Quote Originally Posted by Tony View Post
I always assumed cover price changed by location to get the most from what people in the area could afford. Is it just US price adjusted by currency rate?
As far as I understand, what you said is true to english-speaking countries. Regions that need translation are a completely different beast.

The only place I can tell how it actually works is Brazil, but here's how publication works around here:

We get the books on newstands about a year after release in the US (seems a lot, but it was way worse in the 80's, believe me). Neither DC nor Marvel have a direct distribution system here; instead, they both license the material to Panini, which does the translation, letering and repackaging; said repackaging meaning that we do not get individual series. Instead, all books are anthologies with 3 to 5 books - for instance, "Liga da Justiça #42", in January, had Justice League #40, Teen Titans annual #1 and Secret Origins #10. Not everything gets published. Also, I understand from some friends in Portugal that a good portion of the books they get there are actually books that weren't sold here, but that's from a while ago and I don't know how it is over there today.

Now, I don't know how things work in other countries; the Brazilian system was sort of inherited by Panini from the previous licensing publisher, Abril. But I do know Panini is responsible for most non-English countries in the publishing Marvel, DC, or both, so I guess it's not much different. I also know - for a fact, since I have some insight in the publishing market here - that a lot of stuff doesn't get published here or elsewhere because of some biases of the suits in Italy.

As for pricing, the Brazilian heads try to keep down as much as they can - the "Liga da Justiça" I mentioned above, by current exchange rates, would ammount to about US$ 1,50. But again, it's one year behind, the translation is not always great and it has 2 stories I don't wanna read.

Mostly because of translations and delays, I personally always preferred the original, American books, even it it was way more expensive. I'm aware that I am the exception, not the rule, though.

However, I believe that if DC were selling their books in digital, in Portuguese, day one, there would be a thirsty market for it (and all it would take would be a 3 Brazilian men team. Hell, I could translate and letter all DC books alone). However, they can't do that because it would undermine their deal with Panini. Multiply that for all the countries which have deals with Panini or other publishers for licensing, plus local laws regarding content and stuff like that, and you can see why it would be problematic to just translate stuff and make it available in Comixology.

(BTW, I pay the value in dollars in Comixology, and my credit card company makes the conversion before charging me).