Saving comic books

[Jan Follak]

Don Rosa:
>Rare or historical
>books are preserved at the Library of Congress by being dis-assembled and
>put through chemical baths and drying processes... but doing that to a
>comic book would so change it from it's original integral beauty that it
>should sooner be photographed and digitally stored on CDs, and then the
>original allowed to turn to dust in its own sweet time.

First: I don't think this is an off-topic theme (as Fernando Ventura said),
because with the comic books gone there's not much use both to the DCML and
the INDUCKS that are dedicated to them.
I'm actually thinking of having my collection of Disney comic books undergo
those chemical procedures you talk about, at least the old ones. I bought
most of them second hand and some are in a not so very good condition. By
having the acid taken out I could enjoy them longer, because they are not
getting worse (I know you can't improve them). Secondly, they would be
preserved for future generations. I don't think many people will have their
comic books chemically treated, so they could completely disappear one fine
day. This would be my way to do something against that. I should add that
German comics are printed on much better paper than the American ones, so I
think it's worth the expense. 
I spoke with a librarian about how to get the acid out of the comics that
destroys them, and I got the impression that it's neither difficult nor too
expensive. Maybe I'm getting too off-topic NOW. If someone knows more about
that process or has had it done, I'd be happy about some infos (by private
e-mail). 

- Jan