lol Yes, I'm from California. I shouldn't have used the term "allowed", that wasn't really what I meant. As others said, what I really meant is why are we as consumers willing to support Marvel's outrageous prices and DC hasn't jumped on that band-wagon (for the most part, there's always exceptions and DC is far from perfect in terms of pricing)? This isn't to say I want DC to start over-charging to the degree that Marvel does, but I just don't understand why Marvel seems to have such little regard for consumers that they'll charge $17 for a 4-issue TPB mini-series where DC will charge $14.99 for 6-7 issues in the same format.