2016 a terrible year for comic industry?

[MetalPSI]

Seems to me that 2015 numbers would have been inflated by the Star Wars books. Been a long time since anyone shipped a million of something.

 

That said, comic circulation numbers have been deplorable compared to historical numbers for a long time now. Print everywhere struggles. It's just sorta a slow spiral down. Gimmicks and higher cover prices have been propping it up for some time now.

 

Propping? It's the reason I don't bother with moderns.

[NewWorldOrder]

For $3.99: And of the reboots and variants, many readers are getting tired.

 

Given the books I purchase I am by no means financially lacking but this is my biggest reason to not buy new comics. I just do not see the value of 20-22 pages costing four to five dollars. I do not care how slick and high quality the page material is or which hot artist your paying for 6 months to draw it, I just can not explain to myself the ROI loss in purchase. The entry point for comics is just to expensive to purchase books that come out on a monthly basis, RPG's had (and still do have) this same problem with an aging fanbase and being unable to grow market share in the current environment.

 

For new(er) stories I have been waiting for trades or pulling the run from dollar boxes since stores have to purchase so many copies to receive that months variant.

 

 

We have a

 

Trades are the only future.

 

Only stupid suckers spend $3.99 on new books when you can get them for a $1.00 the next week in the .25-1.00 bins.

[BarryAllen]

For $3.99: And of the reboots and variants, many readers are getting tired.

 

Given the books I purchase I am by no means financially lacking but this is my biggest reason to not buy new comics. I just do not see the value of 20-22 pages costing four to five dollars. I do not care how slick and high quality the page material is or which hot artist your paying for 6 months to draw it, I just can not explain to myself the ROI loss in purchase. The entry point for comics is just to expensive to purchase books that come out on a monthly basis, RPG's had (and still do have) this same problem with an aging fanbase and being unable to grow market share in the current environment.

 

For new(er) stories I have been waiting for trades or pulling the run from dollar boxes since stores have to purchase so many copies to receive that months variant.

 

 

We have a

 

Trades are the only future.

 

Only stupid suckers spend $3.99 on new books when you can get them for a $1.00 the next week in the .25-1.00 bins.

 

 

That is mean, funny, but mean.

 

I buy most of my comics digitally 3-6 months after publishing on DC or Independents and for Marvel I use Marvel Unlimited. That time frame usually allows for multiple types of sales (single issue, TPB, bundle, etc) and drove the cost way down. I only go back and buy large format, absolute or omnibus editions on my favorites.

 

Most comics will be digital and TPB "like" format by 2025 and by 2075 there won't be a single thing printed anymore in developed nations.

[maraxusofkeld]

For me, in years past, I used to buy 30+ books a month only to find them in dollars bins at shows months later. I would rather focus my money on back issues than most newer books. No one would want to say this, but I think torrents have really cut down on new book sales as well.