Lorendiac
02-23-2006, 04:17 PM
Lately I've been overhauling my collection, getting a lot of comparatively new stuff integrated into what I already had organized. By "new stuff," I mean stuff I've bought over the last year or so. Even if it's a bunch of old back issues, or a recent TPB reprint of something pretty old. In the process, I've been reminded of some of the peculiarities of my home-brewed filing system, and I decided to share them with you, on the theory that some fans might find them to include some useful ideas -- or other fans might want to explain to me how badly misguided I am in my clumsy approach to the problem. Whatever! :)
DC titles are segregated from others, in their own long boxes. Most of them are arranged in strict alphabetical order by title. Long-running series, limited series, one-shot specials, they all get lined up in the many boxes of the "General DC" section of my collection. Except for some special cases I will mention below.
Usually the various issues of a particular title will be arranged in numerical order, of course, although I still need to fix some things in that department. If I have a TPB collecting several issues of a long-running series, I insert it where those individual issues would logically belong.
Conspicuous exceptions to the "strict alphabetical order in DC boxes" approach are:
A) All series and specials starring Superman (in their own long boxes, sorted by series). However, Superboy and Supergirl comics usually get filed under "S" as part of the "regular" DC stuff.
B) All series and specials starring Batman (in their own long boxes). However, comics featuring Nightwing, Robin, Azrael, Catwoman, Batgirl, and the Birds of Prey all have to take their chances on being mixed in with the "general" DC stuff in strict alphabetical order.
C) All Legion of Super-Heroes material is filed under "L for Legion," including those copies I have of the single series that kept changing its name (but not its numbering!) at different times in the 70s and 80s:
Superboy
Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
In theory, to be perfectly alphabetical, I ought to have different runs of that "same" series filed under S, under L, and under T. But that seemed terribly inefficient.
D) Anything dealing with any version of any group called "Titans" or "Teen Titans" is filed under "T for Titans." Right after my copies of the eight-issue Time Masters miniseries from the early 90s, I believe. Only within the general "Titans" heading do I subdivide that part of my collection into separate runs of such titles as The Teen Titans, The New Teen Titans, The New Titans, Team Titans, The Titans, etc.
E) All copies of The Fury of Firestorm are filed where the simple name "Firestorm" would logically belong in the alphabetical sequence. It's easier to remember that I'm looking for an old "Firestorm" issue than it is to remember that the first 50 or so of the series technically said "Fury of Firestorm" on the cover and ought to be at the very end of the "F" section.
F) Anything that started out with a connection to Jim Lee's activities at Image (Wildstorm, ABC, Homage, whatever) is filed in the "Image" long boxes instead of the DC long boxes no matter who is now printing or reprinting stories about those concepts. WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Tom Strong, Kurt Busiek's Astro City, whatever. Even a new series or miniseries or special that only began publication after Wildstorm went to DC will still be filed in my "Image" boxes. Simpler than trying to remember whether a particular comic book came out after DC acquired ABC/Wildstorm, or not.
G) In the Superman boxes, "Adventures of Superman" issues begin immediately after the Pre-Crisis "Superman" title "ends," since the numbering stayed the same as the series changed its title.
Questions for the Audience
1. For a long time, I've pretty much kept the Superman titles of the 1990s filed according to those little numbers-inside-triangles they had on the covers to help a collector follow the internal chronology. Which meant I had four monthly titles mixed in together, so that I could quickly find a particular multi-issue story arc if I wanted to (since in that decade, they were basically treating Superman's ongoing saga as a weekly soap opera with installments published in four different titles).
Question: Is this the right way to do it? What do other Superman collectors think? I'm pondering the Pros and Cons of switching back to simple alphanumeric ordering, one series at a time, even though that isn't the way the stories were being told.
(Note: For a long time now, I have carefully kept integrated the issues of Batman and Detective Comics that spent several years in a "permanent crossover mode" in the early-to-mid 80s, up through Batman #400. I don't intend to change that, but I'm wavering on the subject of trying to keep many years of four different Superman titles all "integrated" in one long file.)
2. In overhauling my collection, I was reminded that several years ago, I began to keep old DC Comics Presents issues in the separate Superman boxes, and old issues of The Brave and the Bold in the separate Batman boxes. I'm wondering if I overreacted and ought to put those venerable, sadly-long-cancelled "teamup" books in their alphabetical places in my "General DC" boxes. Any thoughts?
3. Beyond that, I'm perfectly willing to take constructive criticism about where you think I've gone wrong, and why, in any of the other odd little rules I've invented for myself when I'm filing my DC titles! :)
DC titles are segregated from others, in their own long boxes. Most of them are arranged in strict alphabetical order by title. Long-running series, limited series, one-shot specials, they all get lined up in the many boxes of the "General DC" section of my collection. Except for some special cases I will mention below.
Usually the various issues of a particular title will be arranged in numerical order, of course, although I still need to fix some things in that department. If I have a TPB collecting several issues of a long-running series, I insert it where those individual issues would logically belong.
Conspicuous exceptions to the "strict alphabetical order in DC boxes" approach are:
A) All series and specials starring Superman (in their own long boxes, sorted by series). However, Superboy and Supergirl comics usually get filed under "S" as part of the "regular" DC stuff.
B) All series and specials starring Batman (in their own long boxes). However, comics featuring Nightwing, Robin, Azrael, Catwoman, Batgirl, and the Birds of Prey all have to take their chances on being mixed in with the "general" DC stuff in strict alphabetical order.
C) All Legion of Super-Heroes material is filed under "L for Legion," including those copies I have of the single series that kept changing its name (but not its numbering!) at different times in the 70s and 80s:
Superboy
Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
In theory, to be perfectly alphabetical, I ought to have different runs of that "same" series filed under S, under L, and under T. But that seemed terribly inefficient.
D) Anything dealing with any version of any group called "Titans" or "Teen Titans" is filed under "T for Titans." Right after my copies of the eight-issue Time Masters miniseries from the early 90s, I believe. Only within the general "Titans" heading do I subdivide that part of my collection into separate runs of such titles as The Teen Titans, The New Teen Titans, The New Titans, Team Titans, The Titans, etc.
E) All copies of The Fury of Firestorm are filed where the simple name "Firestorm" would logically belong in the alphabetical sequence. It's easier to remember that I'm looking for an old "Firestorm" issue than it is to remember that the first 50 or so of the series technically said "Fury of Firestorm" on the cover and ought to be at the very end of the "F" section.
F) Anything that started out with a connection to Jim Lee's activities at Image (Wildstorm, ABC, Homage, whatever) is filed in the "Image" long boxes instead of the DC long boxes no matter who is now printing or reprinting stories about those concepts. WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Tom Strong, Kurt Busiek's Astro City, whatever. Even a new series or miniseries or special that only began publication after Wildstorm went to DC will still be filed in my "Image" boxes. Simpler than trying to remember whether a particular comic book came out after DC acquired ABC/Wildstorm, or not.
G) In the Superman boxes, "Adventures of Superman" issues begin immediately after the Pre-Crisis "Superman" title "ends," since the numbering stayed the same as the series changed its title.
Questions for the Audience
1. For a long time, I've pretty much kept the Superman titles of the 1990s filed according to those little numbers-inside-triangles they had on the covers to help a collector follow the internal chronology. Which meant I had four monthly titles mixed in together, so that I could quickly find a particular multi-issue story arc if I wanted to (since in that decade, they were basically treating Superman's ongoing saga as a weekly soap opera with installments published in four different titles).
Question: Is this the right way to do it? What do other Superman collectors think? I'm pondering the Pros and Cons of switching back to simple alphanumeric ordering, one series at a time, even though that isn't the way the stories were being told.
(Note: For a long time now, I have carefully kept integrated the issues of Batman and Detective Comics that spent several years in a "permanent crossover mode" in the early-to-mid 80s, up through Batman #400. I don't intend to change that, but I'm wavering on the subject of trying to keep many years of four different Superman titles all "integrated" in one long file.)
2. In overhauling my collection, I was reminded that several years ago, I began to keep old DC Comics Presents issues in the separate Superman boxes, and old issues of The Brave and the Bold in the separate Batman boxes. I'm wondering if I overreacted and ought to put those venerable, sadly-long-cancelled "teamup" books in their alphabetical places in my "General DC" boxes. Any thoughts?
3. Beyond that, I'm perfectly willing to take constructive criticism about where you think I've gone wrong, and why, in any of the other odd little rules I've invented for myself when I'm filing my DC titles! :)