My entire long box of X-Men comics got soaked in a basement flood last week

I was moving some stuff around in my storage area and found a puddle under the shelf. The bottom long box had been sitting in about an inch of water for who knows how long. I pulled out about 50 issues, from Uncanny X-Men 210 to 260, and the bottom third of each book was totally warped and stuck together. I tried to carefully peel them apart on a towel but the pages are fused. Has anyone salvaged a water-damaged run like this, or are they just a total loss now?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivanl761mo ago

Did you try separating them while they were still wet, or did they dry out stuck together first? That freezing trick can work but it's a last resort for fused pages, not a magic fix. If the ink has bled and the paper is pulp, you're probably just saving a block of colored paper. What's the actual paper feel like, are they stiff or still kinda soft?

hill.hugo1mo ago

Ugh that's brutal, sorry man. I read a long forum thread once where people swore by freezing water damaged books first. The idea is you stick each comic in a plastic bag and freeze it solid, then let it thaw slowly between paper towels. It supposedly helps separate the pages without tearing them as much. Might be worth a shot for a run that important, even if they're just for your own collection now. The color will probably run and the pages will stay wavy, but you might save the stories.