Instructable: My Almost-Clever Idea

I first posted this idea back in 2009. I still think it's a great way to make a pile of comic boxes look decent AND quickly alert you to what's in each box (assuming you've got your collection organized in some fashion) so I thought it'd be worth revisiting. It works particularly well if you've got a lot of comic boxes in one place, so you can make them look less like a ratty pile of bleached cardboard and more like a wall of art!

Step 1
Place the comic in question in a comic bag so that the flap will fold over onto the back cover. Preferably, use a newer bag that hasn't yellowed, or is covered with creases and tape residue. (This is part-display, after all.) Place some tape along the flap as if you were going to tape the bag shut. I was aiming for a little extra security to hold the bags in place, so I opted for 4-5" pieces of packing tape. I did try a couple small strips of scotch tape, and that seems to work, but I'd rather not worry about picking my comics up off the floor in a month.


Step 2
Line the comic up with the front of your long box. Sizes of both long boxes and comics vary, so measuring each and every one might be overly tedious. I just eyeballed all of mine.


Step 3
Fold the bag's flap over the top edge of the long box, and tape it to the inside of the front of the box. (Clear tape on a clear bag is a little hard to see in a photograph. I tried to adjust the colors of the picture as best as I could.) Your comic should now being hanging securely centered over the front of your long box. As a precaution, I suggest making sure the first comic actually in the box is bagged to prevent any tape residue from accidentally sticking to it.


Step 4
Before moving the long box or placing the lid on it, take the bag and fold it backwards over the length of the long box, allowing the comic to lay flat across the top of your others.


Step 5
With the comic lying flat, you can place the lid on your long box and transport it wherever you need to with no concern about damaging your display comic.


Lining up all of you boxes next to each other, with a display comic on the front of each, provides an ersatz wall of pop-art while making for an easy and practical way to assess the contents of any given box. No need for clumsy index cards that need to be repeatedly re-written. No need to look at the blank faces of white cardboard boxes.


The display comic can still be easily removed from the bag when it's lying flat over the long box. I'd suggest leaving the bag itself in place, however, and just sliding out the comic. There shouldn't be any tape that isn't already stuck to either the outside of the bag or the long box, so you needed worry about catching the comic's cover on it.

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