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Revision as of 20:35, 6 December 2005
Comic Collectors
Comic book collectors have ungergone as many changes as the medium they love over the years, as westerns and pulp horrors have given way to super–men and mutants, and comics have moved from disposable newstand monthlies to collectibles from specialized stores and now to trade paperbacks available at major–chain bookstores all over the country. Although sometimes portrayed negatively by popular media (such as the depiction of the character of Comic Book Guy in the TV show The Simpsons), comic book collecting is a wide–spread hobby, and popular venues such as the San Diego Comic-Con attract more than 80,000 fans over a four day period each year.
Comic book speculation (the buying of a comic at its original price in hopes of reselling the issue at a later date for a significant profit) became a common practice as early as the seventies but hit an all–time high in the early–90s when a large and aging fan base eager to recapture the nostalgia of the comics from their youth gave rise to their own mythos of some lucky schmuck who finds a mint copy of a rare and valuable comic in their attic and reaps a fortune when a wealthy collector comes along and pays hundreds of thousands to acquire their comic. This ultimately led to a disappointing bust when expectations and actual comic book sales figures failed to coincide (see comic book collecting), but did lead to the interesting development of businesses devoted to comic book grading and comic book price guides.
Companies such as CGC, which many collectors consider a hoax, and many consider the ultimate authority in determining a given comic’s value and worth, could not have existed without the obsessive grading and comic book preservation mentality that developed in response to comic book speculation. Interestingly, comic price guides such as Overstreet, The Comics Buyer's Guide, and ComicBase now serve not only as a reference for current comic values, but also serve as important record keepers of comic book history within and without a title/publisher's established universe.