John Cohen: Hi! I am John from Beyond Comics and I am here to show you how to start a comic book collection. Now that I have shown you how to put your comics into the bags, I want to show you how to seal them.

There are two main ways to do that; using tape is the most common thing. There is regular tape and there is two-way tape. I am going to show you how to do that. First off, there is two ways to put the tape on the back of the flap. Remember, make sure the flap always folds over the back of the comic. This is the horizontal way. Holds the comic book in tight and it keeps the flap attached to the back. That is the most common way for most people to tape.

Another way that its taped is the vertical. Same concept, one to one-and-half inches of tape, make sure you brush the air out of your comic, you tape it vertically; simple as that. Comic won't fall out and it's kept in the bag with the board so that you can keep it in a good condition for the rest of the time frame.

Another form of tape to use is two-way tape. The difference between two-way tape is you have to make sure it's within the side so area of the flap, so that it holds the comic book tightly in but doesn't stick out the back of the bag. Again, everything else, push the air out, pull the flap back and push the tape down and now you have sealed with two-way tape.

One of the biggest problems I have when people come in with collections to my store is tape damage on the comic book. If you have just opened your comic book bag, just like a normal bag, and you pulled that comic book out, you see where that tape is, it might hit the comic book cover, probably about 20% of the time it will and if it takes the part of the cover with it, you have just ruined your comic book. Therefore, I want to show how to take your comic book out correctly.

First thing is there are several ways you can do it. I always recommend taking off the tape, often we will stick it to the side of the bag, it's now out of the way. You have to remember it's there; you can take your comic book out. Another way to do it is the curl. We don't necessarily have official terms; we are making them up as we go. To curl up tape back, you flip it over, there. Its reusable, its ready to go the next time you need to seal the comic book up. It works very well on those sides. Again, you just have to realize that the tape is there, your comic book can be pulled out, it's safe, it won't get damaged.

When dealing with two-way tape, you often have to be aware of one other problem. You don't know which side the two-way tape is going to stick, this one is sticking on the flap, not on the back. But if it's one the back I am safe. If it's on the flap, I do a version of that curling the tape before, curl that flap over, I am not going to be touching the comic book with my tape. I can now remove it safely from the bag. As tape gets older, it tend to stick more, often it starts pulling the bag. That's when we cheat. You can pull out a knife, don't recommend unless you are sure and very carefully cut the tape. You will have to re-tape it with new tape but you are not going to stick the tape to the comic book. You would rather damage a five to ten cent bag than a $20 or $30 comic book. And now that I have shown you how to tape and remove your comics, I want to show you how to store them properly in boxes.