Comics collection

A comics collection is a published book that collects works of comics, typically comic strips, that have previously been released individually. This is not to be confused with a comic book collection by a hobbyist. A treasury is a term that has been used to refer to a published book that either combines two previous collections (possibly adding additional material) or selectively combines some of the best strips from a range of years (five to ten).

Since comics are printed in newspapers or online, a comics collection allows a collector or fan of the comic strip to obtain a quality printing of the material. Unlike a comics anthology, a collection draws on the material, the same recurring characters and themes, of a single comic strip. The term "trade paperback" is used for a collection that organizes individually-published American comic books under one title. The nature of that term reflects the continuous storyline of the trade paperback, instead of just a grouping of comic strips that loosely hold together a story.

History

Comics collections have been around since at least the 1960s, with the reprints of Blondie. In the prior decades, as was the case with Blondie, it was also common to expand the comics strip into a series of original comic books.