Welcome to The Restoration Lab

Welcome to Restoration Labs

I am Susan Cicconi, a paper conservator who specializes in the conservation of vintage American comic books.

My art conservation career began in Paris when I apprenticed with an American paper conservator working at the Museum of Modern Art.  Together we worked on several 20th century contemporary artists, most notably Pablo Picasso. From Paris to Boston, MA, I trained with the pioneer of comic book conservation, William Sarill, employer, mentor and dear friend, who eventually sold me The Restoration Lab in 1986. I have been sole proprietor ever since.

What an industry this collectible market has become since The Overstreet Price Guide 1st edition, 1970.  From scrappy and crumbling reader comics marked with pen, crayons and tape to pristine graded, certified and slabbed treasures for investment portfolios!  Once a collector, always a collector and you can decide how you want to preserve your collection for the future. It is important to understand the differences in my services and how they will affect your book's preservation and marketability.

CLEANING/PRESSING

This is the industry’s most popular service today. Since the advent of CGC in 1999, it was determined that books could be “cleaned” and “pressed” to try and bring them back to their most original state. This service would produce a comic that would be evaluated, graded and certified as UNIVERSAL BLUE LABEL.

TRUE RESTORATION

Restoration is the most advanced form of reconstruction and it takes great skill to provide structural as well as esthetic value to a comic book. This process involves detailed cleaning such as aqueous (water) bath, pressing, spine repair, mending, hole reconstruction and color matching pigments to recreate lost art. Different layers of Japanese tissue and archival adhesives are painstakingly applied to both covers and interior pages for reconstruction and support. Acrylic and watercolor can be used for color touch in mended or filled areas, interior as well as exterior of cover.

CONSERVATION

Conservation is a detailed, skilled service that involves repairing tears, re-attaching pieces and/or reinforcing spines to provide structural support to covers and interior pages. Different types of Japanese tissues are used for types of strength: heavier papers for Golden Age covers and lighter ones for Silver Age. This is a very satisfying procedure to re-align and repair a book so that it is functional and easier to hold, open and close and of course, read and enjoy. 

What you should know...

• The Restoration Lab does NOT provide restoration removal services.  
• Tape removal is on a very limited basis. 
• TRL does not whiten interior covers and/or comic book pages. 
• Cover facsimiles or reproductions are not provided for marrying covers or pages to comics.

I recognize that there are advanced techniques that have developed across all three services that I provide but I have not changed my work from the traditional and archival methods I learned long ago.  I will also defer books that are fragile and brittle to other comic book conservators that are willing to take on bigger challenges. I applaud leaf casting work for seamless mends. For certain comic books, maintaining their original condition is often more valuable than opting for true restoration or conservation services.

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