Building a comics empire: The San Jose Mercury News profiles Steve Mortensen, who runs Mortensen's Colossus Comics, an Internet-based company that caters to "serious" collectors and the speculator market:

"For $33 a month, send serious collectors packs of two brand-new comics of the same title. One is in all-but-perfect condition (as rated by a company that is universally accepted as the authority on comics) and sealed in hard plastic. The second is unsealed and meant to be read by the subscriber."