NEW DELHI: Bought for 60 paise in 1960s. Sale price Rs 70,000 in 2013. Even accounting for inflation , that’s a super return on investment. Appropriately so, as the reason 60 paise can turn into Rs 70,000 is superheroes.Amint condition 1960s’ Indrajal comic book (those days no one called them graphic novels) with a cover price of 60 paise will get you Rs 70,000 from the right buyer. Indrajal was published by Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd, which also publishes this newspaper among other titles.Old comic books like those published under titles Indrajal, Amar Chitra Katha , Tinkle and Chitra Bharti Kathamala have become highly sought-after and highpriced collectors’ items. In this trend, India is following the US, where old comics have been collectors’ classics for a long time.In 2011, Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage ’s copy of Action Comics No. 1featuring the first appearance of Superman sold for a super price of $2,161,000 in an online auction.Bangalore-based history researcher and graphic novel collector Arun Prasad , recently got his collection of over 15,000 comics valued. His assets in the form of graphic novels are worth over Rs 1.7 crore.Prasad is a determined collector. Recently, he took a trip to Kashmir to purchase old comic books. "I possess the entire Indrajal series in a few languages," he says. Collectors attribute appreciating prices of comic book collections to the coming of Comic Con in India. Comic Con started in San Diego , US, an annual convention of graphic novel enthusiasts.It’s now a worldwide festival of graphic novels. The first Indian Comic Con happened in 2011.Online markets that make information gathering as well as buying and selling a lot easier are another booster to the trade in classic comics. Websites like eBay, OLX , egully and quikr offer classic comic books.Size of the market will grow in IndiaSlowly, say collectors, classic comic books are on their way to becoming an alternate investment. The size of the market and value of rare items can only grow in India, they say.“For collectors, emotional value is the key that drives prices of rare comic books,” says Manas Mohan , COO, ACK Media, which publishes Tinkle. The print run of Tinkle’s three-decade-old “Kalia the Crow” series was around 25,000. Only a few thousand survive today. A passionate collector would happily pay up to Rs 1 lakh for a well-preserved copy, says Mohan.Another Bangalore collector and architect Subin Jameel , 23, says collectors know the value of something they want.“Comic aficionados like myself and some others are trying to make a database of comics, so we would go any lengths to buy comics, whether it means a few thousands or several lakhs for a collection.” Jameel owns over 5,000 Indian comics and says the collection can fetch a “good sixfigure price”.Some collectors seem obsessed. Mumbai's Aalok Joshi, 26, a dentistry student, says he spends every rupee he saves on comics. A freelance writer on comic blogs, Joshi spends a big portion of his monthly income (between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000) on comics. He has 60-plus Indrajal comics and says there total value will be Rs 3 lakh-plus.Many collectors who can spend more on buying comics, happily do so. Jatin Varma, the man who brought Comic Con to India, is an avid collector too. “Just doing a rough estimate based on what I might have spent over the last decade, it could be anywhere between Rs 25-30 lakh and this doesn't include some really rare ones that are individually worth anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 each,” he says.Varma and all other collectors say this is money well spent – if you love graphic novels, owning a rare item is a matter of a great satisfaction. And, these days, selling such an item is a very profitable activity.