"Oh....the pain....the pain."

A little over a year ago, I decided that with the ever-growing number of comic books in my collection, that I'd get this smart idea and begin a secondary collection.

This "collection" would consist of comics that were bagged, but not boarded, so, as I GOT backing boards, I'd add them to these boxes until I had the time to add them to the bulk of the collections.

Now, I did this because, I have to admit, it's quite a hassle to carry 30+ "long" boxes of comics into my bedroom (the only area large enough to lay out all the boxes in order), then rearrange and add new boxes for books so they wouldn't be so tightly packed and get them all in alphabetical order (which is how I keep the most of them).

This didn't turn out to be that great of an idea at all. Because now, besides the 30+ boxes, I have a good 10 more crammed boxes that need to be added to the bulk. As well, I have another 2 "short" boxes of comics that are bagged, but yet to receive backing boards that'll have to be added.

Now...this is all because I really didn't mean for my current collection to get this large. I really planned on keeping it at a modest 5 K books, concentrating on silver-age (or before) and a few choice bronze-age titles that I'd always liked. However, I didn't expect to get so very many good deals on "lots" this past year, and I have this philosophy that no matter what the comic is, IF I don't have it, I should keep it.

So now this present collection has grown to the 10K mark and is really getting a bit out of hand. Even though I don't buy hardly any new comics, I've spent quite a sum on older ones (not counting the costs or various storage supplies). And with new deals that seem to present themselves to me pretty regular, it would appear that the end to this is nowhere in sight.

Besides my collections, I probably have somewhere around 700 duplicates, that I admit, I could sell in lots on on line auctions had I the time to do so, or, the "effort" (but would really like to dump those as well in a lot and reinvest that money back into books I don't have).

Honestly, I just don't "where" these collectors that have collections of comics that total 30K books or more (and, I know much more than a handful of them), keep their books. Right now, the bulk is stacked 9 boxes long and 4 high, not counting another two stacks of 5 high. Space is such a premium with me since their stored in a room that I share with my wife for her craft supplies. IF I had the whole room, the problem would be solved. But, there's no place else to store the crafts. Our screened-in back pourch is also crammed with her stuff, as well as the garage, so I also have comics locked in cabinets and file drawers, etc.

So...this year I dare say I'm going to be a whole lot pickier about what and how I buy comics. When someone offers me a large lot of books, I think I'll ask myself whether they're things I really need or if I could invest the same amount in just a small amount of higher valued items or books I really want to read (and, yes; I DO read every comic book I get).

The madness has got to stop "somewhere".