for trades because I've run out of shelf space for those as I used to buy the stories then also buy the trades to reread them.Then I kinda quit reading DC for a while but picked up the trades of the Flash Rebirth stuff so I could catch up.

I used to keep a spreadsheet of my collection as well but the computer that was on crashed so I tried to update the "backup" version but realized I hadn't backed it up in a while and made a mess. I got the newer file backed up & copied & pasted the new portion into it but then both those computers died, so I went Old School notebook... but I made a mess out of that too so I just quit recording what I was buying. I have a ton of stuff thats just bagged, a ton of stuff thats bagged & boarded with whatever used bags/boards I had and then sadly, a ton of stuff that has neither bags or boards & are probably ruined... maybe some day I'll get it all out & reorganized & figure out just what I own... And I'll find my 1st Harley Quinn... lol. I had that and the first Batgirl in Detective, which I had for all of a week when I found out about the tumor in my head so I sold it.... that sucked.

I just started a spreadsheet over the summer when I went through and organized 11 boxes worth of comics. I lost interest in IDW's TMNT title and I lost Batgirl both started in 2011 while the longest pulled title Green Lantern since Hal returned in Green Lantern : Rebirth#1 went without Hal Jordan in its latest iteration of the main title so I did not continue. That being said I have hit the back issue bin hard to occupy my lack of enthusiasm. I have 3 situations where titles I do not collect are woven into such as I don't collect New Teen Titans volume two so A Lonely Place of Dying is fit where it belongs in the Batman title. Same with the JSA title that was running at the time when it crossed over with the 2006-2011 Justice League book. Also, Gorilla Warfare and the Return of Barry Allen crossed over between Green Lantern volume 3 and Flash volume two. I have the three Green Lantern issues that pertain to the Flash volume two storylines. I don't collect a run of Wally West's Flash volume, but I do have over 40 issues. I guess you could say I have a 'best of Flash III (Wally West) run.

I have most of my collection problems figured out, but could use some figuring out related to the above.

Also, I collect specific arcs of Legends of The Dark Knight and Batman Confidential not entire series so I put those in my Batman-related ongoings box with sets of Batman and The Outsiders volume one, Batman Adventures, Batman & Robin Adventures, Batman & Robin (2009-2011), Batman '66.

Mrmaczaps, I just added this to my collection. Quite happy with it!

Nice. Lucky! Maybe some day I'll find a lower grade copy to buy at a steal again...

My employer gave a retention bonus because of covid and heavy turnover so I used the bonus to fund it.

What was the grade and price of the copy that you had?

This is obviously going in a special keeping place not in a long box along with a few other keys that I have sat aside somewhere special.

The copy I had was not professionally graded but the guestimate I think was either 7.5 or 8.0. I literally had it for less than 2 weeks. I saw it, bought it, found out about my brain tumor (& how d@mn pricey MRIs are even with insurance) and then got it in, checked it out & then put it for sale to pay a medical bill. I don't think I even read it now that I think of it... kinda sucks still. Its been 8 or 9 years now.

Any advice on the above filing questions?

I paid 1.62k. So much for the retention bonus...

It is slabbed at about .5 less, I only have 4 others that are.

I figured out most of my queries, however, I need one part figured out. I have Super Team Family#11-15, but I am not sure where to file it. I have a Brave and the Bold box that I can file it alphabetically, however do I place it between Justice League of America vol. 1 156 and 157 since it's a prelude to #157? Like Leo suggested I placed the New Titians issues of A Lonely Place of Dying in sequence to where it is between Batman title issues, same with The Lighting Saga with the JSA issues and the two All-Star Squadron issues intermixed in Justice League of America in the #27--209 crossover arc. However, the Batman and the Outsiders and New Teen Titans were kept separate since I have completed sets of both. This is a unique case where it does not fit either of the above.

If you have a complete run, file it alpha where it would normally go even if its a pre-crossover bit... or just file it where it fits best. If I could do mine again, I'd sort it out by box and just write down whats in each box... not by title or alpha or anything... just as I bought it, box it & write it down...

The thing is that when your collection gets legit large almost the only solution is to sort them alpha by title, and then by volume. So it would go

Incredible Hulk vol 2
Incredible Hulk vol 3
Iron Man vol 1
Iron Man vol 2
through Iron Man vol whatever and then
Iron Man: Hands of the Mandarin
Iron Man: Kiss & Kill

When you've got a small collection, say as a "Superman Collector" there's more room for liberal-mania in the filing. For example, it's easier to sort a Superman-only collection alpha-by-title and then by volume but also to just place crossover books into the runs they belong in. So you know, Batman crosses over into a Superman run, but you don't really collect Batman so you put the Batman book in order with the Superman run.

But if you collect Batman and Superman and have longboxes of books, just file everything by title by number. If you really are going to go back and read something then just fish it out of your bins, no big deal.

etc....

Basically traditional library systems of doing this are always the best, but with comics you just use the title and not the author. Unless I suppose your collection is comprised of "author runs" (which most people's aren't) then I suppose you could go by author, but even then you might still be better off alpha-by-title by-publisher.

Alrighty then. I have placed Super Team Family 11-15 between Justice League of America#156 and #157.

I separated my Batman related ongoing sets with the mini-series and placed them alphabetically in their own respective longboxes that includes part of what I listed above in the designated DC related mini-series. The only oddity is Flash volume 2 which I have currently placed at the back of the DC related mini-series box after Zatanna Special(1987). Primarily because its between 40 to 50 issues so it does not justify its own small box.

How many comics should go in a long box without it being crammed, but also enough room to fall back within the box?