Binding Comics - Advice & Projects

JC · Post by JC » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:44 am

Speaking of bound comics ... what is the maximum number of books that I can bind such that the thickness of the book does not take away from being able to view the entire page?

I've been quoted US$60/CAN$75 per book for comic binding service here in Toronto. Is that a reasonable price?

Thanks!

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:35 pm

JC wrote:Speaking of bound comics ... what is the maximum number of books that I can bind such that the thickness of the book does not take away from being able to view the entire page?

I've been quoted US$60/CAN$75 per book for comic binding service here in Toronto. Is that a reasonable price?

Thanks!

If you want to cut directly to the chase, just visit the library binding site, it's not rocket science and you don't really need to listen to an entire podcast about it.
http://www.librarybinding.com/comic-books.php

Pricing is here:
http://www.librarybinding.com/comicprices2.pdf
It's much cheaper than the $60 you were quoted in Toronto.
NOTE: Library Binding is OUT OF BUSINESS. See farther down the thread for alternates.

I've had about 20 volumes bound myself. In general, you can put about 25 comics into a volume with no loss of art/story.

The most I have in a single volume are 35 comics (the entire run of Sojourn #1-34 +prequel), and even on that one, I am not losing any art, since there are gutters in the comics. But this is RIGHT on the edge of starting to get some loss, so I would not go over 35 as an absolute max.

JC · Post by JC » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:10 pm

Thanks for the info Bob. How much approximately is shipping and handling for about about 5 books (25 issues each)? And how long did it take you to get your books back? I will probably do this when I visit my relatives in the US. Do you do any additional preparation work such as remove staples?

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:39 pm

JC wrote:How much approximately is shipping and handling for about about 5 books (25 issues each)?

I typically do 4 volumes at a time. The reason for this is that I can fit all 4 of them into a single USPS priority mail box and send them in for a flat fee of something like $10. (EDIT: Just got back from the post office, it was $10.35 to mail the flat rate box, and it weighed 11 lbs).
LBC sends the books back via UPS and charges actual shipping costs. Since these things are kind of heavy (more so if you are binding things on a heavy paper stock than on old newsprint books) you can get hit for about $20 on the return trip. Anyway, round trip is ~$30 for 4 books, which comes out to about $7.50 per book.
If you have some thinner books in the box (18-20 comics instead of 25-30 per volume) you can fit more than 4 in the same box, 5 or 6 probably....
Here is the box I use, you can pick them up at any post office:

Here it is with the comics packed inside (Note: Before mailing I'll pack some peanuts or newspaper on the left side so things don't shift around in transit)

JC wrote: And how long did it take you to get your books back?

They are not terribly fast. I think it depends on their work load, but I find that turnaround can be from as fast as 2 to as many as 6 weeks. I generally give them a call after about 3 weeks if I have not heard from them.

JC wrote:Do you do any additional preparation work such as remove staples?

No prep is necessary. When I bind my Crossgen series, I just toss all the issues into a plastic bag (I use the large magazine bags you can get at a comic shop, these hold 25 comics quite easily) stick the binding slips in with them, on top, and then seal it with tape. LBS does everything necessary.

That being said, you CAN (at your option) do stuff like remove ad pages, take out back-up stories, or send just the pages you want bound (kind of like Trav got JUST the Marvelman stories bound together that he extracted out of a bunch of issues of Warrior magazine.

Once they get them, they will do any additional prep that is necessary.

PS: I find that it's pointless to pay extra for the Head/Tail Bands or Head/Tail lines. The "Panel Lines" work quite nicely for my purposes.

PPS: It's nice to actually see the material they use to bind the books. If you give them a call, they will mail you a little sample of all the different colors of material. I keep mine as a handy reference as the real colors are slightly different from what you see on the computer screen in their color chart.

Here are some of the volumes I have had done......

And here is the latest binding slip I am putting together (as a sample):

And here it is, in it's bag with the binding slip and ready to be put into the mailing box....

JC · Post by JC » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:22 pm

Your books look beautiful! Thanks so much for pix Bob ... it's a great time saver for me ... sometimes I just want quick answers rather than reading a lot of materials to find my answer

Post by **JohnMayo** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:49 pm

While I haven't gotten anything bound myself, I have seen Bob's bound Who's Who and it is nice. At some point I'll take my spare set of those and the OHotMU and get them all bound.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:44 pm

JohnMayo wrote:While I haven't gotten anything bound myself, I have seen Bob's bound Who's Who and it is nice. At some point I'll take my spare set of those and the OHotMU and get them all bound.

My current order consists of:
* OHotMU (1983)
* The Path
* Sigil (this one is split across 2 volumes)

I'm currently working on completing a 2nd set to bind:
* OHotMU Deluxe Edition (1985-88 )
* Route 666
* Negation (incl. Lawbringer / Mark of Charon / Negation War)
* Chimera / El Cazador / Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (prob. bind these all in same volume)

It takes a while to collect up the issues, as I like to get them from 50 cent & dollar bins. When I'm down to the last couple, I'll usually buy them from MyComicShop.Com if they are $1.49

dbm · Post by **dbm** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:44 pm

Yeah, thanks Bob, I've read numerous binding threads, but that one post was the most informative yet. I haven't bound anything yet, but will someday. Just have to decide what title to dip my toes in with. If I ever complete my Cerebus run I'll probably do those, what with all the letters and photos and all.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:48 pm

Here is the little set of Buckram color samples Library Binding will send you if you ask for it....

Garrett! · Post by **Garrett!** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 8:29 pm

When you send off your comics, do you remove any pages or the back cover?

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:48 am

Garrett! wrote:When you send off your comics, do you remove any pages or the back cover?

Totally up to you. They will bind what you send them, and you can either do the prep before sending them to remove extraneous pages, or you can just send the full comics to have them bound exactly as they were published (if you want to keep the full "historical" view of them intact.

In general, I just send the books in and let them do all the prep.

HassanT · Post by **HassanT** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:11 pm

I am going to send my some of my runs to get bind since I am running out space. I am picking comics that I owe that aren't worth much, but I love the ability to re-read them. Wish me luck.

yensid4disney · Post by **yensid4disney** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:49 am

I did this for the first tie a while ago with a story that had never been bound at all (A couple of annuals from around 16 years ago). I was very impressed with how nicely they turned out. Since it was my first time getting anything bound, I left them as is and did not do any prep work. Going forward I will probably do some prep work, like removing the back cover and any ads that can be removed without interfering with the story.

Steve Bryant · Post by **Steve Bryant** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:55 pm

Great binding pics (and very informative), Bob!

I have a bunch of runs that I want to get bound (more centered on particular creators, rather than titles themselves.It's just a matter of time and money.

But if I keep reading threads like this one, it won't be much longer!

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:52 pm

OK, Library Binding company is out of business.......

They were bought by a company named Houchen (out of Nebraska), and I have heard enough about Houchen that I have been asked to not repeat publicly to decide I am not going to do business with them.....

However, a new bindery in CA (near San Fran) has been recommended, Herring & Robinson Bookbinders.
http://www.herringandrobinsonbookbinders.com/index.html

They are at:
100 North Hill Dr. Unit 5
Brisbane, CA 94005
Phone: (415) 468-0440

I just called them & talked to Joel, he's pretty easy to talk to. Their basic cost is $16.50, and a bit extra for panel lines, bookmarks, etc.

I have not been doing stuff as elaborate as some, so no custom dies or full-cover covers bonded to the books. I've been going with the Buckram binding and words foil stamped on the spine.

So, I'm going to send off a couple of volumes I had teed up for binding & see how they do. I'll report back here when I have them completed.

BTW, Joel said that they are currently working on getting a page set up on the web specific to comics, but it may be a month or so until it is done. In the meantime, you can send in stuff and use the old LBC binding slips.