Just before advent of Great Depression, more than a hundred companies manufactured glassware in United States. At end of Depression, fewer than fifty percent of these companies remained in business. Of these companies, seven became major players in production of Depression glass, and these seven companies utilized a little more than 90 patterns to decorate their wares. Indiana Glass, Hocking, Federal, U.S. Glass, Jeanette Glass, MacBeth-Evans, and Hazel-Atlas manufactured hundreds of thousands of pieces of this popular and inexpensive glass, creating a bright spot in lives of everyday, working-class people during a grim epoch of American history.

Before Depression glass came along, colored and patterned glass existed, but only for wealthy. Because beautifully hued and intricately designed glassware of times was hand-blown, and cost of manufacturing such pieces proved prohibitive for most people, this type of glass was simply out of reach for many households. However, with invention of mass-produced, machine-pressed glassware that produced colors and patterns – albeit ridden with flaws such as air bubbles and mold marks – a new versatility in glassware could be made available to households all over America. Because of this, even poorest families could now have cheerful pieces from which to serve their meals, hold sugar, salt, pepper, and other condiments, contain candy, and more – even to shake their martinis, if they could scrape up money for bathtub-made gin!

What do I do to start a comic book collection and what all do I need? Well, as I am sure you realize, you need to start with a passion. You have a passion, you say, but you don’t want to be labeled a “comic book geek” and remain alone in your enjoyment. Well, my suggestion to you is “Don’t Sweat Small Stuff” and believe me, you are not alone. You would be amazed at multitudes of individuals who have a passion for comic books. And there are a plethora of related sites on Web.

I couldn’t get enough of these colorful action-packed little devils when I was young. But like any supposedly responsible individual, I lay my passion aside when I got older and when to college and got a good job. Well in last several months, I have rekindled that childhood passion and have spent a good share of my time researching and creating my own comic book website. And what a rush it has been reintroducing myself to myself. I am finding quite an avid interest in all new comic book hero movies Hollywood is cranking out. I have even started my own comic book hero DVD collection. And this is big business, so I know there are throngs of people out there with my same interests and I hope to connect with many of them through my website.