New Comics too expensive?

[Alberto1975]

Actually, I was spending $300 a month on new comics, now I'm down to $50. That's a big chunk of money a month that I can use on other stuff, part of it, indeed, being some original art. It's not like I can buy a cover every month

[joe_collector]

Are there statistics to back up the "significantly declining market" comment? Please allow me to be your mentor...

 

, yes if you don't realize that comic book sales crashed in the mid-90's, then I'd recommend you find a mentor... and fast.

[joe_collector]

Yeah I want to see the statistics on what the declining comic book industry

 

Are you guys for real?

[tilleycs]

I think everyone's "line" they refuse to cross (as far as comic prices; or anything, really) is different. Comics crossed mine back in the late 80's, , and I was losing interest anyway. I missed the madness of the 90's and got back into the hobby a couple of years ago. I've focused a lot on back issues, but have also gotten a lot of modern issues.

 

I don't buy any new comics at my LCS. I'd rather wait and buy them cheap later (ebay, fellow board members, dollar bins, used bookstores, etc.). I generally don't have to have things as soon as they come out. I'm the same way with movies, video games, books, etc. I can wait for the price to drop. I've got plenty of stuff to keep me busy in the meantime. And it's more rewarding for me personally knowing that I got something for a dollar that was originally $3.95 just by letting a little time pass while I did other things.

[shrunkenhead]

 

I don't buy any new comics at my LCS. I'd rather wait and buy them cheap later (ebay, fellow board members, dollar bins, used bookstores, etc.). I generally don't have to have things as soon as they come out. I'm the same way with movies, video games, books, etc. I can wait for the price to drop. I've got plenty of stuff to keep me busy in the meantime. And it's more rewarding for me personally knowing that I got something for a dollar that was originally $3.95 just by letting a little time pass while I did other things.

 

 

This is pretty much my philosophy, too. I "have" to get my monthly dose of Batman, 'Tec, Hawkman, JSA, and Aquaman every month. So that's like 15 bucks a month, plus maybe a mini or two. Anything else is negotiable, and I can wait for lots to show up on ebay at flea market prices. Plus it allows me to sock away funds for nice golden age books, though it's been almost 3 months since I picked up anything nice. I'm hoping the upcoming sig auction will change that, though!

[rob_react]

I spend quite a good deal on new books every week. And even considering that large amount, I outright cut out all IDW books because $3.99 is just too much to pay.

 

I'll toss money at 2.99 books all day long without complaining, but that next $ jump is a bit more than I'm willing to handle.

 

Shhhh...I made the same comment a while back and got a haranguing here about how $3.99 was not too much and that I should be willing to pay the extra $1 to support quality independent books.

 

And as we all know, supporting quality independent books is a bad thing.

[DKB]

I support plenty of independent books, hell, I usually miss Baltimore because I've spent too much at SPX. IDW books are very pretty and often well written, but usually only take four minutes to read. I'm fine soaring through a USM in four minutes, it only costs $2.50. I'm not interested in the short stories IDW tosses in the back. I'm also kind of irked that the trades cost more than the singles sometimes.

[delekkerste]

I spend quite a good deal on new books every week. And even considering that large amount, I outright cut out all IDW books because $3.99 is just too much to pay.

 

I'll toss money at 2.99 books all day long without complaining, but that next $ jump is a bit more than I'm willing to handle.

 

Shhhh...I made the same comment a while back and got a haranguing here about how $3.99 was not too much and that I should be willing to pay the extra $1 to support quality independent books.

 

And as we all know, supporting quality independent books is a bad thing.

 

The last time I checked, I didn't have to pay a 33% surcharge to watch an indie art film at the Angelika Film Center.

[rob_react]

I spend quite a good deal on new books every week. And even considering that large amount, I outright cut out all IDW books because $3.99 is just too much to pay.

 

I'll toss money at 2.99 books all day long without complaining, but that next $ jump is a bit more than I'm willing to handle.

 

Shhhh...I made the same comment a while back and got a haranguing here about how $3.99 was not too much and that I should be willing to pay the extra $1 to support quality independent books.

 

And as we all know, supporting quality independent books is a bad thing.

 

The last time I checked, I didn't have to pay a 33% surcharge to watch an indie art film at the Angelika Film Center.

 

That's certainly true, but you're speaking to someone who used to pay absolute NOSEBLEED prices for Tai Seng's video catalog back in the day, so I'm very familiar with the concept of paying a little/lot extra for something of quality that I enjoy.

 

As for IDW, I'd literally pay double to read SMOKE.

[Sal]

i was spending $50 a month with Westfield back in '88, so...of course that included shipping, and the occasional ish of Heavy Metal, but still.

 

i, like J_C_Superstar, haven't bought a new book since a friend convinced me to get some Jim Lee signed sets of X-Men #1..

 

$2.99 seems high to me. I was choking when they hit a buck-fitty, but then again, I remember being able to buy three for a dollar plus a caramel - you know, those ones with that powdery vanilla nougat in the center - at the 7-11

[Hobgoblin]

I think it's called inflation

[tilleycs]

Inflation alone doesn't (and can't) explain it.

[rob_react]

Inflation alone doesn't (and can't) explain it.

 

A couple of reasons are the cost of paper in general (meaning, if they were still using newsprint it would be more expensive) and the quality of production/paper in use now. The actual pamphlets themselves are MUCH more expensive to produce now because of the glossy paper, cover stock, high quality inks, high resolutions, etc. etc. etc. Comics used to be produced as cheaply as possible. Nowadays they look like annual reports...

[Sal]

seriously. you take a book - not a superstar book, which would have to buttress high salaries, but a mid-grade book like Marvel Presents or Flash back in the day - like what the big Two were printing in the mid-to-late seventies, and duplicate it exactly, and you're looking at a book that would cost prolly around fifty or sixty cents to the end user

[tilleycs]

Comics used to be produced as cheaply as possible.

 

Agreed. Which also made them affordable. Nowadays it almost seems like they're produced as expensively as possible. They may be thinking that they're competing w/ things like video games, but you can't make a comic into a video game. High-quality stories and art, I can understand needing to pay for. But they could reduce the stock of the covers and interior pages without really losing much. IMO, they'd save money by doing that, and then make even more money by increased readership. As it is, they've painted themselves into a corner, and I'm not going into that corner.

 

Nowadays they look like annual reports...

 

Agreed again. The problem is, we don't want annual reports, we want comic books. One funny note is that when I get the annual reports from my mutual funds, guess how they're printed? As cheaply as possible (no holographic chromo-holo-foil variant cover or hi-stock paper. It's just an annual report that I throw in the trash when I'm done going through it). Ironic, no?

[joe_collector]

Inflation alone doesn't (and can't) explain it.

 

Obviously, and the main reasons for the higher prices are:

 

1) Declining market. Lower sales = higher cost per unit to make the same revenue.

 

2) Adult fanboy readership. Comic companies know that adults with FT jobs are far more capable of paying through the nose for new comics and their fanboyism makes it tough to break the cycle, so the prices have continued to rise.

 

3) Higher salaries. Comics creators of the past got paid virtually nothing, but now they demand and get more. That money comes out of your pocket.

 

4) Royalties/residuals/etc/: Older creators received nada on this front, and after it got rolling in the 80's, we now have a lucrative system whereby Jim Lee was making $20-$50K a month on X-Men new comic royalties, and Alan Moore could probably retire based on TPB sales alone. Again, higher comic prices and higher TPB prices are the result.

 

5) Creator-owned properties. This has really caught on through 2005, and again, this means a creator is owed royalties or licensing fees each time a character he/she owns is used in a comic, TPB, toy, game, movie, etc. Bingo, someone needs to pay for that.

 

Note that I am not saying that #3, #4 or #5 are right or wrong, only that they currently exist and never did in the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and early into the Modern eras. And to state that "higher quality paper" is the reason why comic prices skyrocketed from 25-cents in the mid-70's, to 2.99-up in 2005, is a gross misrepresentation of the current market realities.

 

Unless you mean all the "paper" Marvel is paying Bendis.

[tilleycs]

Note that I am not saying that #3, #4 or #5 are right or wrong, only that they currently exist and never did in the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and early into the Modern eras. And to state that "higher quality paper" is the reason why comic prices skyrocketed from 25-cents in the mid-70's, to 2.99-up in 2005, is a gross misrepresentation of the current market realities.

 

True, and good point. It's a lot more complicated now than it was then. Even if the cost of paper has more than quadrupled, that still wouldn't explain the cost of comics these days.

[rob_react]

Note that I am not saying that #3, #4 or #5 are right or wrong, only that they currently exist and never did in the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and early into the Modern eras. And to state that "higher quality paper" is the reason why comic prices skyrocketed from 25-cents in the mid-70's, to 2.99-up in 2005, is a gross misrepresentation of the current market realities.

 

True, and good point. It's a lot more complicated now than it was then. Even if the cost of paper has more than quadrupled, that still wouldn't explain the cost of comics these days.

 

That's why, when I made my original comment I said "A couple of reasons..." Meaning "a couple out of many." I wasn't trying to imply that that was the ONLY reason.

[Kevin76]

I work in printing for a living...biggest expense is in fact paper..the money is in the cost of the paper,not the ink,or the plates or the make-ready even though that's figured in the cost of printing but it's pennies on the dollar,first thing when you ask a price quote at a printing company is what kind of paper do you want. Newsprint is the cheapest paper you can get.Magazine coated stock is the expensive stuff...why do you think your playboys are $5.99 each?

[Hobgoblin]

Inflation alone doesn't (and can't) explain it.

 

A couple of reasons are the cost of paper in general (meaning, if they were still using newsprint it would be more expensive) and the quality of production/paper in use now. The actual pamphlets themselves are MUCH more expensive to produce now because of the glossy paper, cover stock, high quality inks, high resolutions, etc. etc. etc. Comics used to be produced as cheaply as possible. Nowadays they look like annual reports...

 

Yes, I do agree that the cost of paper and the use of higher quality paper is driving up the cost of comics, along with some inflation. I would take a wild guess that if paper cost and quality had no effect, costs that cost $1.25 in the early 90's would cost at least $2.00 today. The remaining $1.00 difference being due to the paper industry.