The recent article from Fine Book Magazine on prices for comics points out a particular problem associated with attention on comic book media. The rush to pay high prices for Golden Age comic book has put the spotlight on collecting and the cultural value of the comic books, especially the superhero comic book. With this rise in value comes a serious re-evaluation by academics and cultural critics. The real value in the article is the overview of price points--Silver Age stuff in six figures, Golden Age stuff in the seven figure range. Rarity is a more complex question than this article reveals. There are a number of lesser known Golden Age characters that arguably would be easier to find, but would the average reader even recognize such characters. Recently, as I was putting together my TEDx Orlando talk, I was cautious not to use characters under copyright protection. Thus those characters from Marvel (Spider-Man) and DC (Superman) were for the most part off limits. On the other hand, a host of Golden Age characters were free and in the public domain. The images were clearly superheroic in nature, but the characters were unknown to the wider public. The rise in value associated with comics are linked to Golden and Silver Age characters controlled by Marvel and DC, but a legion of Golden Age character exists and it is possible that these comics may still exist in dusty bins somewhere. You can find information on these public domain characters on the web. Keep your eye out for these forgotten characters.
To begin with, I really do like the idea of reading a comic about comics. I think it's a great idea and it's very well executed. As I was reading the first two chapters, I was surprised at how many examples there were of art in recent (and ancient, in some cases) history that are variations of "sequential visual art" and thus the foundations of modern comics. I'd never even thought about it before and it was hard to believe how many different kinds there were. I also love all the discussion about how our human brains automatically interpret certain images in a specific way, how we see others constantly but we identify ourselves when we look at cartoons, and how inanimate objects automatically becomes extensions of our bodies. The pyramid of styles was very interesting too as a way to conceptualize and almost graph or "place" a specific art style in comics. In Comic Book Nation , I enjoyed reading about the evolution of early comics from "funnies...
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