Material culture: readers

The "artifact" of material culture in this realm is the image or a series of images, rather than the "original" artwork. Recently -- and more so into the future -- original images are more and more likely to exist only in the form of bytes, and every visible version will be a copy, or a printout. It is rare to find original drawings of traditional comics, but for a slightly different reason. Paper and cardboard "originals" were created in order to be reproduced and re-reproduced for wide distribution, rather than for display or collection as rarities. In that regard, the relationship of created images and their publication has changed very little despite electronic interchange.

Nonetheless, there is indeed a market for comic "originals" -- the collection of and trade in sketches, drawings and animation cels as physical artifacts -- but the collectible is only an inadvertent part of this project. The essential subjects of this study are the forms and contents of the images as printed and published.

The low cost, low status, and ephemerality of many comic magazines and books has made some titles and some creators "collectible", within the framework of a specialized, used-book and printed-ephemera market. Shops that specialize in new comics very often have unsold back issues for sale as well as "used" comics. In North America, there is relatively limited availability of foreign comics, except for some North American publishers who publish translations of European or Japanese albums. On the other hand, Europeans -- particularly the French and Italian markets -- have traditionally reprinted and continue to consume American comics.

North America is generally treated as one large cultural market for comic production. Explicitly Canadian content is rare, even in Québec (which has been overrun by French and Belgian publishers).

Next: Who "invented" comics?

		Ephemeral landscapes: material culture Readers, collectors, creators and consumers

`back to the beginning of MATERIAL CULTURE MODELS`		The "artifact" of material culture in this realm is the image or a series of images, rather than the "original" artwork. Recently -- and more so into the future -- original images are more and more likely to exist only in the form of bytes, and every visible version will be a copy, or a printout. It is rare to find original drawings of traditional comics, but for a slightly different reason. Paper and cardboard "originals" were created in order to be reproduced and re-reproduced for wide distribution, rather than for display or collection as rarities. In that regard, the relationship of created images and their publication has changed very little despite electronic interchange. Nonetheless, there is indeed a market for comic "originals" -- the collection of and trade in sketches, drawings and animation cels as physical artifacts -- but the collectible is only an inadvertent part of this project. The essential subjects of this study are the forms and contents of the images as printed and published. The low cost, low status, and ephemerality of many comic magazines and books has made some titles and some creators "collectible", within the framework of a specialized, used-book and printed-ephemera market. Shops that specialize in new comics very often have unsold back issues for sale as well as "used" comics. In North America, there is relatively limited availability of foreign comics, except for some North American publishers who publish translations of European or Japanese albums. On the other hand, Europeans -- particularly the French and Italian markets -- have traditionally reprinted and continue to consume American comics. North America is generally treated as one large cultural market for comic production. Explicitly Canadian content is rare, even in Québec (which has been overrun by French and Belgian publishers). Next: Who "invented" comics?
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Readers, collectors, creators and consumers