How do you look after your collection?

For comics, bags and boards are pretty much the standard, and many people store them in long boxes. You can usually find all three items at your local comic book shops. There are some more expensive types of supplies, but I find that the regular, cheaper stuff is as good as the rest. You just want to make sure the boards are acid free. It should say so right on the package. For Star Wars you want "Current" or "Modern" size bags and boards. (Much older comic books need larger bags/boards because they were cut larger. Silver Age, Bronze, etc.) Just ask the guy behind the counter. They sell a ton of it.
Bags and boards come in packs of 100. Boxes come in long and half-length boxes. You'll probably spend $15-$20 for bags, boards, and a box.

For books, I'm not really sure. Never really sealed up any of mine. I'm of the school that books should be beat the s**t out of. The good ones, anyways.
Hope this helps.


*Also: Keep comics out of prolonged exposure to sunlight. Keep your longboxes away from open windows, heaters, etc. Common sense stuff.
Related story- this winter I had a roof leak. Directly over all of my long boxes, which contain some gems like Amazing Spider-man #'s 121, 129, 300 and The Walking Dead #'s 1-7. Fortunately I caught it in time, and everything was well protected. I now keep a plastic sheet over my longbox pile, just in case.

 

Just started getting caught up with the comics. I never got into them much as a kid and I wasn't planning on it, but with all the good reviews and the fact that for a while I was used to being able to get into a new Star Wars novel whenever I wanted to because there was so much out that I hadn't read yet, The wait between novels and lack of new Rebels episodes is getting to me. I have already read each of the new canon novels twice as well as the Plagueis novel thanks to a certain 125+ page (in)famous thread. Only thing frustrating right now with the comics is I have to wait for the next reprint of Star Wars #2 before I can get to reading the newer ones in that series because the shop near me was out, or at least long enough to make it to another shop.

One thing the guy at the comic shop said to me regarding plastic boxes was that he only briefly carried them. They fell apart too often because the plastic warped and broke down due to sunlight exposure. Acid free is the standard for archival storage, so I could see that being critical along with the sunlight issue (even without the plastic boxes). You want to minimize anything that would make the ink fade or bleed, or cause the paper to get discolored. That includes the oils that are present on human skin.

Luckily, all of the comics that I have seen so far from Marvel also include a code for a digital copy, and it appears the digital only price is the same as the print + digital price, but you have a limited time to claim the digital code on the print copy. I think the ones I got the other day said January 2016 so you have some time, just not forever. I assume you still get the digital code with the print subscriptions. So far, I've touched them enough to peel back the part that was covering the code, and maybe glance through at the physical book, but for the most part I have done my reading in the Marvel app on my iPad. It also helps with keeping the kids hands off of the comics. (Edit: Hit post accidentally before I was finished.). You should be able to read the digital versions in the Marvel app on any Android or iOS device and on the Marvel website, and I have heard a lot of good reviews for the app itself.

I also went digital for the novels a while back, so all of the new canon plus some of the legends stuff has been in kindle format. If you want the print, I agree with Darby somewhat. The good ones should probably at least look well used and broken in. Just make sure you have decent book shelves and enough of it. Before I went digital, I was running out of shelf space for all of the legends books I had and probably 99% of them were the paperback copies. Also, like the comics it may be good to place the shelves where the books get limited sunlight. If they are worn you want it to be for use, not sitting in sunlight collecting dust.