How to CLEAN your comics // a Beginner's Guide 

Nobody knows what they're talking about, he literally uses it over color + the Absorene he said don't use on color (and didn't) yet in the end he did it anyway. I stopped buying CGC cuz more and more guys are ruining comics lazy graders don't end up giving restored label

As they should be, tbh. I'm sure those guys at CGC can smell the peroxide as soon as they open the comic. CGC allow subtractive restoration. As soon as you introduce any chemical agent to lighten pages, you're asking for a purple label. Glad they seem to be getting on top of this.

@@martyrocks2091 ok, so dry cleaning is still getting blue labels, correct?

@@dansxmencomics yes, as far as I'm aware. Dry cleaning with, for example, absorene dirt erasers or putty, cotton pads etc would be considered subtractive restoration. You're only removing dirt, there is no chemical component being added to artificially enhance the books appearance.

Saw a video recently where a guy says he did not use peroxide or lights (dry clean only) and still got a purple label on multiple comics. So be careful.

@@300baud I think I saw the same video. I have to be honest, I did not think the guy was telling us the whole truth about his cleaning of those comics. Just a feeling I got when watching. I should also point out that he bought those comics from another dealer, so who knows what had been done to those books prior to his own cleaning work on them.

I saw that too. He just does dry cleaning and pressing and got dinged hard on a handful of books. Super curious how that will all pan out.

@@richardolney1822 ya I'm hoping he does a vid with CGCs response. At least if they say it was the absorbene we can black light or something to make sure we dont leave stuff residue behind. However I'm skeptical that CGC will have anything to say because graders notes are mostly vague if they exist at all.

I watched that as well. It could be a case of him being a harsh, dry cleaner OR that CGC are being stricter on cleaning. Interesting situation. To clean or not to clean. Or let CGC clean. Hmm.

@@shadowman8786 If you watched his last 20 videos the guy is a wizard .. he gets back like 80%+ 9.8s so i dont think hes a harsh cleaner .

@@shadowman8786 almost positive cgc doesn't clean. Only presses.

This. Top Comics Pressing has some great videos on the science behind h2o2 and blue light LED. They really put my mind at ease. That being said, you can certainly overdo it to the point where a book looks unnaturally white for its age.

Will do!

Thanks!

Indeed

You should!

Use absorene but there’s not much else you can do. Maybe cotton balls. But anything else removed ini

I borrow my daughters art kit erasers lol

You must be careful, you can't DIG - you gotta lightly scrub - that's why it's a dry erase and nothing abrasive

I haven’t had the best luck with that either. I tried to use those magic erasers on the mostly white back cover of New Avengers 11 and it got scuffed. I think I’ll stick with the cotton pads and then absorene.

​@@pillar81you guys need to stop being greedy and stop ruining comics for a buck, any pressure will remove ink but so undiscernable it is to cgc, they don't dock the tampering so collector's end up suffering from your greed

So I Shouldn’t use it on my old comic books

There was color bleaching before any cleaning, I didn’t pull off any color in this demonstration

@@MintHunterComics dude I'm reporting you to CGC, I cannot believe you are copying other RU-vidrs, then attempting to spread this method to sneak purple books into blue slabs

@@MintHunterComics you applied restoration which affected the original color and are trying to teach others to scam CGC + collectors for profit & followers

I'm not sure I understand the question!

@@MintHunterComics well I’m interested in taking my mint condition golden age comics and antiquing them by adding various kinds of simulated wear and tear. So perhaps I could let my dog chew on some, read them while eating pizza, or leave them out in the rain. I’d love to hear if you could share any advice on effective aging methods.

I really hope you are kidding because if you are actually going to destroy original Batman and Superman comics from the golden age then you should not have them in the first place.

It’s not abrasive, I does a nice clean without removal of gloss. The abserene also helps keep the gloss

There is no shortage of worn books to practice on, so try on some reader copies first.

No

Yes and no, depends on the "tool". Absorbene sponge can lift color if using to much pressure but is pretty safe once you develop your technique. Artists eraser will pull color very quickly, reds yellows and black. It can also remove gloss if the area is over worked. Mr Clean, this is abrasive and can damage your book if you apply too much force or over work one spot. Make up pad, pretty safe overall. General rule, dont over work one spot and you should be good :)

@@consumetheliving great advice. Should be a pinned comment. 👍

@@MintHunterComics another RU-vidr called “Lunch Money Comics” has a presser who uses a wool sock (literally) to buff the front and back cover. Apparently it shines the gloss up quite a bit.

Not on dry cleaning… they offer it themselves!

They’re tossing out those purples labels so they can have a monopoly on the clean and press market

Same as the cash we carry around, cleaning Bill's is fun too