Water + Comic Books = BAD TIMES
My cousin Richard and his family made the trek up from Charlotte, NC to visit family. Him, his wife Claudia, their 2 & 1/2 year old twins Bradley & Elana, and their 2 pups. Whenever they come they always spend a day or two with us before bouncing up to see the rest of the pack of slobs that I call family.
Today, Bradley decided to empty the cooler full of water from their long journey up north...all over the kitchen floor & under the stove. It spilled everywhere and it happened so quickly. No biggie...accidents happen. I ran downstairs to grab some rags to soak it up when I heard a horrific sound that will haunt me for some time to come. The small river of cooler water from above was pouring through a few tiny cracks in the kitchen floor & basement ceiling..mainly from under the stove. It was pouring ALL OVER BOXES OF COMICS!!! I quickly ran and took my shirt off and help it up to the ceiling to stop the bleeding and soak up what seemed like a waterfall of liquid seeping through onto hundreds of books. My cousin and wife both rushed down to help me and within a minute it was "contained" with jammed towels but the damage had already been done.
Now I have not gone through everything that was in the path and some of the stuff was salvagable or saved, but there are a few hundred books that are now sadly trash. I will end up donating them to my neighbor Lloyd who send out care packages for the US Military. The kiss of death for comics is water or moisture damage and some of these got soaked like a sponge. A few I will try to press to see if they can be saved or salvaged. With a quick calculation and not going through everything affected yet, I would say probably around $3500-$4000 of books ruined. Just with the stuff that I saw.
My cousin feels terrible and and I feel terrible that hes feeling this way. It's strange. I am super upset...but not at him...just at life. Sometime I just feel like I truly cannot cath a break. I had just separated a bunch of stuff to list up to hopefully fund my trek out to Steem Fest in Krakow. I literally just put that stuff there and started listing a few things. I even sold a few things already and liked my odds....and then this happens. Also the cooler could have spilled anywhere else in my house and upstairs and this would not have happened. It's like it was just meant to be. It's just how shit goes sometimes. I told him not to sweat it. He has offered to pay for everthing and I told him to lick my nuts. No way I am taking a dime for this. It was a clear accident....an insane set of circumstances that just happened. It's truly nobody's fault...just how the cookie crumbles. Also, if you somehow read this Rich, it is not your fault. I promise and I am not mad at you. I love ya brother. Shit just happens sometimes...
Anyway, I might just do a little pressing on Saturday to see if I can fix anything. I work tomorrow anyway so I won't be able to look in depth at the carnage until Saturday. I hope I can fix some of the bigger books that got hit. Wish me luck folks!
Just to add insult to injury, one of the books destroyed was an Elektra variant that I had JUST FIXED by pressing. I actusally did a story on it a couple of weeks ago. Check it out here then look at the pic of it now right below with a couple of others I snapped of the moist nightmares.
https://steemit.com/comics/@blewitt/more-impressive-results-elektra
Soon as you said on the boxes of comics I thought oh crap @blewitt is going to go APE, but well done for understanding how the chain of events in life happen and forgiving cousin Rich, what a shame I remember seeing the pressed Elektra, and some of the others above you have also shared.
Yeah. We are laughing about it now. I’m teasing him about it and he knows I’m not mad at him. I’m bummed and it totally sucks, but I think he knows I’m not mad at him.
Bummer brother..................I cant fund any trip to Krakow but it might be worth listing the books that can be salvaged after pressing on here for us less savvy collectors just looking for a foot in the big boy game?
I will totally consider that ! I’m going to look through all the stuff today and see the real damage assessment. I’ll get Back to ya!
Dude, what a kick in the nuts. If there's a bright side to be had, it's slightly increased the value of any additional copies you have of the trashed ones by reducing the number in circulation.
lol, this is the attitude of all those shop owners in the world that wish to do 90s comics book burning.
Some of those 90’s books are slowly turning into gems!!!!
Lol. Gotta find the silver lining somewhere. Right?
We had a flood from sump pump failure once and had about $5k worth of stuff ruined. Since I store in plastic totes yes they run a few more dollars than a box but it is worth protecting valuable stuff. So sorry this happened.
Oh btw if you don't know yet your are the latest mystery box winner.
Omg! That’s awesome. Lol. I’ll shoot you a message on discord later. Awesome!!! Thanks so much!!!
Yeah water is a scary thing with collectibles. It all happened so quickly as well. Such a fluke incident too.
When it happened to us it too was a freak accident who thinks a new sump pump is gonna fail
ugh...that's the worst. in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey shore here, tons of folks got their shit demolished by flooding. A few customers lost their entire collections. So sad....
That kinda sucks. I was lucky when my basement flooded I had all my comics on a skid. In rubber maid tubs. 4 cardboard longboxes on top were high enough they didnt get wet. After I put those in rubbermaids also. I did however lose 2 boxes and some binder sets of cards from the 90's thank god.
Yeah if I only had s small amount that could work but there is too much to do that with. I’ll jyst take preventative measures Incase this happens again. Making sure NOTHING is in that area again.
Yeah after i watched the video. I was like man he's got alot more stuff. Ha! So ya I hear ya.
lol..one day when I get it a bit more cleaned up I will snap some pics of the madness!
Oh no. That's one of my biggest fears. That sucks to hear.
Yeah it’s the kids of death. Lol I was in such a panic. Initially screaming all high pitched for help. Lol. THAT would have made a funny video.
😢 ...
... That’s all I got... feeling for ya!
Just don’t cry ON the Comics...enough liquid on them as is...
Lol
There you go. I take water damaged and any amount of damaged books all the time. I do not resell them (if 80s/90s or newer for the most part, most 70s too depending on what it is), however I do not throw them out either. When I was a kid and gave no shits about the condition of a book but rather just the kick ass stories and art within, you know how much value those comics have. Military is a great option as well there.
Fuck water damage is just about the worst that can happen with a comic, even if things aren't all warped the paper itself is now just in a weaker state.
The last hurricane that came through I only had one fear, and I am sadly being more real than anything, was the comic books. The only prep I did was tape up the windows and grabbed garbage bags and put two boxes per bag just in case any water went through that ceiling.
I feel for you man, I am glad you are keeping the love for your family through this, accidents do happen and how you react is what defines us or something :)
Yeah this situation was a complete fluke. Something that’ll probably never ever happen again. It still hurts. Lol. I’m going to properly go through and properly assess today for the first time. Ill probably post about it later tonight.
Damn man, so sorry to hear.
The odds of all that happening the way it did is crazy, like you said. There are lessons to be learned, obviously... the plastic container storage idea is good. Who knows, maybe this was a small "gift" from the comic book gods to have you make this post and be convinced to store your goods in protective containers. Probably will save you from some future event!
Best of luck with the pressing, @blewitt!
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I have way too much stuff s f not enough room for plastic containers sadly. I think where those cracks are, I’ll just have to make sure nothing is under that every Incase something close to this happens again. Argh!!!!!!!
Oh no!!!! Water damage is terrible and so quick.
Ugh. I am so sorry. 😢
It all happened in the matter of under a minute. So crazy.
It all happened in
The matter of under a
Minute. So crazy.
- blewitt
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