Marvel price increases

[Todd Luck]

Marvels been doing higher prices for normal sized issues on a lot of their miniseries for awhile so 3.99 for Secret Invasion of War of Kings isn't too shocking. But I just saw that Thor and New Avengers get that price tag starting in March and Hulk gets it in February. Looks like the beginning of an across the board price increase (that's a helluva jump). Guess I'll be buying more stuff in tradepaperback off amazon.

[Lightning Strike]

Marvels been doing higher prices for normal sized issues on a lot of their miniseries for awhile so 3.99 for Secret Invasion of War of Kings isn't too shocking. But I just saw that Thor and New Avengers get that price tag starting in March and Hulk gets it in February. Looks like the beginning of an across the board price increase (that's a helluva jump). Guess I'll be buying more stuff in tradepaperback off amazon.

I've been thinking of going to TPB and no more new issues for a while. Marvel just made my decision easy.

[iggy101us]

A 33% increase is just outrageous.

[Heath]

Marvels been doing higher prices for normal sized issues on a lot of their miniseries for awhile so 3.99 for Secret Invasion of War of Kings isn't too shocking. But I just saw that Thor and New Avengers get that price tag starting in March and Hulk gets it in February. Looks like the beginning of an across the board price increase (that's a helluva jump). Guess I'll be buying more stuff in tradepaperback off amazon.

I've been thinking of going to TPB and no more new issues for a while. Marvel just made my decision easy.

But the more people do that, the number of copies of new issues sold gets lower, which means cover prices have to go up or books get canceled. If the books are canceled, then there's no source material for TPBs.

Do you think we'll see the day when new monthly comics (and comic shops) are a thing of the past and we only have new material being printed in TPBs being sold in traditional bookstores?

[etos45]

I've been wondering if this was coming because a lot of comics are starting to hit that $3.99 mark. I don't know what that's going to mean for my buying habits, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start cutting titles again... which is getting harder since I've already "trimmed the fat" a few times already.

[Lightning Strike]

Marvels been doing higher prices for normal sized issues on a lot of their miniseries for awhile so 3.99 for Secret Invasion of War of Kings isn't too shocking. But I just saw that Thor and New Avengers get that price tag starting in March and Hulk gets it in February. Looks like the beginning of an across the board price increase (that's a helluva jump). Guess I'll be buying more stuff in tradepaperback off amazon.

I've been thinking of going to TPB and no more new issues for a while. Marvel just made my decision easy.

But the more people do that, the number of copies of new issues sold gets lower, which means cover prices have to go up or books get canceled. If the books are canceled, then there's no source material for TPBs.

And Marvel should have thought of that when they decided to raise the prices again. I mean, how can they possibly justify the increase?
At some point, you just have to say enough is enough. I have plenty of back issues I thoroughly enjoy and can read over and over and be content with. I don't HAVE to buy new issues. And that's something Marvel needs to think about instead of being greedy.

Do you think we'll see the day when new monthly comics (and comic shops) are a thing of the past and we only have new material being printed in TPBs being sold in traditional bookstores?

Yep, I know a lot of people who buy only TPB's, and I guess I'm one of them now.

Why should I pay $24 for six issues when I can wait for the TPB to come out and pay $11 or 12 dollars for it?

Or just wait and buy a comic series off Ebay for half the original cost?

[Lightning Strike]

I've been wondering if this was coming because a lot of comics are starting to hit that $3.99 mark. I don't know what that's going to mean for my buying habits, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start cutting titles again... which is getting harder since I've already "trimmed the fat" a few times already.

Six months ago I was spending about $120 a month on new comics. Last two months, I spent $33 and $30

I refuse to pay $3.99 for a comic. NOT going to happen. Marvel's bean counters can eat it!

[Todd Luck]

Well to be clear, it's the beginning of a price jump. I think someone listed all the ongoing titles effected so far on Marvels's Thor forum and there's about 6 of them (I think most of them were more popular titles). How long this will take to effect all the other titles, I don't know. Several ongoing titles that will start in Febuary have a $2.99 price tag in March so I'm assuming this is a gradual thing (that happened to hit 30% of my pull list at once LOL).

[Lightning Strike]

Well to be clear, it's the beginning of a price jump. I think someone listed all the ongoing titles effected so far on Marvels's Thor forum and there's about 6 of them (I think most of them were more popular titles). How long this will take to effect all the other titles, I don't know. Several ongoing titles that will start in Febuary have a $2.99 price tag in March so I'm assuming this is a gradual thing (that happened to hit 30% of my pull list at once LOL).

But you just know it will only be a matter of months before every Marvel and DC book will be $3.99

[Chiclo]

This makes a lot of the indys with the $3.50 price point seem reasonable.

I am really getting sucked into a lot of what Dynamite has to offer.

[Dr. Solar]

Only time will tell if Marvel is making the right call.

I know plenty of people don't like this, but I imagine that the losses due to lost readers will be more than offset by the money made from increased prices.

I'm not buying anymore, but that's just me.

Except Darkhawk. I'm buying Darkhawk.

[Zaphod]

When I quit collecting in the mid 90's, the price of books in Canada was between 3.50-4.00. It was a part of the decision to quit.

I have browsed new titles from time to time and in Canada the books are near $5 so I have never even considered going back.

Anything I really want is in the back issue bin or in a TPB eventually.

[Cyberstrike]

Marvels been doing higher prices for normal sized issues on a lot of their miniseries for awhile so 3.99 for Secret Invasion of War of Kings isn't too shocking. But I just saw that Thor and New Avengers get that price tag starting in March and Hulk gets it in February. Looks like the beginning of an across the board price increase (that's a helluva jump). Guess I'll be buying more stuff in tradepaperback off amazon.

I've been thinking of going to TPB and no more new issues for a while. Marvel just made my decision easy.

But the more people do that, the number of copies of new issues sold gets lower, which means cover prices have to go up or books get canceled. If the books are canceled, then there's no source material for TPBs.

I think that in most cases the TPBs (hell even some hardcovers) are just better deals. If Marvel, IDW, VEI, Image, Dark Horse, and DC want me to buy single issues again then they need to bring the prices down. I'm through paying $24 for 6 issues only when those issues are reprinted into TPB being sold for $20.

Do you think we'll see the day when new monthly comics (and comic shops) are a thing of the past and we only have new material being printed in TPBs being sold in traditional bookstores?

Yeah, I do.

Image and DC have kept several monthlies around because the TPBs sold better than the monthlies and they didn't want to lose the sale on the TPBs. Some creators and fans even think of the monthly books as little more than a "preview" of the TPB. Honestly I think that most comics now of days are written for TPBs and they also tend to read better as TPBs anyway.

[Lightning Strike]

Marvels been doing higher prices for normal sized issues on a lot of their miniseries for awhile so 3.99 for Secret Invasion of War of Kings isn't too shocking. But I just saw that Thor and New Avengers get that price tag starting in March and Hulk gets it in February. Looks like the beginning of an across the board price increase (that's a helluva jump). Guess I'll be buying more stuff in tradepaperback off amazon.

I've been thinking of going to TPB and no more new issues for a while. Marvel just made my decision easy.

But the more people do that, the number of copies of new issues sold gets lower, which means cover prices have to go up or books get canceled. If the books are canceled, then there's no source material for TPBs.

I think that in most cases the TPBs (hell even some hardcovers) are just better deals. If Marvel, IDW, VEI, Image, Dark Horse, and DC want me to buy single issues again then they need to bring the prices down. I'm through paying $24 for 6 issues only when those issues are reprinted into TPB being sold for $20.

Do you think we'll see the day when new monthly comics (and comic shops) are a thing of the past and we only have new material being printed in TPBs being sold in traditional bookstores?

Yeah, I do.

Image and DC have kept several monthlies around because the TPBs sold better than the monthlies and they didn't want to lose the sale on the TPBs. Some creators and fans even think of the monthly books as little more than a "preview" of the TPB. Honestly I think that most comics now of days are written for TPBs and they also tend to read better as TPBs anyway.

There's no question that comics today are written for the TPB

[400yrs]

Do you think we'll see the day when new monthly comics (and comic shops) are a thing of the past and we only have new material being printed in TPBs being sold in traditional bookstores?

The obvious answer to this is yes, but I'm not so sure. Many people like to wait for TPBs because they are a better deal and you get a full story at one time. It seems like trades are the most important part of a comic publisher (aside from movie rights of course), but I don't think monthlies can be dismissed.

I'm not sure that companies can do as well by making only trades. The single issues, as previously mentioned, almost serve as a preview for trades. If there aren't any single issues, it would be a lot harder for readers to get an idea of which trades would interest them. In addition, there would be no word of mouth or reviews that the single issues provide to future trade readers.

To stop putting out monthlies, the companies would be putting a completely untested product on the market. That would work fine for the big titles like Spidey. Well-established writers like Willingham, Brubaker and Bendis would probably still be read, but companies would probably cut out alot of the "B" titles and wouldn't even try "C" titles or many new titles because it would be a bigger gamble.

Finally, and probably most importantly, the single issues pay off the creators for their work on a book. If single issues are successful, a trade is made and the company doesn't have to pay for the trade to be written, drawn, inked, colored, lettered, etc. The result is that trades would cost more to the reader and the company would make a smaller margin than they currently do. Keep in mind that the big companies pay page rates so the price of trades would more than likely increase significantly.

If single issues didn't do well at all, then they aren't going to make a trade. If you take away the single issues, putting out trades becomes a much larger gamble. Losing the single issues, in the long run would probably hurt comic companies I would think.



I've dropped alot of Marvel stuff recently and all DC except Vertigo. I'm gravitating more toward Image where better and fresher stories are being written for $2.99 and $3.50.

Thor has been excellent, but that extra buck will probably get me to drop it. I might start relying on ebay for ASM and current Marvel books.

[400yrs]

Anyway, the comic companies are *SQUEE*-backwards. Instead of raising prices, they should work to increase readership. More readers = more revenue. More readers = More interest to advertise in comics = more revenue.

Instead, we get higher prices. These comic companies are no better than the American car manufacturers.

[comicguy]

Anyway, the comic companies are *SQUEE*-backwards. Instead of raising prices, they should work to increase readership. More readers = more revenue. More readers = More interest to advertise in comics = more revenue.

Instead, we get higher prices. These comic companies are no better than the American car manufacturers.

As much as I love comics I have to agree with 400yrs about the analogy.

[IMJ]

The fact is that current comic collectors as a whole don't want digital comics (myself included) and that a price hike of this nature is ridiculous.

They need to be thinking about a paradigm shift that doesn't include soley digital comics. Quite frankly, I say shrink the comics down to the size of what we currently consider to be an ashcan, cut the costs in half or more for a new comic.

I'd love for all of my books to be digest or ashcan sized, and I'd love for all of my Long boxes to be just as small. The general size of comics have been shrinking since the Golden Age of books anyway, and this is would be serious cost cutting measure as far as production is concerned.

If books were cheaper, I'd buy more of them and Marvel would probably get a greater margin out of me as the individual consumer. Unfortunately to most business class bozos, thinking within a paradigm that makes the final sales price cheaper isn't in the realm of the vocabulary. I say hire industrial psychologists to figure this stuff out

[Lightning Strike]

The fact is that current comic collectors as a whole don't want digital comics (myself included) and that a price hike of this nature is ridiculous.

They need to be thinking about a paradigm shift that doesn't include soley digital comics. Quite frankly, I say shrink the comics down to the size of what we currently consider to be an ashcan

No way. I like the current size and would not buy ashcan size comics monthly no matter how cheap they were.

[terreth]

Keep in mind that the big companies pay page rates so the price of trades would more than likely increase significantly.

If they keep their current philosophy everything will go up, even the tpbs.

Lets just hope the comic art form isn't lost in the greed.

[Elveen]

What this makes me think of is......


When VEI puts out new Valiant books, what if they put out books with a cover of $1.99 and used newsprint paper, no glossy covers, but knocked out great story after great story.

They might get more people to take a chance on them. If VEI's books are significantly cheaper than most/all of the other books, I think they could really make a splash.

[Lightning Strike]

Keep in mind that the big companies pay page rates so the price of trades would more than likely increase significantly.

If they keep their current philosophy everything will go up, even the tpbs.

If you buy them new, you might have to pay more for them. But you can find TPB's on Ebay and Amazon for around 5 or 6 bucks. And I pay about $11 for a new TPB from DCBS, sometimes even less.

I paid only $60 for the Captain Britain Omnibus through them and it lists everywhere else for about $90

[Lightning Strike]

What this makes me think of is......


When VEI puts out new Valiant books, what if they put out books with a cover of $1.99 and used newsprint paper, no glossy covers, but knocked out great story after great story.

That would be great

[400yrs]

What this makes me think of is......


When VEI puts out new Valiant books, what if they put out books with a cover of $1.99 and used newsprint paper, no glossy covers, but knocked out great story after great story.

They might get more people to take a chance on them. If VEI's books are significantly cheaper than most/all of the other books, I think they could really make a splash.

Great idea, but everything that I've read is saying that going with newsprint is barely any difference in cost at all.

If they did price books at 1.99 each, they'd probably be losing lots of money unless they were sell a bajillion copies like in the 90s. If VEI puts stuff out, I'd be surprised if it is for less than $3.99.

I think they could do something like 99 cent books for the start of each story arc or something to try and bring new readers in. They are going to have to lose money to make money.

[tarheelmarine]

Is DC jumping the price on its regular series? I know Final Crisis is more, but what about the regular series it publishes?