Three seasons of Grey's piled up before I caved and paid the 15 bucks too.

Oh man, this hits home. My buddy Dave had almost the same thing happen with his Green Lantern run from the 90s. He kept them stacked in regular poly bags for years and when he finally pulled them out, the bottom books had these little dents along the spine from the weight pressing down. A guy at our local shop told him a board plus mylar keeps them from sliding and taking that pressure. He spent like three weekends rebagging everything and said he wished he had done it way sooner.

Dale's washer tip reminds me how often the obvious answer hides in plain sight, like lost keys sitting on the counter.