Bookcase

[sinned2007]

Augie - read your latest Pipeline regarding your new IKEA bookcase with much interest. A couple of years ago when I decided to ditch the floppies and go with trades exclusively I wound up (after much research) with those exact same Billy bookshelves. Back then they had a pretty nifty Metallic Silver color for $59. I think today the only ones that are $59 are the White and Black colors.... the wood ones such as yours is $79 is that correct? Anyway, good call on putting the Absolutes at the bottom shelf. I have my oversized hardcovers at the center shelf and some of them are showing signs of warping. Even the adjustable shelves are showing signs of warp (especially those that carry the heavier Marvel TPBs.... the DC/Vertigo shelf has been OK). However it is well worth the money and should last you years of service.

How many bookcases do you have? Just one? I always thought that you would have tons and tons of books. Another thing I wanted to mention with the bookcases is that the top of the bookcase makes a perfect display shelf for your statues. Hopefully, I can post pics of my setup soon.

[uthor]

Augie - read your latest Pipeline regarding your new IKEA bookcase with much interest. A couple of years ago when I decided to ditch the floppies and go with trades exclusively I wound up (after much research) with those exact same Billy bookshelves. Back then they had a pretty nifty Metallic Silver color for $59. I think today the only ones that are $59 are the White and Black colors.... the wood ones such as yours is $79 is that correct? Anyway, good call on putting the Absolutes at the bottom shelf. I have my oversized hardcovers at the center shelf and some of them are showing signs of warping. Even the adjustable shelves are showing signs of warp (especially those that carry the heavier Marvel TPBs.... the DC/Vertigo shelf has been OK). However it is well worth the money and should last you years of service.

How many bookcases do you have? Just one? I always thought that you would have tons and tons of books. Another thing I wanted to mention with the bookcases is that the top of the bookcase makes a perfect display shelf for your statues. Hopefully, I can post pics of my setup soon.

I have the Metallic Silver bookcases, too. It sucks that you can't get them anymore as a) it was an awesome color and b) I need a new case, but can't bring myself to have mismatched colors.

Yes, put your heavy books as low as you can. I have the short 3 foot wide Billy case and it collapsed on me. I kept my Absolutes on top of the case, which is fine, and my Marvel oversized hardcovers on the top shelf. That shelf ended up bowing under the weight so much that it broke at the ends and fell onto the shelf underneath which, in turn, broke and fell onto the bottom shelf. Thankfully, none of the books were damaged.

I ended up taking it apart, putting stiffening boards under the shelves, and screwing them into the sides with 3 inch screws. They are no longer adjustable, but I hope they are strudy enough to hold all the weight.

I did move my Marvel OSHCs onto the bottom shelf as a precaution.

Also, the back has fallen out on every single Billy bookcase I have. Weird. I haven't gotten around to fixing it on most of them.

[dancj]

Yeah - I've got the Billy ones too. The 60cm ones on one side of my room cope fine, but the 80cm ones are bending. I've just recently had a shelf collapse and subsequently gone through all of the shelves screwing a little support in at the rear centre of each shelf. I hope it works....

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Sinned - Yup, it was a $79 expense, but well worth it. The funny thing is, I have an even bigger bookcase at my parents' house that's still filled with comics to this day. Sadly, it's too wide for any wall I have in the room. It would have been beautiful in the "home office."

I have a smaller three shelf Billy bookcase in the master bedroom. That's about two thirds comics. Everything else is boxed up. Trust me -- I'd love to build a half dozen more Billy bookcases and spread them through the house, or take this damned bed out of the "home office" that my wife insist we have in the "spare bedroom/den" and use that wall for more bookcases.

Sorry, it's all a bit frustrating a maddening.

Uthor and DanCJ - Thanks for the warning of heavy weights to come. I'll keep a few exta two inch screws handy for the shelves, when the day comes.

But the backs of these bookcases are notoriously pointless. The other bookcase in the master bedroom lost its back many a moon ago.

-Augie

[torippu]

But the backs of these bookcases are notoriously pointless. The other bookcase in the master bedroom lost its back many a moon ago.

-Augie

OH so true! I had to "rebuild" the backs on 3 of my bookcases after we moved into our new place here in Oregon.

Thanks for the advise on the shelves. I use a different IKEA bookcase for me hardcovers and trades but may move the HCs down to the bottom shelf (they are in the middle right now) next to my Complete Calvin & Hobbes.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Trip --

Heh. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and The Complete Far Side are on the floor in the closet. I knew better than to even attemp to life those things as high as a book shelf, let alone rest them on one. heh heh

-Augie

[pmpknface]

I got a cheap bookcase at Ikea for like $30 about a year ago. Looks similar.

Cool article!

[sinned2007]

Yeah, the backs of some of my bookcases have torn away too.

Don't forget The Complete Don Martin to go with those Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes collections.

I also wanted to point out that these bookcases make a good DVD shelf as well. Just buy some extra shelves and it gives you 8 shelves per bookcase which can accomodate 2 rows per shelf if needed.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

I'd love to get the Don Martin book, too, but the funds aren't there anymore for such a thing. I'll put it on my Christmas list this year and hope for a miracle, I suppose.

IKEA does have separate media racks to hold CDs/DVDs, though they seem to be more expensive, which is odd. I was looking into those, too. I need to put all those DVDs somewhere. . .

-Augie

[mgs]

Depends if you want form over function, but even places like Target have some pretty cool, cheap bookshelves that can be used for comic book storage! :)

[torippu]

Trip --

Heh. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and The Complete Far Side are on the floor in the closet. I knew better than to even attemp to life those things as high as a book shelf, let alone rest them on one. heh heh

-Augie

C&H was on the floor while we lived in CA but now that we have a little more room it has been upgraded to the bottom shelf of the bookcase!

I never got around to getting the Far Side Collection. Still have a bunch of the softcover collections in a box somewhere but don't think that I have read them in a long, long time.

[torippu]

Found it interesting that as we were talking about bookcases, Josh from iFanboy was showing us his collection (http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/video/ifanboy_mini_-_episode__139_-_shelves) this week.

I've spent part of the past week trying to decide if I was going to rearrange my shelves. In the end, I stuck with what I started with - hardcovers on one shelf and softcovers on another. I have arranged the books in alphabetical order by publisher. Where would you put the various imprints of DC Comics? For example, if the spine of a book reads Cliffhanger/DC, would you put it before or after the DC books?

[mgs]

Found it interesting that as we were talking about bookcases, Josh from iFanboy was showing us his collection (http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/video/ifanboy_mini_-_episode__139_-_shelves) this week.
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haha! That was cool! :D

But he surprisingly collects so few of the single issues, or he didn't show where he keeps them, b/c that was a mini stack, if that is his like, monthly or so.

[torippu]

</p>
haha! That was cool! :D

But he surprisingly collects so few of the single issues, or he didn't show where he keeps them, b/c that was a mini stack, if that is his like, monthly or so.

Probably not all of the issues that he has as I think that he has mentioned on the podcast that he just stacks the single issues up and then throws them into a long box as needed.

[pmpknface]

I had (they're all packed up) one bookcase like Augie's and most of it was layed out in a similar way. I had some manga vol's at the top though.

Most of my HC / TPB's were in wooden cubes. I tried to keep certain things togather, but sometimes it just didn't work. I've got to get some more though.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

My previous bookcase -- which one day needs to move out of my parents' house where it currently is -- has two manga shelves on it. "Lone Wolf and Cub" took up most of the space, alone. ;-) "Battle Royale" and the other Dark Horse manga from LW&C's creators were in there, too.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

I asctually had extra shelves on my entertainment center and I had a few rows of the whole LW&C universe on them, as well as some other manga like Lady Snowblood and Vagabond.

On the bookshelf I had some Tezuka stuff like MW, Apollo's Song, and Ode To Kirihito (some in HC too) and Sanctuary. After I finish Blackjack and Dororo maybe I'll start Budda!

[uthor]

I have arranged the books in alphabetical order by publisher. Where would you put the various imprints of DC Comics? For example, if the spine of a book reads Cliffhanger/DC, would you put it before or after the DC books?

Old ass post, but I put all my DC proper books, then all my Marvel-616 books, then all my Marvel Ultimate books on a single shelf, more-or-less arranged by title.

Anything else (Icon, Vertigo, Wildstorm, Cliffhanger, etc) gets arranged alphabetically along with all the other books (Dark Horse, Image, etc). As I figure, they're all stand-alone stories, so they don't need to be grouped together by publisher.

(I do not have enough Wildstorm books to put them together ala Marvel and DC. I just put all Authority stuff together.)

The exception is when something is part of a cohesive universe. All my Hellboy, BPRD, Lobster Johnson, and Abe Sapien books are arranged together, for example. "Luckily," I ran out of space on my shelves, so I moved those to another location.

[mgs]

For all those boooks still in boxes, I just had my bro-in-law come over and he agreed that I needed more shelves or something for those books and singles still in boxes I had. I was thinking more of the stuff from Target or whereever, but I could see he was thinking more like a bookshelf space that maybe we could put together. I definitely need more shelf space though even with a little bit of cutback in purchases.

[pmpknface]

In a few weeks, this'll be my new comic room:

http://www.homesforsaleinma.com/photos/ZT/I/MZ/70816494_10.jpg

[mgs]

In a few weeks, this'll be my new comic room:

http://www.homesforsaleinma.com/photos/ZT/I/MZ/70816494_10.jpg

nice, :) taking the furniture out though? And I have those slanted walls too, makes it a pain to get a proper bookshelf in there. do you have a lot of comics to shelve/display/store?

[uthor]

nice, :) taking the furniture out though? And I have those slanted walls too, makes it a pain to get a proper bookshelf in there. do you have a lot of comics to shelve/display/store?

I would leave the couch and put either a series of stepped shelves or custom slanted shelves against the wall with the window. A sitting place is probably the only decent use of a slanted ceiling like that.

[pmpknface]

nice, :) taking the furniture out though? And I have those slanted walls too, makes it a pain to get a proper bookshelf in there. do you have a lot of comics to shelve/display/store?
All of that furniture will be gone. This is a pic of the finished attic of the house that I'll be closing on 12/1. There's another 1/2 of the attic that's unfinshed (for the moment) that eve more stuff will go into.

I have a TON of long boxes (around 25?) and I have a series of wooden cubes that are easily moved. So I won't be getting too many bookcases in there - but I won't have to. I'll probably end up putting some of the long boxes up against the walls and putting some cubes in front of them.

I also have a few detolf curio cabinets from Ikea that may go on either side of that window. I've got a lot of comic statues that need displaying too! :biggrin: