$5.00 Comics! Sorry I'm Out!

[needler420]

It's fuuny everyone here constantly brings up inflation but never brings up minimum wage. In the early 90s books were like $1.50 and minimum wage was like $4.50 or under $5 an hour.

Minimum wage in CA now is $9 and goes to $10 at the end of the year average book now is $3-4 bucks.

So comics have increased very slightly. Even when you factor gas it's like $2.25 a gallon if gas now. Coming close to 90s gas prices. So really I don't warrant all the complaints.

[CSTowle]

Then you take into account that it's a much more niche hobby than it was in the days of dollar comics (to say nothing of 10-25 cent comics) and the move of most publications from print to digital (if not completely, growing and inevitable) and it's kind of surprising they're not more. Certainly not as much of a bang for your buck as most entertainment, but they know most of us have been doing this for decades and are used to budgeting them in. When this generation dies off/moves on then American-style, single issue comics will be a thing of the past. Until then the price will go up as much as the market will bear.

[bert]

I don't buy Marvel, so that doesn't impact me.

but IDW and BOOM! are definitely impacted as I will only buy maximum TWO books at $3.99 or higher from them.

what's happening is that I'm sampling (and continuing to buy) a TON of the new Image ($2.99) and Dark Horse ($3.50) books, instead of trying new books from IDW or BOOM!

just this week in ordering, I skipped two new books from those publishers, and instead opted to pick up the new "Fables" a book I haven't bought in years (due to Terry Moore illustrated backup story).

so they are losing money from me by pricing so high.

and if you went to the Image board last week, you saw me refuse to buy issue #5 of "Jupiter's Legacy". . not only because it was 10 months between issues, but because the price had jumped from $2.99 (issue 4) to $4.99 (issue 5). Sure, folks said because it was double-size. . but it actually wasn't. Two dollars more for 8 pages more! Glad I skipped it.

a rare mis-fire from Image for me.

[ultimate jezebel]

The thing that irritates me about the debate is how many people want cheaper comics but flip out about a few ad pages. I'm willing to have a few ads in the periodicals if it keeps costs down. If you want the ad free version, buy the trade.

Ads don't bother me too much. My favourite era of books, bronze age, had ads for about half the book

[the4thpip]

Well, Marvel's doing the cheap reprints of #1s that some other publishers like Dark Horse have been doing:

TRUE BELIEVERS
What can you get for a dollar? How about the Marvel Universe? Marvel is proud to present TRUE BELIEVERS – special introductory comics for the low price of only $1 each. Coming this April your window into the biggest stories in Marvel history costs only a buck! Enter the world of Civil War, Age of Apocalypse, Old Man Logan, Planet Hulk, the critically-acclaimed ICON series Powers and many more with the first chapters of these top-selling, critically-acclaimed collections. Just in time for Secret Wars (maybe you’ve heard of it? Secret Wars – the biggest Marvel event ever!), catch up on some of the most celebrated stories in Marvel histories before their appearance in the biggest comic event of 2015!



TRUE BELIEVERS: INFINITY GAUNTLET #1
Reprinting material from INFINITY GAUNTLET #1.
32 PGS./Rated T …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: MARVEL ZOMBIES #1
Reprinting MARVEL ZOMBIES #1.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1
Reprinting material from X-MEN ALPHA.
32 PGS./Rated T …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: CIVIL WAR #1
Reprinting material from CIVIL WAR #1.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: PLANET HULK #1
Reprinting INCREDIBLE HULK (2000) #92.
32 PGS./Rated T …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: HOUSE OF M #1
Reprinting HOUSE OF M #1.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: OLD MAN LOGAN #1
Reprinting WOLVERINE (2003) #66.
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: ARMOR WARS #1
Reprinting material from IRON MAN (1968) #225.
32 PGS./Rated T …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: MILES MORALES #1
Reprinting ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN (2011) #1.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$1.00

TRUE BELIEVERS: AGE OF ULTRON #1
Reprinting AGE OF ULTRON #1.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$1.00

POWERS FIRSTS #1
Reprinting POWERS #1.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$1.00

[ultimate jezebel]

Well, Marvel's doing the cheap reprints of #1s that some other publishers like Dark Horse have been doing:

Would be interesting to see what sales figures are like for those to see if the strategy is working.

[Spike-X]

More to the point, to see what the sales figures are like on the rest of the issues/collections, which is the whole point of the exercise to begin with.

[DebkoX]

Can't blame you. Go to TPB.

[fumetti]

If the comic book prices jump to $5.00 which it looks like Marvel is trying to do! Sorry I'm done! I'll wait for the books to go to the dollar bin at my local comics shop, and i will go and concentrate on the back issue market.
I remember Marvel dropping prices by using the thinner paper for covers, That lasted for a second and then prices went back to original pricing even with the cheap paper covers. DC promised that they drew the line at $2.99. well that did not last. Heck! go back to newsprint. $5.00 is just too much! At least the independent comics have kept the books in a nice price range. And actually I enjoy some of their books more than The " Big Two ".

I bailed from Marvel and DC at $4 a copy. I buy almost nothing from them.

If I'm going to pay $4 for a M/DC comic, it's going to be a back issue with great art and a coherent story. Plenty of those to choose from.