What is the History of Comics?

For an industry that has been around for more than seven decades, its highly astounding that it is only during the last two decades or so that comic book collecting has had a widespread following. Collecting comic books was not very popular during the first few decades of its inception and its truly amazing that it is now an industry that commands millions upon millions of dollars today, in fact, a well preserved comic book that is a first edition or a milestone issue can demand tens of thousands of dollars.

On a more serious tone, comic book collecting is known as panelology and its enthusiasts are called pannapictagraphists.

There are several reasons why a person would want to collect comic books. For some, they just truly appreciate comic books and want to keep them as part of their lives, these are hobbyists. Some collect comic books because they want to gain profit from it. Comic book conventions and fairs are full of these people and there are a lot of buzz generated when one is scheduled in their locality.

History of Comics: When did Collecting Comics Become more popular?

It is said that comic book collecting started in the 1960s mainly because of an underground movement where comic book aficionados started swapping and selling comic books that were very popular then. Since there were still no specialized comic bookstores then, people had to rely on other comic book enthusiasts to find the issue they wanted. Comic books were still being printed in limited edition as there was no great demand then.

Barely a decade after, major comic book publishers headed by DC comics and Marvel acknowledge the growing population of this movement and have geared up their marketing strategies to cater to this need.

More and more people are now getting tuned into comic book reading and collecting and first editions have bolstered their value as comic book characters have gained tremendous popularity and the number of collectors has increased, thus the demand.

As first editions have become rarer, value has soared high prompting many collectors to treat their collections as businesses and gold mines. Due to this new industry, more and more people have infused their hobbies and their businesses. Comic book collecting has never looked so profitable.

If you want to start your own collection, this can still be a great time to do so. Just be sure that you will be able to invest not only your money, but also your time.