Taking Care of Your Stuff!!

Taking Care of your Shi-Stuff!! 

     Have you ever slept with a Military Blanket, I have and its..like sleeping with a cactus.  That is the best way I can describe it, Now, sure it folds perfectly which is why the military loves it.  But once I was out of boot camp and I realized I didn’t have to have that blanket on my Rack (on the Ship), You see back when I first joined, we had to stay on the ship till we made E-4, nowadays everyone gets a room on the base!!!!! WHAT!!! 

     SO, there I was in the US Navy, stationed in Yokosuka, Japan Onboard the USS Mobile Bay, back in good ole 1955- just kidding back to the future reference..LOL. Back in 1997 probably around September or October. We were Forward Deployed in Japan (meaning we had to be close enough in case it was necessary to protect Japan etc.) We were going on our 4-month cruise, and we were going to be back in time for Christmas etc.  That meant we would go to South Korea, one of the many open markets I would experience in my 22-year career in the world's finest Navy. 

     This market was amazing, they had everything from clothes to purses to jewelry, just about anything you could imagine. They also had these heavy-duty fake mink blankets, SO I had to have one because I couldn’t stand the military one on my rack any longer. I also paid attention and I saw that everyone was getting one. 

     There were seamstresses everywhere they were sewing anything from Nike signs on Jackets...What I can buy a jacket and get a Nike sign added and save so much money, which I also did. Back to the story, sorry reminiscing So, I started going around asking all the seamstresses if they could embroider my blanket. It took a while to find one that would do it, she just charged me extra which wasn’t that much really, everything was very reasonably priced.  I was able to get my last name on my blanket, which was a giant Eagle of course because Merica... 

     In accordance with the Ship regulations, you had to have your blanket on your rack folded and the military blanket properly folded on top of it. Low and behold because everyone had bought a blanket, the ones who didn’t were Jelly as happens when you are out buying things that aren't practical. 

      During the day we had Berthing (place where you sleep on a ship) Cleaners, which was a rotation that everyone did for a week at a time to clean the Berthing while everyone was working etc. I got back down to my rack and my blanket was gone.  I found out who had the cleaners, and I approached each one, and asked to see their blanket. 

     I found one that was like mine, exactly like mine, I asked him if it was his, of course he said yes.  He obviously didn’t have time to unfold it before he got it to his rack, because I said can I see the corners, and he said “sure go ahead and take a look.  As soon as I flipped the corner up and there was my Name GERMAN on it his eyes got big, and he tried to say it was where his grandma was from.  I'm just like come on it is literally my name. He gave it back and I was like do anything like that again and I'm going to let someone know, but just give me my Blanket. 

     I kept that Blanket and It has been deployed as many times as me and has been to every country I have.  I still use it to this day because I kept it in great condition.  There is only one other thing I have done anything like this with is my comic book collection and my PoP collections. 

     Why am I talking about blankets and keeping my blanket in a decent condition for over 25 years??  because it has to do with taking care of your sh-stuff.  In the case of Comics and keeping them in the best condition. You've probably been collecting for a long time, and you probably just saw your comics in a certain way, and you probably got used to it. I'm not sure if you know exactly how you're supposed to do it, but I got recommendations for you in that sense. 

     Here's what I do and here's what I've always done, and I always buy two because when you first buy it, it probably isn't worth that much money. It's probably worth between 3.99-5.99 So if you buy it at 5.99 or 3.99 Buy two copies that isn't gonna hurt your wallet that much.  

     Buy it right then you buy one to read you buy one store, whichever one's a better looking one you store that one the other Not so good looking one, you know Sometimes it comes off the shelf not that good bent corner etc. Read that one, sometimes now they have digital copies that you can read. Most of them though you still must open it so it will take damage. 

     That's what I've always done. I've always bought one to read want to store now how you're going to store it is you're always going to get the bag and board. The other one you're going to read, does that one need a bag and board, that is completely up to you if they cost extra your choice, at our store they are included (cost of doing business). 

     You're gonna take it (Bag and Board and All) straight and always keep it upright. You're not gonna lay it down anywhere. You're not gonna throw it on a couch when you get home. You're not gonna throw it on a table next to wherever it is you're at. You're gonna take it straight home. You're gonna put it straight in a box that stands it up, right side up, facing whichever side keeps the comics up. The bag and board protect the corners and the outside. It also protects the inner pages as well as the spine. You don’t want your comics pressed together super tight either so ensure you have plenty of storage boxes, they don’t have to be fancy shmancy just a regular storage box. 

     You're gonna put your box wherever you put it in to store. Make sure it's set up straight as well. You don't want to put your box in a different way then standing straight up. You don’t want your comics laying down, why? When comics lay down it bends the comic.  

     If you have a divider and you can divide each comic up between the comics and it's even better because then you can keep them even straighter. You don’t want to force them up and pack them in because that will mess up the spine.  

     Stand them up straight and then if you're going to look at it or whatever then you want to put some gloves on, so those gloves can be those white gloves that you can get, or they can be any gloves, but they should be cloth because they don’t stick to the comic. That way you can look at it without putting fingerprints on it. Sometimes those different foils and all that will reflect fingerprints. Want to make sure you handle it like it's worth a lot of money.  

     That's basically it. You just handle it like it is worth a lot of money and then eventually it will be worth a lot of money. Now some people do what they do is they just grade all the comics as they get them in and that's a smart move because then in a few years if the comic is worth money, it is already graded and since it was so new the grade may be higher than most.  

      Some comic places like Dark Arts Comics will offer slab, comics for sale. Slabs are also good at keeping the comic protected and in the best condition for the longest amount of time. If you're trying to keep things for your next generation of people, then Slabs will keep it in the best shape that it can be in, and they can use it. They can either sell it or keep it for theirs.