DC Rebirth monthlies back at $3.99 in April

[MajorHoy]

The Amazing Spider-Man #75 was the first Spider-man issue to cost 15 cents. It was released in August of '69.

The Amazing Spider-Man #102 was the first issue to bump up to 25 cents, that was in November of '71.

So he started collecting sometime between '69 and '71

You're ignoring DC comic book pricing?

Going with Detective Comics, the June 1969 issue (#388) was the first to go with the regular 15¢ cover price. The August 1971 issue saw the price jump to 25¢, but that price was billed with the tag "bigger & better". (The "bigger & better" was that in addition to the new stories, DC also included reprint stories to try and help justify the price increase.)
With the July 1972 issue (#425), the cover price dropped to "Now Only 20¢", and DC stopped including extra reprint material.

Detective Comics stayed at 20¢ through issue #437 (cover-dated October-November 1973), then jumped to 100 pages for 50¢ with the following issue.

[Bossace]

Very happy digital is keeping the 2.99 price tag! But yes I'm certainly sure the comic book stores won't be happy.

[JasonTodd428]

Very happy digital is keeping the 2.99 price tag! But yes I'm certainly sure the comic book stores won't be happy.

True enough but it's not really fair to charge those of us who already read our comics digitally the extra dollar without given us some sort of incentive as well. People who use a comic shop are basically getting an extra book out of this for free if I understand it correctly so unless they want to give digital folks an extra book for free as well it's really not fair. Of course then those with the free code would complain that the digital folks were getting something different from them and it would just go on and on.

[Lemurion]

My first DC comic was Superboy 198 in October 1973, cover priced 20 cents. My first Marvel was Captain America 171 released in March 1974 (though I didn't get it until my parents gave me a copy while I was at summer camp) which was also cover priced 20 cents.

[JasonTodd428]

My first DC comic was Superboy 198 in October 1973, cover priced 20 cents. My first Marvel was Captain America 171 released in March 1974 (though I didn't get it until my parents gave me a copy while I was at summer camp) which was also cover priced 20 cents.

My first DC Comic that I actually bought was Batman 357 in March 1983, cover price 60 cents. My first Marvel Comic was New Mutants #1 in March 1983, cover price 60 cents. They were both on spinner racks at the local drug store next door to the soda fountain I would go to for root beer floats while my mom was getting her hair done. (There's a coffee shop there now.)

[MajorHoy]

True enough but it's not really fair to charge those of us who already read our comics digitally the extra dollar without given us some sort of incentive as well.

But is it fair to charge those us who buy hard copies of comic books an extra dollar for something we don't need / don't want?

In the best of both worlds, the $3.99 copy with the digital code would be optional for people who buy from comic book shops, but aside from the nightmares of how many copies of each should comic book stores order, etc., we know that's not what DC is wanting to do here.

[Tony]

Well it's not ideal, I still think they should actually lower the digital price, but if the books I'm buying every week went to $3.99 I would stop and probably just read them for free on hoopla or borrow a hard copy. I would probably just tune out new comics unless they started running more frequent sales. I'll never pay 4 bucks for a 20 page digital comic. Being 6 months behind isn't the worst thing in the world.

[Bukdiah]

I hear a lot about Hoopla but it looks like my local libraries don't participate in it...this saddens me lol

[Caivu]

But is it fair to charge those us who buy hard copies of comic books an extra dollar for something we don't need / don't want?

In the best of both worlds, the $3.99 copy with the digital code would be optional for people who buy from comic book shops, but aside from the nightmares of how many copies of each should comic book stores order, etc., we know that's not what DC is wanting to do here.

You can always sell the code...

[Lemurion]

But is it fair to charge those us who buy hard copies of comic books an extra dollar for something we don't need / don't want?

In the best of both worlds, the $3.99 copy with the digital code would be optional for people who buy from comic book shops, but aside from the nightmares of how many copies of each should comic book stores order, etc., we know that's not what DC is wanting to do here.

Is it entirely fair, no. You shouldn't be forced to pay for a digital code you neither want nor need.

However, the fact that you now have two versions of the comic and can either enjoy both or sell the one you don't want is far less unfair charging digital-only buyers the same for one version of the book that you're paying for two. It's not perfect, but if the price increase was going to happen anyway it's the most palatable way they could handle it.

Not perfect, not fair, but better than the other options.

[JasonTodd428]

But is it fair to charge those us who buy hard copies of comic books an extra dollar for something we don't need / don't want?

In the best of both worlds, the $3.99 copy with the digital code would be optional for people who buy from comic book shops, but aside from the nightmares of how many copies of each should comic book stores order, etc., we know that's not what DC is wanting to do here.

In a perfect world you would have the option of picking up a $2.99 issue without the code but at least you also have the option to sell the code to someone who wants it or, if you've been pulling books at a shop for a long time, maybe the shop owner would cut you a break if you make it clear your not interested in the code. For those of us who read digital copies already though we'd be out of luck because we'd get nothing at all out of a 'digital code' while everyone else gets to have an extra book out of this deal. It's not perfect but paying something for nothing is, as you say, unfair.

[RobinFan4880]

But is it fair to charge those us who buy hard copies of comic books an extra dollar for something we don't need / don't want?

In the best of both worlds, the $3.99 copy with the digital code would be optional for people who buy from comic book shops, but aside from the nightmares of how many copies of each should comic book stores order, etc., we know that's not what DC is wanting to do here.

You can pay 4 bucks and not get a code or you can pay 4 bucks and get a code. Those are your choices

[Lee Stone]

You can pay 4 bucks and not get a code or you can pay 4 bucks and get a code. Those are your choices

You have a point.
The price was going to go up, regardless.

The free digital code is likely just sugar for the medicine.
And giving away free codes will likely be a better promotion than cutting prices by a dollar, because there's a high possibility the codes will be given to new readers and break the barrier between them and reading comics.

[RobinFan4880]

You have a point.
The price was going to go up, regardless.

The free digital code is likely just sugar for the medicine.
And giving away free codes will likely be a better promotion than cutting prices by a dollar, because there's a high possibility the codes will be given to new readers and break the barrier between them and reading comics.

Exactly! Also it makes DC look nice now that Marvel has stopped providing digital codes.

[cranger]

You have a point.
The price was going to go up, regardless.

The free digital code is likely just sugar for the medicine.
And giving away free codes will likely be a better promotion than cutting prices by a dollar, because there's a high possibility the codes will be given to new readers and break the barrier between them and reading comics.

I remember a Marvel guy, either SW or DS, told us in a discussion on the old boards that Marvel had tried to do $3.99 books with backups and many people complained that they didn't like the backups. They eventually took out the backups and left the price.

The digital code is just a bonus, it is not why the price is going up.

The price is going up because believe it or not $2.99 is not great for the market anymore. Sure it is great for the readers who like those books that are $2.99 but there is no evidence that readers long term commitment to a title is affected by cover price as long as it is within the what readers have shown they will be willing to pay and readers have shown they are willing to pay $3.99 a month.

While some people will point out the code is bad for comic shops, or that the $2.99 digital-only option is too, there is no evidence that digital is causing any loss in physical sales. Since digital really established itself around the New 52 the direct market has seen increases year after year.

What this does is actually help comic shops. There has been a lot of discussion regarding market share about how Marvel comics appear to be doing better because of overshipping and a higher cover price. Overshipping aside, the cover price is better for stores. Given that many readers are more likely to buy books that they like regardless of cover price, a store will prefer to be selling books at $3.99 because they make more money per sale.