Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Does Manga Turn Yellow?
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ultimatehaki
Posts: 1090 |
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I didn't read this yet but I already know the answer. Alien paper.
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rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
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I'm actually kind of relieved to hear it's normal. I've been looking to sell a lot of my old manga and I was afraid they wouldn't be sellable when I saw how yellowed and frail some of them are.
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Vee-Tee
 Posts: 138 |
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I think it also might be to do with climate.
I have a lot of old Tokyopop manga and I haven't noticed much (if any) yellowing or failing binding. I don't bag my manga and they're mainly left in a spare bedroom for storage... So I'm thinking me being in a cooler, drier climate here in the UK might have helped? |
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Ouran High School Dropout
 Posts: 440 Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA |
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Knew the answer, too. Far beyond today's manga, it's a disaster waiting to happen in libraries worldwide, affecting millions of books printed on wood-pulp paper (starting in the 1850s or so), as opposed to the far more durable linen rag which can comfortably last for centuries. Not long ago, I heard the Library of Congress described as "the world's biggest collection of rotting paper."
In my college days ('80s), I had to pore through volumes (bound magazines, actually) printed in the 1920s; some pages were deep orange, not yellow, and threatened to literally disintegrate in my fingers. I dread to think what they look like now. It's also the reason some books are printed on acid-free paper, as are the better-quality mattes and backings for printed photos. |
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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I worked in the University Library in the late 70's, saw some truly horrible damage done to books & magazines ( Shudder ) because of low paper quality. I've also got a large collection of SciFi paperbacks where some of the oldest have succumbed to the dreaded yellowing. It's always a competition between paper quality and the books selling price. Cheap usually wins.
Mark Gosdin |
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Parsifal24
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Yellowing of paper is why I'm such a stickler for good quality paper I had old copies of the Tokyo Pop edition of Fruits Basket that had the entire top edge of volumes yellowed simply from just sitting on the shelf in a bookstore.
Also dusting is paramount to good upkeep for any kind of books as well as avoiding high humidity. As this can lead to mold forming if proper ventilation is not practiced either . |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2665 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Same with me. I live in Central NJ & have a variety of manga from all sorts of "eras" (90s, 00s, present), and very few (if any, really) show signs of yellowing, unless it was already like that when bought. It's the same with the VHS tapes I have, which generally play just fine & show no major signs of degradation. Still, nice to have some confirmation that it's just something that will happen to some manga over time, simply due to cheaper paper & printing practices. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6172 Location: USA |
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We bought some manga one time and it turned yellow within a month of sitting on the cart waiting to be cataloged. I've bought imported titles for myself and maybe over a period of years I'd look up and notice they turned yellow. But I often wonder if books yellow slowly due to how much circulation it gets as opposed to sitting the shelf. Of course paper quality is na issue too. But I've seen how some books will yellow quick and others will yellow slowly. The only paper that doesn't yellow as quick is glossy or poster quality. It's more expensive. But with digital print there isn't a problem. Just a program becoming corrupt. But nothing beats the original print that you can hold in your hand. But can we go back and reprint stuff on better paper. LOL.
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1121 Location: Puget Sound |
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In this case it's not so much about the expense as the amount of fillers, opacifiers, and sizing in the paper. These prevent you from seeing the yellowing. Paper isn't always just paper fibers, manufacturers add all sorts of things to make it more suitable for different uses. |
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Janitor Tzap
 Posts: 38 |
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Yeah,
I've seen this problem for many years now with the cheap paper. Many Library systems have been transferring old magazines and books to Microfiche. I've transferred many of my old magazines to CD-Rom Disc or DVD. Only it is time consuming. Carefully taking the staples out of the binding, to separate the pages. Then placing the individual pages on a flat bed scanner and scanning them in to the computer. Then taking each page and editing it, making it readable. Then once I had a full years worth, or a complete series stored on the hard drive. Burn it to a Disc. But even doing this, I found that the CD-Rom Disc's were suffering from a condition known as "Laser Rot". Thus, I had to transfer the data from the damaged Disc to a fresh CD-Rom Disc. One way of slowing the disintegration of the paper, is sealing the magazine in a air tight bag. Basically your using a vacuum sealer to remove the air from the bag. So, the chemical process of the acid reacting to the air can't happen. Only, this means you can't remove the magazine from the bag to read it when ever you want. And some of the plastics that are used with house hold vacuum sealers tend to break down after a few years. 
Some collectors, Museums, and some Libraries have gone to storing very rare books in sealed boxes filled with an inert gas like Neon, or Helium to preserve the book. Signed: Janitor Tzap |
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1121 Location: Puget Sound |
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Very few are transferring... Most are tossing out what they have and buying a set of microfiche, which is the cheaper way to do it. This can cause problems... a few years back a friend was doing some research and needed a particular issue of a particular magazine from the 1920's. He checked with every library that said they had the run of that magazine. Thirty libraries, all with microfiche they'd bought from the same vendor. All missing the same issue - the one my friend needed.
That can actually make things worse... As those plastics break down, they can produce chemicals that actively attack the paper. (Food safe in the short term isn't the same as archival in the long term.) |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3563 Location: Finland |
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Digital might not fall on everyone's tastes but it has its advantages, if it's already digital to begin with you simply hit 'copy' for a backup (And before anyone says drm, that's hardly ever been more of an issue than a road pumb...).
Wouldn't it be easier to just leave it on a spare drive and make a backup on another spare drive, along with a backup's backup or several somewhere else? You'd have good enough redundancy without too much hassle and size or price shouldn't exactly be an issue today, at least comparing to using cds/dvds...
Just to note, helium WILL leak, it's just a question of how fast... |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5146 |
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Maybe I am wrong, but perhaps you meant "road bump"? 
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Blanchimont
Posts: 3563 Location: Finland |
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Yeah, that what I meant. 
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katscradle
Posts: 469 |
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I don’t know why anyone thought POD was a good idea, especially for comics. I’ve stopped buying from one publisher that uses it heavily now. I also once heard someone from a US manga publisher talk about how fans couldn’t tell the difference between things like paper stocks anyway. I’m sure there are a few weird complaints but, some fans do know what they are talking about. I own some books, editions which were published over a hundred years ago not just a few decades old like manga in the US. I wish I did live a lifestyle where I stayed in one place and could have the perfect library room. Instead my poor book collection has lived probably a harsh life shipped or stored all over the place. That’s why I wish I could get more digital copies even though there are a few things I’d want to keep and look after in print too. |
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