Comics has been a busy space lately. We've seen the development of ComicSpace.com, the MySpace comicbooks profile, and Comeeko. Comic book aficiados would probably bristle at broad categorization; Comic Collector Live is a development just for them.

Comic book collection and trading has long been -- even before the internet -- a niche but robust subculture and economy of its own. Publishers create the primary market; collectors and dealers make up the secondary market. Price guides suggest prices for comics based on market conditions and issue quality. Pre-internet, most transactions were done at dealers or at comic book conventions. The rise of the internet -- in particular general auction houses like ebay -- has provided buyers and sellers with more channels for inventory and price discovery and also certification, eg by Certified Guarantee Company (CGC), and auction price tracking, eg GPAnalysis.

eBay is great for heterogenous markets but not so optimal for specialty markets. Like so many other markets, eg equities, fiber capacity, licensing rights, comic books would be better served by a focused exchange. ComicCollectorLive.com aims to create such a market using a client-server software model. The client software allows individual collectors to manage their collections, track prices and make transactions.

ComicCollectorLive.com makes money by charging sellers a listing fee and a sales fee. The software is in pre-launch beta and it's not known if seller and buyer ratings or social networking features will be seen in the final product. If you recall eBay is in talks with MySpace to marry social networks and auctions. To promote the program, the developer MidTenMedia, is establishing an affiliate system that pays referrers 10% on transactions made by referees using the software.

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