Mapping out VH1 here...

[1st Among Equals]

I found the best way to bind the Magnus issues is to purchase the tpb as the pages are in correct order and orientation.

As for shipping, yes they will contact you with a total including shipping charges .

I'm looking at your pics above showing examples of your books, and I'm wondering which options you chose to get those results, and approximately how much you paid per book. On the H&R website, I see several of the following options listed:

Decorative panel lines…….........$1.00 per line
Bonded leather……….……..$6.00 per volume
Front cover lettering ……..…$10.00 each volume
Head bands ……………….. $2.50 per volume
Black endpapers…………… $3.00 per book
Ribbon markers………….… $2.00 per ribbon
Die imprinting …………...….$6.00 per impression
Hand Sew.............................$20.00 per volume

For instance, are you paying $4 for two double panel lines(one top, and one bottom on the spine)? Is that material bonded leather, or the regular Buckram? I can tell you get the 1 inch Valiant logo die imprinting ($6, right?). Is the rest of the text on the spine (the 'Valiant' text above the logo, the sideways volume title, and the roman numeral for the volume number) all included in the basic costs? It looks like you're not doing front cover lettering or logos, correct?

Hopefully I can answer some of your questions. My books cost $26 each at the time, but I believe the price has gone up. I don't remember if the double line cost per line or just $2. The writing in the sides is free, but the die stamp did cost $5 at the time each. I stuck with the regular buckram. I did not do handsewn as I took out all of the double sided adds to save space. My books are oversewn. So basically I got the regular binding methods, only options chosen are double panel lines and die stamp. I wish I would have gone for the headbands looking back.

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I may actually be getting some of this done soon, so the homework has started. I think I will go for having headbands, and also to have a ribbon marker in each. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to do the whole collection matching in the same colors, or try and make them individual to the title (like making X-O a blue cover with gold lettering/headband/ribbon, or Solar a red cover with yellow lettering/headband/ribbon, etc). I plan on using the Valiant logo stamp at the top like yours have, and I'm contemplating doing the individual character die stamp at the bottom of each book.

On the order form, it has something asking about 'Trimming all edges: Y/N?'. Did you use this option? I assume that's to give it a uniform and even top/side/bottom edge? I see from your pics that you stuck with the standard white endpapers as well. I'll probably be doing that too, since it looks fine to me that way.

Having black end papers would be nice, but with the white papers it allows signatures and sketch drawings to be done easier by creators. I have heard the ribbons fall out over time but that may be a myth. Trimming the edges is worth it for looks, but as the books get newer you will lose a small amount of art as the later issues had art all the way to the edges compared to older books that had borders. My maps were done slightly different from the other maps but everyone's books will probably be different. I recommend really learning what you are binding to make sure you do not forget anything.

[Phoenix8008]

I found the best way to bind the Magnus issues is to purchase the tpb as the pages are in correct order and orientation.

As for shipping, yes they will contact you with a total including shipping charges .

I'm looking at your pics above showing examples of your books, and I'm wondering which options you chose to get those results, and approximately how much you paid per book. On the H&R website, I see several of the following options listed:

Decorative panel lines…….........$1.00 per line
Bonded leather……….……..$6.00 per volume
Front cover lettering ……..…$10.00 each volume
Head bands ……………….. $2.50 per volume
Black endpapers…………… $3.00 per book
Ribbon markers………….… $2.00 per ribbon
Die imprinting …………...….$6.00 per impression
Hand Sew.............................$20.00 per volume

For instance, are you paying $4 for two double panel lines(one top, and one bottom on the spine)? Is that material bonded leather, or the regular Buckram? I can tell you get the 1 inch Valiant logo die imprinting ($6, right?). Is the rest of the text on the spine (the 'Valiant' text above the logo, the sideways volume title, and the roman numeral for the volume number) all included in the basic costs? It looks like you're not doing front cover lettering or logos, correct?

Hopefully I can answer some of your questions. My books cost $26 each at the time, but I believe the price has gone up. I don't remember if the double line cost per line or just $2. The writing in the sides is free, but the die stamp did cost $5 at the time each. I stuck with the regular buckram. I did not do handsewn as I took out all of the double sided adds to save space. My books are oversewn. So basically I got the regular binding methods, only options chosen are double panel lines and die stamp. I wish I would have gone for the headbands looking back.

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I may actually be getting some of this done soon, so the homework has started. I think I will go for having headbands, and also to have a ribbon marker in each. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to do the whole collection matching in the same colors, or try and make them individual to the title (like making X-O a blue cover with gold lettering/headband/ribbon, or Solar a red cover with yellow lettering/headband/ribbon, etc). I plan on using the Valiant logo stamp at the top like yours have, and I'm contemplating doing the individual character die stamp at the bottom of each book.

On the order form, it has something asking about 'Trimming all edges: Y/N?'. Did you use this option? I assume that's to give it a uniform and even top/side/bottom edge? I see from your pics that you stuck with the standard white endpapers as well. I'll probably be doing that too, since it looks fine to me that way.

Having black end papers would be nice, but with the white papers it allows signatures and sketch drawings to be done easier by creators. I have heard the ribbons fall out over time but that may be a myth. Trimming the edges is worth it for looks, but as the books get newer you will lose a small amount of art as the later issues had art all the way to the edges compared to older books that had borders. My maps were done slightly different from the other maps but everyone's books will probably be different. I recommend really learning what you are binding to make sure you do not forget anything.

Thanks for all the advice so far. Another question about set up: How do you secure your books when preparing to send them to H&R for binding?

[1st Among Equals]

Saran Wrap is the best that I found that does not damage the pages .

[Phoenix8008]

Saran Wrap is the best that I found that does not damage the pages .

I've got the first 2 'books' worth of my 4,000 A.D. Saga from VH1 saran wrapped and nearly ready to go out. I also am looking at sending something extra in to get done...



That's right, a Psi-Lords die stamp for Herring & Robinson! Since I'm doing 4,000 A.D. first, and I'm combining all my Magnus, Rai, and Psi-Lords into all the 6 books together, I'm gonna stamp the first and last book as Magnus, books 2 & 3 as Rai, and books 4 & 5 as Psi-Lords! I just gotta decide exactly how I want my book spines to be laid out, so I can finalize things to ship them out soon!

[Phoenix8008]

So I'm going through some of my books in planning mode for eventual hardbacking, and I came across a couple things for adding the the first post.

In Solar: Man of the Atom, after issue 38 (Solar's Chaos Effect issue), it should AT LEAST have 'Chaos Effect: Omega' before Solar 39 to wrap up the Chaos Effect storyline. Or, if you're slightly more adventurous, add in the relevant parts of Psi-Lords 3, Rai 26, and Magnus 41 before the Omega issue. I think this is what I'm gonna do.

The relevant issue/story flow is like this approximately:
Solar 38 - Solar goes to Tibet, but can't solve problem without more power. Says the Destroyer could help but how would he ever know or get there?
Psi-Lords 3 - Psi-Lords fight Destroyer who goes to Earth looking for Solar. Mother Nike contacts him to come to Tibet.
Rai 26/Magnus 41 - Psi-Lords come after Destroyer who kills a bunch of them. Agrees to give some power to take it to Solar. Psi-Lords wrap it up and Destroyer opens portal to send Magnus back in time with chestplate.
Chaos Effect: Omega - Magnus arrives back in the past and delivers Destroyer chest plate to Solar who closes the portal and goes on his way.

I also looked at the current book mapping and I think I'm gonna go a different route. With the current mapping, Book 1 is around a whopping 30 issues worth of material (counting the collected Alpha & Omega stuff as worth about 4 issues). Book 2 is of medium size at 23 issues. And poor little Book 3 is only 15 issues unless you add in the Acclaim stuff (which I'm not doing). I can see why those break-points were chosen, but I wanted to balance it out a bit more for my build so I'm doing this:

Book 1:
Solar Alpha and Omega, Solar Man of the Atom 1 - 11, Unity 0, 12, 13, Unity 1, 14-17, X-O 13 (24 issues)

Book 2:
Solar Man of the Atom 18 - 25, Secret Weapons 2, 26 - 38, (Parts of Psi-Lords 3, Rai 26, Magnus 41), Chaos Effect: Omega (24ish issues)

Book 3:
Solar Man of the Atom 39 - 60 (22 issues)

What do others think? I know, I know... "I can do whatever I want since it my personalized book." I'm just asking for opinions in case anyone sees something I'm missing or has any thoughts to offer.