Every comic book that has ever been produced comes from the unique vision of its creators. That vision is typically the collaboration of a writer and an artist. This unique blending of words and images makes the comic book art form, one that has been embraced by cultures worldwide.

As a part of this process, typically the artist draws the comic on pieces of oversized bristol board to make the final black and white sketch. This is what is known in the industry as original comic art. These drawings are typically penciled and inked by the artist before they are sent to the publisher who adds lettering and digital coloring. The black and white piece of artwork is typically returned to the artists who then can choose to do with the artwork as they please. Sometimes an artist will keep the artwork, but more often, the artist will sell it to collectors and fans.

Back in the 1940s to 1950s comic art was considered dispensable. Often publishers would recycle the paper from the finished artwork or would store it in huge warehouses where sometimes it would never be seen again. Often artists would mail original pages to young fans who had written to them. It wasn’t until the late 1960s to early 1970s that a collectible market around original comic art began to emerge. Also at this time it became commonplace for artists to have their work returned to them by their publisher. This helped to create the collectible marketplace for comic art which has continued to grow to today.

Comic book fans and art collectors have embraced collecting original art because of its unique nature. There are few hobbies where the finished product has been seen and read by thousands or millions of fans but only one collector is able to say that they own the original piece of artwork. And knowing that you own a unique piece which has been created by one of the greats of comic art is something that collectors clamor for.

Despite its extreme scarcity, original comic art is not expensive and you can buy pages for as little as ten dollars.