[This is an excerpt from the recent GEM lecture, “Goin’ Green with Pop Culture”]

The original plan for this presentation was to discuss the many ways in which our stronger focus on ecological concerns, renewable energy (Dr. Manhattan, anyone?) and the decline of physical print in favor of digital media might affect our cherished world of comic character collectibles. But there is also another issue worth bringing to light, and that’s something called the CPSIA, or Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

Basically this new law, which went into effect in February, changes things for all those that sell any products intended for children, including books, comics, toys – the lifeblood of the collecting world. Due to the stringent requirements now in place, all pre-1985 children’s books for example are presumed to have potentially hazardous levels of lead or other threatening materials and must be tested at the expense of the seller or taken off the shelves. Some stipulations have been made about the degree to which areas of the law will be enforced, and the regulations will apparently allow people to sell these now-questionable items as “collectibles” (ironically enough) as long as they’re sold to adults, but what constitutes a “collectible” in the eyes of this law is undefined. How exactly do you determine with absolute certitude that the local comic shop is selling that pre-1985 Star Wars book to an adult while the current issue is sold to a child?

I can’t stress things any better than comic creator Evan Dorkin did on his own blog:

“It’s not just comics, but as far as our little field goes, it will potentially affect everyone, whether they make kids’ toys or comics or action figures or models or whatever. And you know how most folks think all comics are for kids, so there’s people who would classify superhero statues and [stuff] made for adult collectors as kid stuff. And old comic strip collections…Nightmare scenario, someone complains…and you’re in trouble for selling Disney Comics or Toon Books to a kid. Back issues. Old, not-so-old, loose or packaged Star Wars or Spider-Man figures. Video game toys. Can Graphitti afford to test their shirts? And will DC Direct be able to afford to test every…thing they make, pay extra for accessories to action figures, and pay again for repaints and variants, because they are considered different finished products under the unit testing conditions of the act? And everything at a con is technically violating the law (not that anyone goes after them, but still, who knows, and who needs this craziness?).”

It’s a story that should be followed closely in the months to come, because at stake is – just possibly – the future of collecting.