Valiant in Wizard Mag again!

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:42 pm

slym2none wrote:I for one, didn't even really mind when the colour didn't stay in the lines, so to speak. It's a comic-book, for Pete's sake.....

-slym

Exactly.

IanAlexavier · Post by **IanAlexavier** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:11 pm

Id would think that technology has advanced to the point where the old coloring process should be able to color in between the lines...

I want it to look good on the cheaper paper... besides, some of us are aware of the breakdown expenses of a comic book. Some of those costs are locked and cannot be adjusted. Expenses like ink, paper, advertisements are all adjustable.

If they start with a less expensive book and continue to deliver on the quality of stories then their print runs should go up, which means greater profit.

If they can start at $2 - $2.20, then that will be good for me.

What do you guys think a reasonable price is??

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:20 pm

IanAlexavier wrote:Id would think that technology has advanced to the point where the old coloring process should be able to color in between the lines...

I want it to look good on the cheaper paper... besides, some of us are aware of the breakdown expenses of a comic book. Some of those costs are locked and cannot be adjusted. Expenses like ink, paper, advertisements are all adjustable.

If they start with a less expensive book and continue to deliver on the quality of stories then their print runs should go up, which means greater profit.

If they can start at $2 - $2.20, then that will be good for me.

What do you guys think a reasonable price is??

If it were me I would leave the fancy high dollar stuff for certain special events and print everything else on the cheap stuff.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:59 pm

Darques_Emporium wrote:I mainly stick to Graphic Novels these days. More bang for the buck and you don't have to wait for the next issue in big story arcs. Doesn't IDW charge $3.99 for their books? I almost had a heart attack.

Yep. IDW's prices are now $4.00 per issues and $20 per trade.
6 x $4=$24
I bought Transformers: Escalation tpb for $20 and saved $4.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:16 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:I'm sure they are not going to change the way they do things now anyway. But if they can print up an 80 page preview to Infinite Crisis for 99 cents then surely they make more that way if they choose to do so.

I think the idea of the free, penny, 4, and 99 cents books are to get retailers to order a lot of them beyond what they normally order for their
customers.

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:16 pm

IDW makes me mad with that 4 doller price

and i get 3 or 4 a month (transformers)
although devils due is 3.50 for gi JOE
grrrr
I am ok with 2 - 2.50
for new valiants
but it also depends on how much is released at 1 time
I cant go with 15 to 20 more books a month at any price
Id love to see 3-6 core titles
and minis for other stuff

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:18 pm

I would be very happy if Valiant publishes no more than 6 monthly ongoing series, 1 quartly anthololgy, and one 4-10 issue mini-series a
month.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:24 pm

Cyberstrike wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:I'm sure they are not going to change the way they do things now anyway. But if they can print up an 80 page preview to Infinite Crisis for 99 cents then surely they make more that way if they choose to do so.
I think the idea of the free, penny, 4, and 99 cents books are to get retailers to order a lot of them beyond what they normally order for their
customers.

Yeah, but I doubt if they lost money on the 99 cent one. They may have broke even so by my way of thinking they could probably put out a line of 2 dollar books and still make a profit.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:25 pm

Cyberstrike wrote:I would be very happy if Valiant publishes no more than 6 monthly ongoing series, 1 quartly anthololgy, and one 4-10 issue mini-series a
month.

I imagine that's pretty close to their game plan.

Darques_Emporium · Post by **Darques_Emporium** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:54 pm

Comic books are supposed to be reproduced as cheaply as possible. They were cheap because it is cheap pulp entertainment. This was a really good thing. Now it is way too fancy and all about materials and the like. I miss the old Eagle books. Even though they were on cheap stock, they still looked very good. Valiant was great looking too. This was a reason I was turned on to the books. Nice quality with good art and great stories, that is all that comics need.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:33 pm

Darques_Emporium wrote:Comic books are supposed to be reproduced as cheaply as possible. They were cheap because it is cheap pulp entertainment. This was a really good thing. Now it is way too fancy and all about materials and the like. I miss the old Eagle books. Even though they were on cheap stock, they still looked very good. Valiant was great looking too. This was a reason I was turned on to the books. Nice quality with good art and great stories, that is all that comics need.

They sure would bring a lot of comic book fans back to buying regularly if they find a way to do that again. If they were smart they would cater to more than just the fans that are buying now.

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:53 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:
Cyberstrike wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:I'm sure they are not going to change the way they do things now anyway. But if they can print up an 80 page preview to Infinite Crisis for 99 cents then surely they make more that way if they choose to do so.
I think the idea of the free, penny, 4, and 99 cents books are to get retailers to order a lot of them beyond what they normally order for their
customers.
Yeah, but I doubt if they lost money on the 99 cent one. They may have broke even so by my way of thinking they could probably put out a line of 2 dollar books and still make a profit.

They do put out a line of comics at $2.25. They are aimed at kids - books like Marvel Adventures and Justice League Unlimited.

As for the extra cheap comics - the ones for a quarter or 99 cents - those are marketing tools. In retail, we call those loss leaders. In my gun department, we sell Winchester dove loads for about a dollar less than we pay for them. We sell Remington 870 Express shotguns for less than we pay for them. We do that so people will come in and buy that box of ammo or that shotgun (and possibly get sold up to a higher model - normally we make between 7 and 13 percent profit on a firearm) and while they are there, buy a shirt or a pair of shoes at 300% profit.

Just today, I bought a Grendel comic for 50 cents. I would have bought it anyway, but the damn thing was half a book at best. It was out there to get existing Grendel fans (like me) excited about the upcoming Grendel series and current buyers of comics that might not be Grendel fans otherwise interested in the character. They hope that when I see the new Grendel book (comes out in 2 months?) and future Grendel books I will drop the $3 on that fine Dark Horse product. Really, they don't have anything to worry about because it's already on my pull list.

I do make it a rule to buy any preview comic that is less than a buck fifty. I like cheap comics, and I like getting introduced to new characters. Most of them have been the only issue of that title I buy (an Aspen book springs to mind - did that ever suck) but sometimes I decide to give the new book a try.

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:12 pm

Yeah, I hate the current price of c-books. $3 a pop ain't cheap, and the $4 mark for "specials" I'm not too happy with either. This is one of the reason that I'm only spending ~$30 on 6 new titles.

I wouldn't mind a physically lower quality book if the price dropped some.

When DNV is released, I will almost certainly be collecting every new title they release to start with. I hope that there book prices are reasonable (although I must admit that I'll probably pay whatever they want to start). My worry will be if they start the variant *SQUEE*, especially the 1/100 variant crap. I get everything from a small comic shop who doesn't order extra on unwanted or unknown titles, so if something like that came out, there is no way I could buy 100 books at $3-4 a pop just to get a much wanted Variant...

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:56 pm

the 3 dollers a pop is why im going to buy online, its the only way i can keep reading what i want and still afford it now days with the high price tags

*SQUEE* · Post by ***SQUEE*** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:37 am

The thing that I loathe aout the comics industry is Variant covers, Now I do not mind the 1:75 1:50 type books. That is not aimed at the normal comic buyer. But when you go to your locale comic shop an start seeing books with several covers... it just reminds me of the 90's and why comics died. I do not like the way the indusry is headed, it went down this dark alley before, and it was robbed and raped and left to die.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:32 am

*SQUEE* wrote:The thing that I loathe aout the comics industry is Variant covers, Now I do not mind the 1:75 1:50 type books. That is not aimed at the normal comic buyer. But when you go to your locale comic shop an start seeing books with several covers... it just reminds me of the 90's and why comics died. I do not like the way the indusry is headed, it went down this dark alley before, and it was robbed and raped and left to die.

I don't like the way they are getting carried away with variants either. I don't mind them doing it once in a while, but what they doing these days is just ridiculous.

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:36 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:I don't like the way they are getting carried away with variants either. I don't mind them doing it once in a while, but what they doing these days is just ridiculous.

Is it as bad now as it was a year or so ago? The last time I bought new books was near the end of "Phoenix: Endsong" and every one of those issues had a planned "Limited Edition" variant (really, a second print, but I won't get technical) which was really annoying.....

...although I don't buy those anyways, just hated seeing the two prints of every issue, month after month.

leonmallett · Post by **leonmallett** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:17 pm

slym2none wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:I don't like the way they are getting carried away with variants either. I don't mind them doing it once in a while, but what they doing these days is just ridiculous.
Is it as bad now as it was a year or so ago? The last time I bought new books was near the end of "Phoenix: Endsong" and every one of those issues had a planned "Limited Edition" variant (really, a second print, but I won't get technical) which was really annoying.....

...although I don't buy those anyways, just hated seeing the two prints of every issue, month after month.

I think things are as bad as they have ever been pretty much with regard to the variants.

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:51 am

leonmallett wrote:
slym2none wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:I don't like the way they are getting carried away with variants either. I don't mind them doing it once in a while, but what they doing these days is just ridiculous.
Is it as bad now as it was a year or so ago? The last time I bought new books was near the end of "Phoenix: Endsong" and every one of those issues had a planned "Limited Edition" variant (really, a second print, but I won't get technical) which was really annoying.....

...although I don't buy those anyways, just hated seeing the two prints of every issue, month after month.

I think things are as bad as they have ever been pretty much with regard to the variants.

Greeeaaattt..... no wonder I have been putting off the visit to my LCS for bags & boards. Must be some sixth sense, warning me of all the horrible things I might see on the shelves.

-slym

*SQUEE* · Post by ***SQUEE*** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:34 am

Poison I tells ya!

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:55 am

I wanna see a book with a mother f@ckin' GOAT in it...

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:05 am

Knightt wrote:I wanna see a book with a mother f@ckin' GOAT in it...

Just say no to inter-species erotica.

cobra_commander · Post by **cobra_commander** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:08 am

Chiclo wrote:
Knightt wrote:I wanna see a book with a mother f@ckin' GOAT in it...
Just say no to inter-species erotica.

Q&W Euro-variant?

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:34 am

Didn't you guys read where MotA posted about the new Q&W story in the upcoming hardcover???

-slym

leonmallett · Post by **leonmallett** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:35 am

cobra_commander wrote:
Chiclo wrote:
Knightt wrote:I wanna see a book with a mother f@ckin' GOAT in it...
Just say no to inter-species erotica.
Q&W Euro-variant?

Hey now!?!