Collecting and the middle age man

[TomHudson]

I don't post here all that often, but I wanted to get some feedback.. I'm just a couple years away from the big 5-0, just moved into a new place, and seeing all my comics/graphic novels/trades in one room (finally) in about 50 short boxes has me contemplating where I go next. I rarely pick up new single issues, instead focusing on trades if it's something that looks really good, but mostly back issues from 70s and 80s to fill in old runs or explore stories and creators I wasn't able to read or collect back then. Anyway, seeing all these boxes of books has me questioning what I really want to keep as I set up my new comic room.
I don't do spec or investment buying, and I don't do slabs, but I've noticed that most all YouTube comic videos are dedicated to those aspects. Would a YouTube channel devoted to my journey of setting up a new room, culling my collection, discussing stories and creators and comic book history sound like something others would find interesting? Or if it's not spec and hot lists and slab unboxings would it be setting out there garnering no interest?

[slop101]

I'm also 50!

I got on the ground-floor of buying big Omnibus collections when they first started releasing them (2005, roughly?), and soon after that, I stopped buying floppies. And it's been great! I boxed up everything long ago, and I can't even bring myself to flip through them - I'm in the process of separating all the floppies that I can sell for a decent amount, and just donating the rest.
And my hardcover collection looks great on the shelves and very welcoming, and doesn't give me the anxiety my long-boxes did. I also love to just pull one of those big books and flip through them whenever. I have room for about 5 or 6 more books, and after that, if I buy more, I'll have to sell one to buy one - for me, it's about quality over quantity - though I do have a lot!

I'll post some pics later.

[SJNeal]

As a reader first, I'd much rather watch YouTube videos like you describe than slabbing and unboxing videos - neither of which I've ever seen the appeal of.

[Twice-named]

I’m in the same predicament in terms of age and collection size. I have a whole room in my house filled with long and short boxes and hardcovers and TPBs. My wife is less than thrilled. Would love to hear about your experience shrinking your collection.

[slop101]

I’m in the same predicament in terms of age and collection size. I have a whole room in my house filled with long and short boxes and hardcovers and TPBs. My wife is less than thrilled. Would love to hear about your experience shrinking your collection.

So what I did (after getting rid of the long-boxes - those are of no use to anyone) is better organize my hard-covers, and my wife was on board (I let her know how much the books meant to me, and how valuable they are), letting me keep them up and on display, as long as they're well organized and not cluttered. So what we have below is 12 shelves (of 16 total - the other 4 shelves are elsewhere in the room/house), flanking a murphy-bed in our office/guest-room. It looks good and they're well accessible. I have room for about 5 more big books (which I have coming over this next year), and after that, I'll have to sell something if I want to buy something new.

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[TomHudson]

So I've discovered that the room I'm going to be using as my comic book room gets warmer than the rest of the house since it's upstairs and the thermostat is downstairs. So before I start unpacking books, filling up bookshelves, displaying comics and such, I'm gonna investigate getting a mini split installed upstairs to make it more comfortable. Looks like my project is on hold