Something I just thought of about the decline of modern day comic sales..

[Shield]

So, I've been thinking about getting an original Coca-Cola type vending machine / cooler for my basement. In doing some quick research on EBAY, I found that the coke machines sold product for .10 in the 1940's. Now, coke is what, about $1.25 or so for probably double the product. Wasn't the original bottles 10 ounces vs. the 20 oz. bottles of today?

 

So, if you were a kid in the 1940's and had a dime, you could get a bottle of coke or a comic book. The comic book was 64 pages too, with almost no ads. Compare coke's inflation vs. comic books, and think about how comic book companies can justify their 32 page ad-filled $2.75 comic books, and expect to sell them.

 

Just my thought for today...

[Comicdey]

True, but at this point, how much creativity does it take to make another bottle of coke?

[Comicdey]

And I don't collect moderns and have scorned the price increases myself.

[SuperBird]

that's part of it. Video games are the real culprit. Kids have given up on most other forms of 'kids' entertainment in favour of video games- comics, traditional toys, baseball cards, etc.

 

I also think the switch to comics being sold in comic book stores, as opposed to newssatands, was an absolute killer.

 

On the upside, little manga books are doing really well these days. I think that's the real future of comics. Longer collections for $10 and under. The monthly floppy is on it's way out.

[Shield]

True, but at this point, how much creativity does it take to make another bottle of coke?

 

So why were the prices the same from 1933-1961?

[mrwoogieman]

I just blame it on the publishers. No one told them to pay fat contracts to their talent and to order high end paper and printing processes, thus driving up the per unit price of their product.

 

We were all happier with lower quality materials anyway.

 

And as for the talent, well, who said they had to earn their living exclusively doing comics?

[goldust40]

True, but at this point, how much creativity does it take to make another bottle of coke?

 

So why were the prices the same from 1933-1961?

 

Production values were low, paper was cheap, and most importantly the price may have remained the same but the page count gradually diminished over the course of the GA, Atom Age and early SA, from 64 pages to half that number.

 

Still, technically that means that the cost of a comic merely doubled in the space of twenty-eight years...maybe most were recycled.

 

Maybe it was simply that vastly more people were reading them during those years, which kept the unit costs down...

[rjpb]

Also ad pages increased over the years as well from 1933-1961.

 

 

Comparing Coke prices to comic prices may be illustrative of buying value, but the costs of producing each have no relationship - especially as the market for Coke has grown over the years, while the market for comics has shrunk.

[mrwoogieman]

Also ad pages increased over the years as well from 1933-1961.

 

 

Comparing Coke prices to comic prices may be illustrative of buying value, but the costs of producing each have no relationship - especially as the market for Coke has grown over the years, while the market for comics has shrunk.

 

Actually, the market for comics hasn't shrunk because there are more people populating this earth and literacy rates have risen as well...

[Comicdey]

raw material costs.

 

The creators got nothing.

[*paull*]

I cut down my modern purchases to almost zero over the past couple of years, and it's due in large part to the price increases. I just can't spend $4 on a new comic book. I'd rather pool the money and buy nice older books. They are not only more enjoyable, but I can resell those.

[lotemo]

Also ad pages increased over the years as well from 1933-1961.

 

 

Comparing Coke prices to comic prices may be illustrative of buying value, but the costs of producing each have no relationship - especially as the market for Coke has grown over the years, while the market for comics has shrunk.

 

Actually, the market for comics hasn't shrunk because there are more people populating this earth and literacy rates have risen as well...

 

Comics sell in the low thousands instead of the millions nowadays so the market has shrunk. The increase in potential readers doesn't matter if they do not buy or will not buy comics.

[mrwoogieman]

Also ad pages increased over the years as well from 1933-1961.

 

 

Comparing Coke prices to comic prices may be illustrative of buying value, but the costs of producing each have no relationship - especially as the market for Coke has grown over the years, while the market for comics has shrunk.

 

Actually, the market for comics hasn't shrunk because there are more people populating this earth and literacy rates have risen as well...

 

Comics sell in the low thousands instead of the millions nowadays so the market has shrunk. The increase in potential readers doesn't matter if they do not buy or will not buy comics.

 

Actually, the potential market for comics includes everyone who can read and has money to buy a comic. It also includes everyone who can't read and has money to buy a comic too. The market has not shrunk, it has grown as population records and literacy rates prove, and is larger than at any time in history. What you are describing is not the potential market, but the actual sales volume of comics being sold today. The fact that American comic book companies are unable to tap that market effectively does not mean that the market has shrunk, it means that they are not marketing their product correctly in order to meet market potential.

[The Black Hand ®]

I haven't bought a new comic,other than Archie digest, since 1984 and that was a fluke. There's just a whole bunch of GA and reprints around to keep me happy. I just can't get into anything new. I'm not putting new stuff down, it's just not for me.

[rjpb]

The term "market" is often used to describe the demand for a commodity or service, as opposed to a "potential market" which would include everyone financially and physically capable of availing themselves of said commodity or service.

[Aces]

So, I've been thinking about getting an original Coca-Cola type vending machine / cooler for my basement. In doing some quick research on EBAY, I found that the coke machines sold product for .10 in the 1940's. Now, coke is what, about $1.25 or so for probably double the product. Wasn't the original bottles 10 ounces vs. the 20 oz. bottles of today?

 

I vagely remeber buying 15 cent 14oz glass softdrink bottles out of vending machines cira 1970.

[mrwoogieman]

The term "market" is often used to describe the demand for a commodity or service, as opposed to a "potential market" which would include everyone financially and physically capable of availing themselves of said commodity or service.

 

 

I know what you're saying. I'm just blaming the publishers for their poor business decisions which, in my opinion, have shrunk their market substantially. In hindsight, the move to direct market distribution doesn't seem to have been a wise one, what with its inherent limitations and isolation. Moving to more expensive printing processes doesn't seem to have worked as a growth mechanism for the comics market. Continuing to pay rates to writers and artists that were based on substantially higher circulation figures doesn't seem that wise to me either; if they are selling 10% of what they used to sell, shouldn't the talent be getting paid 90% less as a result?

 

Kinda shot themselves in the foot with their 'business model' of the past twenty years.

[Forbush-Man]

The term "market" is often used to describe the demand for a commodity or service, as opposed to a "potential market" which would include everyone financially and physically capable of availing themselves of said commodity or service.

 

 

I know what you're saying. I'm just blaming the publishers for their poor business decisions which, in my opinion, have shrunk their market substantially. In hindsight, the move to direct market distribution doesn't seem to have been a wise one, what with its inherent limitations and isolation. Moving to more expensive printing processes doesn't seem to have worked as a growth mechanism for the comics market. Continuing to pay rates to writers and artists that were based on substantially higher circulation figures doesn't seem that wise to me either; if they are selling 10% of what they used to sell, shouldn't the talent be getting paid 90% less as a result?

 

Kinda shot themselves in the foot with their 'business model' of the past twenty years.

 

I totally agree. To me the biggest problem is access: they should go back to full distribution and allow returns, make comics available everywhere.

[Timulty]

Do you want to know what I , being a buyer of modern comics, feel that has caused me to not want to buy moderns? Variants. Even though, I buy moderns to read there is this place, in the back of my mind, that tells me "Hey, who knows that might be valuable someday." I believe a lot of current readers believe this to some degree or another. When a publisher pulls one of these comic events, where there are variants to the nth degree, it really strains the budget. And it frustrates the collecting portion of our brains.

 

Another reason is the writing. This is a literary medium, like it or not. If a story is not well written, the characters dialog is unreadable, the plausibility factor(within the context of the characters continuity!) then it alienates the reader. Now, this is from the perspective of a 34 year man, who still reads comics. I can only imagine what a teenage feels when trying to read some on the tripe on the racks.

 

There really are very few kid(pre-teen and under) friendly comics, in my opinion so I believe the publishers have really written themselves out of that market.

 

I don't believe art is an issue. Comic art today has vastly improved, even over the last 10 years(Liefeld withstanding). So, finding a comic that is visually appealing is not much of an issue, although, I once read that comic covers are too dark. As in hue. So, maybe that is something that should be addressed.

 

Then has been mention before in this thread, bad management of comic talent hasn't help matters either.

[SuperBird]

Do you want to know what I , being a buyer of modern comics, feel that has caused me to not want to buy moderns? Variants. Even though, I buy moderns to read there is this place, in the back of my mind, that tells me "Hey, who knows that might be valuable someday." I believe a lot of current readers believe this to some degree or another. When a publisher pulls one of these comic events, where there are variants to the nth degree, it really strains the budget. And it frustrates the collecting portion of our brains.

 

agree 100% here. Once comic books became a 'collectible', that caused publishers to gear comics to the collectors' market- which in the process cut most of the casual readers. It's not just variants, though. It's the direct market, higher production costs due to paper, etc.

 

Another reason is the writing. This is a literary medium, like it or not. If a story is not well written, the characters dialog is unreadable, the plausibility factor(within the context of the characters continuity!) then it alienates the reader. Now, this is from the perspective of a 34 year man, who still reads comics. I can only imagine what a teenage feels when trying to read some on the tripe on the racks.

 

Here I disagree- I think today's writing is much better than at any other time in the industry. Unfortunately, today's writing is also toally geared to drag out storylines that are easily colected into trades.

 

There really are very few kid(pre-teen and under) friendly comics, in my opinion so I believe the publishers have really written themselves out of that market.

 

This is a chicken/egg thing. I think the kid market has vastly shrunk due to competing entertainment such as TV and especially video games. I've heard this firsthand from clients in the comic and toy industry.