Are today's comics too expensive?!

[Sir Ped of Ro]

what are your 2 cents?!

imho, yes, very much, specially when some months after their release you'll find a big chunck of them at 1/3 or cheaper of the cover price

in your opinion, does this subject drive away potential readers?!

regards

[dominiccarr]

yes.

[Terrordar]

I think for the quality of 90% of their stories, then yes, they are over expensive.

If I was at least getting as solid quiality as I would like in the storytelling, I'd want to spend the money more.

[Venom65437]

Absolutely.

I'm having trouble with money lately, and sure enough most of my expendable income goes to comics. I think I am going to have to start cutting back, which I don't want to do, but comics add up VERY fast. It really burns me when you consider the first three parts of a 5 part storyline often can be told in one issue.

[Elliot Kane]

The problem is that costs rise faster than the necessary reader base to support those costs can expand. Despite all the recent hype, overall sales of comics still seem to be slipping year on year. While the top 20 seem to be selling more, the bottom has dropped right out on sales of most titles below that.

High costs and lack of availability create a limited audience. Throw in the current economic problems in the US as well, and the domestic comic market is bound to suffer.

Even WITH availability, high prices deter many purchasers from picking up new titles, which causes many good titles to crash without finding an audience, which causes the only viable titles to be those with an already established fanbase. Throw in the natural arch-conservatism of the US fan base and anything truly experimental that might appeal to a wider audience outside the normal comic-reading niche is dead on arrival.

Then you have an idea of marketing at Marvel & DC alike - the only companies with the money TO market properly - which could charitably be described as wholly inadequate, which only makes worse an already bad situation...

So I guess the short answer is "Yes" - but the long answer is "Yes, but price is only a small part of a much larger problem."

[Shan]

Coming from someone who doesn't buy comics, I'd have to say yes.

After joining this forum and reading alot of the posts made by you guys, I started looking at some of the comics that you mentioned. I couldn't believe the prices on them and the graphic novels I had to look twice.

With a family and all, I just don't have that kind of money to spend on them.

Shan

[SilvaShado]

I'm having to say no to a lot of new comics I want to get, and just hope they make it to trade form. Because with trades, I'm more likely to find a discount on them. Individual issues may reach the quarter bins, but probably not all the ones you want.

But I understand Elliot's point of view - the companies can't make them any cheaper and still make a profit.

[janggut]

why don't they turn to the so-called new miracle called internet & publish it there, skipping publishers & all? i'm sure the contents can be made safe as to prevent piracy by using for example flash technology.

one of the biggest gripe i have with comics is that it's too scant yet too pricey. they should consider doing it like japanese manga distribution - via magazine to make the printed material meatier & more worthwhile to buy, rather than 20 pages or less for how much? too much.

anyway, i rather buy comics in digest or novel form. which explains my transition to manga from dc & marvel comics.

[SilvaShado]

trades are certainly a way to go, but also have a downside - a person is taking a big risk on an unkown title. It costs more, and if you don't like it, you've wasted more money.

But then I can never determine anything from just one issue. And I also try to research titles before buying trades.

Internet is slowly becoming a viable option, but there will always be people who want it printed.

[thebarkingshark]

The problem with waiting for a trade is that if the monthlies don't get enough support, there won't be a trade. I'm sure there's a lot of comics that wouldn't have gotten canceled if people wouldn't have waited for the trade, which may not have come out anyway due to low sales, and have bought the monthlies instead.

I would personally rather have the monthlies anyway, I'm old school.

Back to the question at hand, I don't mind paying $3 for a comic. I do however stay away from companies like IDW that charge $4 a comic. There are exceptions though, I don't mind paying $3.50 - 4.50 for books like Stray Bullets and Love & Rockets.

I'm just glad I'm in a position to buy pretty much whatever I want. -SHARK DIGGLER

[Elliot Kane]

I think comics are like everything else we buy for entertainment. If we feel like we are getting a good deal for our money, they are worth it. If we aren't, we should spend the money on something else

Shark's right about the trade thing, too.

[SilvaShado]

Yeah, there certainly are a lot of good series that haven't been printed as trades, and probably won't...

The future looks uncertain for me, I may have to slim down on comics soon. Thankfully quite a few miniseries have finished recently so the load should be lighter for a while, as long as I don't add on more minis.

[Elliot Kane]

Always the trick, Silva. It's SO easy to think, "Oh, it's only a mini..." and put it on your pull list, but enough minis... Yeah, I know that one

[Sir Ped of Ro]

admin said:

The problem is that costs rise faster than the necessary reader base to support those costs can expand. Despite all the recent hype, overall sales of comics still seem to be slipping year on year. While the top 20 seem to be selling more, the bottom has dropped right out on sales of most titles below that.

High costs and lack of availability create a limited audience. Throw in the current economic problems in the US as well, and the domestic comic market is bound to suffer.

Even WITH availability, high prices deter many purchasers from picking up new titles, which causes many good titles to crash without finding an audience, which causes the only viable titles to be those with an already established fanbase. Throw in the natural arch-conservatism of the US fan base and anything truly experimental that might appeal to a wider audience outside the normal comic-reading niche is dead on arrival.

Then you have an idea of marketing at Marvel & DC alike - the only companies with the money TO market properly - which could charitably be described as wholly inadequate, which only makes worse an already bad situation...

So I guess the short answer is "Yes" - but the long answer is "Yes, but price is only a small part of a much larger problem."

E.
late on the reply, sorry...

yes the community is much smaller that it was 20 years ago (changing of habits/cultural and consummer behaviour) but it's also a more trimmed down/hardcore one. it seems there's a lot of people who have quited the mediuma nd have been returning in the last 5 years...

the above situation added to the slight increase of readership due to a major/direct exposition to marvel characters (movies) have lead to a slight, yet important increase of "new blood".

still all in all might not be enough for an "explosion" on this medium, has we've seen it in late 80s and early 90s.

a possible solution to this medium long therm survive might be on the distribution and on using other media tools to "spread the word" that comics are alive and aren't just for kids or old timers, no?!

regards

[Sir Ped of Ro]

thebarkingshark said:

The problem with waiting for a trade is that if the monthlies don't get enough support, there won't be a trade. I'm sure there's a lot of comics that wouldn't have gotten canceled if people wouldn't have waited for the trade, which may not have come out anyway due to low sales, and have bought the monthlies instead.

I would personally rather have the monthlies anyway, I'm old school.

Back to the question at hand, I don't mind paying $3 for a comic. I do however stay away from companies like IDW that charge $4 a comic. There are exceptions though, I don't mind paying $3.50 - 4.50 for books like Stray Bullets and Love & Rockets.

I'm just glad I'm in a position to buy pretty much whatever I want. -SHARK DIGGLER

good point.
the comics (monthly) and the trades pretty much cover a slightly different readership community/habits...the problem is that pretty much of the readership community have been turning to the trades format (which are considerably cheaper, sometimes less than 60% over the comics cover price)!!!

and this is forcing the medium to change/adapt...and therefore to increase constantly the comics prices

regards

[Elliot Kane]

Partly that, Pedro. And partly the companies have to get out of the thinking that 'comics = superheroes'. Because that's the only thing the US public sees, and most of them just aren't interested. It's one of the two great cliches that have hurt comics badly, the other being the 'comics are for kids' thing you mentioned already.

Judging by the massive sales of Manga in the US, there is definitely a strong market for comics out there - but the Manga method of storytelling is very different, and it's that that's the main draw. Again, I do not think that fact has been picked up on by the US companies - or not to any significant extent.

[Sir Ped of Ro]

E.

i agree with you.

from my standing point, there are several subjects/points that the companies should think deeply in the upcoming years:

- the distribution problem. having comics only in speciality shops hurt the industry. in europe you have them everywhere and they fly off the shelfs. i remember in Portugal that in the first few years of printing/translating marvel comics in Portuguese, the comics diapeared almost from night to day...
people still are fans, those who still aren't want to give it a try and sometimes can't reach them (for ex: in Oporto, my town, there was only 1 comicshop...so if the distribution was like in the states readers were doomed)

- format/printing quality: looking into the high quality and final result of the european format (more than the double of the comics format) we clearly see that the "albums" (european comics format) give another exposure (high quality printing/paper, equivalent of hardcover format) and invite people to take a look and almost "taking the final works" on a more serious level.
everytime and american comes into the old continent he gets surprised by the format...and the final price ends up being lesser

- the audience and re-inventing the medium: comics have been around from almost the begining of the XX century so they are old, old on the steryotipe/image that the society has labeled it. therefore the readers have this idea deep in their minds, so it's not "cool" to read comics.
anyway, the medium must be re-invented, presented in another way, reach the readers in a more dynamic/appealing form and for that one thing is vital: to understand today's readership community.
preferences, habits, behaviour, etc...knowing them would help to better create/adapt this form of art and it's comercial side.

because nowadays a nice chunck of the kids/teens related/exposed to this medium have an enormous buying power (just look at the prices of those PS2 games, DVDs, etc...). comics are "cheap change" compared...and the companies should know this better than anyone

all in all these are the 3 major vital structures that hold the industry...so they should be looked up closely.

regards

[Elliot Kane]

All very true, Pedro

[SilvaShado]

Yeah, minis are so inviting, but still bite you in the butt at how much they can add up! But I prefer the format to ongoing most of the time because there are very few ongoings that keep my interest most of the time, and I like complete stories. Minis give you a conclusion to the story it's telling, though it's not the end of the characters.