I was advised by another collector to be cautious of them due to issues he's had with other hardcovers collections.Speaking as someone who primarily collects Hardcovers:
There's no consistency in quality in terms of bindings in the United States (let alone between Publishers.) For example the bindings between Marvel's main release Hardcovers is completely different from the ones they use for their Omnibus page count sized releases. Smaller publishers such as IDW tend not to release slip covers with their releases. There definitely isn't an industry standard (in America) which is being upheld.
In terms of binding tearings, the bindings are weakest at the center. To be fair, this is the same as most "man-made" physical things on this planet.
In the mid-2010's, after damaging the binding on a hardcover which meant a lot to me, I had to replace one of my hardcovers. Due to this event, I stopped reading my physical copies. Same as older video games, I would rather have my collection not become damaged to wear-and-tear from usage.
So, I shifted my mind set to the same as any old media: keep the original protected on the shelf and instead use digital copies for consuming the media. I went out to the "Digital High Seas" and found resources for the digital releases.
While I have replaced the Tablet that I use for reading Comics on... today, even my oldest Hardcovers look and feel brand new.
Statistics: Posted by UncannyGirl — April 30th, 2024, 3:10 pm