The Q-Collection Comic Book Preservation Project is a non-profit project aimed at preserving historic comic books from the 1930s to the 1960s (the Golden and Silver ages of comic book production).
Contents
- History
- Collection holdings
- Lamination
- Q Binders
- Advisory committee
- Future home of the Q Collection
- References
The preservation of these key comics is necessary due to the acidic pulp paper that the books were printed on during the first fifty years of this art : “Comic books were not designed to last for generations, under normal storage conditions”. The project's method of preservation is to remove the pages from the comic books, find any missing pieces and duplicate them if necessary and laminate each page. Once laminated, the comics are encapsulated in binders that open for reading and then close up to protect their contents.
History
In 2001, John Sindall purchased a coverless copy of the 1939 New York World's Fair Comic in poor condition. He sent it to the restoration specialist Matt Nelson who concluded that it could not be restored because of the brittleness of the paper.
It was then that Nelson and Sindall started exchanging e-mails about what could be done with rare comics in poor condition. The Q-Collection Comic Book Preservation Project is a direct result of that discussion.
This preservation project began while John was living in Quincy, Massachusetts hence its original name: "Quincy Collection" then shortened to "Q-Collection".
Collection holdings
Starting in 2001, key gold and silver age comic books, in affordable low-grade condition were collected from a wide variety of sources. They were selected for preservation if they were first issues in a series, if they presented the first appearance of a new character or were of some significance to comic book history.
Lamination
In the past, laminating comics proved to be unsuccessful due to the use of cellulose acetate as a lamination material. However, heat-treated UV-resistant long-life Mylar laminating pouches were introduced and proved to be safe for preserving comic books.
The lamination process involves removing each page, then laminating each of those pages thanks to Mylar pouches. The laminate melts and becomes part of the paper, sealing the pages but letting it remain flexible and readable.
Q-Binders
In 2010, the wood craftsman Eli Cleveland was contracted to produce a binder prototype based on John Sindall’s tri-wood binder design. These binders are ultimately to be made of ancient woods and would allow the comic books to last for 10,000 years.
In each binder the reader will find three to five related comic books with their information pages. Each information page acts as a divider and includes information on publishers, publications dates, artists, detailed information on the comic book series that comic is from, information on that particular issue, information on that particular copy (when and how it was obtained), the Gerber's Scarcity Index number, the Gerber's Relative Value Index number, the current Overstreet Near Mint value (pegged to the current national minimum wage) and quotes from comic book reference books about that issue, the series, comic book hero, or artist(s).
In addition, every reader will find related bonuses produced between the 1930s and the 1970s in each. Those bonuses differ in each binder and can be almost any paper product including original comic book covers, bubble gum cards, bubble gum wrappers, comic book ads, paper toys or comic book membership cards.
Advisory committee
As stated, Sindall and Nelson together developed the idea and refined the details of the project in 2001. One year later, Chris Launder, a veteran comic book collector/dealer from Canada joined the project as its first advisor. Due to his heavy workload, Matt Nelson dropped out of the project in 2005.
With his departure, additional advisors began joining the project until the Advisory Committee increased to 26 advisors. These advisors include artists, publishers, cartoonists, writers, historians, professors and advanced collectors residing in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Future home of the Q-Collection
The U.S. Library of Congress (LoC) is currently the first choice since that library is the only one that will allow access to these preserved comics by the general public.
Sindall hopes to arrange a temporary display at the Concord Museum or the National Heritage Museum until a home for the collection is found.