Other factors are crucial in determining why we choose to collect the things we do. All collectors are compulsive, and mated with the desire to accumulate is the desire to know--the need to learn about the things we love. The hunger for knowledge is part of the quest; we are only now beginning to appreciate the big picture, and all the people and events that shaped a century of comic character memorabilia. We are all intrigued by what drives us, and that story is starting to unfold in books like this one. We eagerly seek out that world and willingly immerse ourselves in it, sometimes to the detriment of our concentration on other matters. To people who are not collectors, this obsession may seem a bit odd, but it is that willingness to be a part of something fanciful that also defines us.

Possibly the most potent power a collector possesses is the ability to retain a youthful attitude; the same power also drives the toymakers who create the collectibles in the first place. Comic characters and entertainment personalities can’t become collectible icons without a carefully planned marketing strategy that directs the development of these characters, making them available in a wide range of media and shaping them into a success. There are just as many who are lost to the mists of time due to a failure of proper promotion, but these too are collectible and sought-after for their obscurity and historical value; in the mind of a collector, there is a reason for anything to be worth holding onto.

We basically gravitate to one kind of collectible or another due to shrewd planning as much as the whim of our heart. These collectibles were, after all, designed by adults, particularly in the early days of the hobby--the newspaper and radio era of the 1920s and ‘30s--and they were deliberately created to entice adults, drawing them and their children into various promotions. These designers were not only creating the collectibles, but the need and desire for them, and children were quick to respond when exposed to the message through common consumer goods like bread and milk, especially when those were part of that "nutritious meal" endorsed by their parents. Brand loyalty was filtered down to the next generation thanks to the efforts of Superman, the Lone Ranger, Mickey Mouse, and hundreds of others, who extolled the virtues of eating and drinking the right kinds of foods. Interestingly, such a product endorsement is seen today by some as a "sell-out"--the very characters and personalities created to sell products inspired such emotional devotion that the adults who grew up with them cringe to see them reduced to simple hawksmen. Even the familiar strains of a Beatles song in a Nike commercial provokes more acrimony than brand loyalty.

Nevertheless, back then kids enjoyed simply wearing a ring ornamented by their favorite character, or playing with a toy ray-gun from some galactic radio adventure. A child might even feel more confident and superior when wearing, say, a Tom Mix "Ranch Boss" badge, and that too was a well-planned psychological tactic on the part of the designers. Children were cultivated as future consumers, but as a by-product of this process, the comic character market was invented and nurtured, helped along by the men and women who mapped out its path, and by the children who embraced it and took it to their hearts.

By extension, this century of invention and creativity has actually created the modern collector as well. Take a look at the past hundred years, and the attitudes of the adult generations that have lived in each successive decade. As the years go by, and the comic character market builds and becomes an intrinsic part of American pop-culture, the adults of this country slowly change, becoming more prone to nostalgia and sentiment, and more likely to retain their youth well into the later years of their life. By the time we reach the Baby Boom generation, which is only now facing the turmoil of middle age, we see for the first time a segment of the population that, while mature, has remained young in spirit and unwilling to relinquish their hold on the past.

This phenomenon has affected the next generation as well. As mentioned earlier, collectors of today have the ability to react passionately to artifacts from eras they did not experience first-hand. "Generation X," the twenty-somethings of the 1990s (of which I am a member), were more often than not raised by parents who cherished their childhood and treasured their youthful outlook. As a result, we have been infused with a built-in nostalgia for their past as well as ours. Naturally, this influences our choice of collectibles as well, and explains why we are all drawn to the same characters and categories. New collectors are as likely to seek out items from many decades past, and this draws the world of collecting closer together.

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