How can 575 comic books weigh under an ounce?: Comic book collecting in the digital age

Abstract

Once a quest that often took years of visits to flea markets, garage sales, used bookstores, and the local comics shop, collecting an entire run of a comic book title may become as easy as downloading a file from the Internet. With the advent of DVD-ROMs published by Graphic Imaging Technology and other companies collecting decades of such titles as The Amazing Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four on a single DVD, comic book collectors and general readers may be more and more tempted to read on screen in the future. This paper explores the possible consequences for the comic book collecting hobby and the comics industry as a subculture traditionally based in print begins to mutate in the digital age.