Is $3.99 soon to be the new norm?

[patio]

I was browsing the Marvel subscriptions page and I noticed that they are listing the "newsstand price" for 12-issues of most of their comics as $47.88. That comes out to $3.99 an issue. Is this a portent of things to come, or just an error on their part? Interestingly, the Adventures line were listed as $35.88 (still only 299 cents!) but Captain America was listed as $59.88 for 12 issues. That's an astronomical $4.99 per issue! Maybe it is a mistake; maybe the subscriptions people got ahold of some special oversized (and overpriced) issues and based their calculations on that.

But one way or another, it's looking likely that the cost may bump up soon. So what will it be, a comic book or a gallon of gas? That's going to be a tough call.

[deadspace]

In the UK we pay the equivalent of $4.30 for a $2.99 comic.

Don't know the answer to your question though.

[paper]

George Wendt is the once and future Norm.

[patio]

It took me a full minute to figure out what that meant!

xP

[paper]

Well sometimes it takes that long to get your head out of your Claven.

;)

[patio]

Freunleven!

[kahunablair]

The price of media is going up, there isn't much you can do about it. Movies, games, magazines, etc, etc.
It's just a cold hard fact. These things happen.

The only solace you can take is that the presentation has improved. The quality of our comics and films has gone up unbelievably.

I personaly would always pay more for what is on the stands today compared to what was there 10, 15, 20 years ago.

[miyamotofreak]

I haven't been reading comics too long so most of what I've read has been in collected edition or entire runs on Ebay. But I am trying to jump into a couple of series right now (Batman and FC) and I find that its rather expensive. About $7 (plus about $.50 tax) a month for about 55 pages of content plus advertisements. That's pretty ridiculous and I'm still not even sure whether the content is good (granted I have yet to pick up the latest RIP and FC). A move to $4 a comic for a plain 22 page book would make me stick to trades and other collected forms (and I sometimes find those very pricey). The fact is I'm not getting my moneys worth and the only benefit to reading in issues is immediate gratification and discussion (and admittedly hype). Final crisis will likely be about $14 on amazon ($20 MSRP likely) and right now after all the issue I'm paying about $30. Just doesn't seem worth it. And again I'm not sure if this story will turn out good (I am not saying anything about the quality of FC, as I find it okay so far but the point still matters) but if I wait for the trade I can at least get the general opinion and recommendations.

[jon_samuelson]

My financial situation (broke ass grad-student) would demand that I switch over to all-trades for pretty much every thing I think. Which really sucks, because I like getting my comics every month. Why is it that comics suddenly have to increase in $1 increments? I mean, nothing else I can think of does that. I feel like the increase would be a lot more palatable if the were $3.25 next, and slowly increased up from there. But a sudden 33% increase in the cost of my hobby? That blows. Publishers must know that blows. I feel bad for comic shops if this happens, because I bet the internet distributors (dcbs, Heroes Corner, etc.) get a big boost in business from this. I'll be very tempted to start using them, and I LOVE my local shop, anybody with less affection will probably run like the wind to the internet guys.

[conorkilpatrick]

I don't think $3.99 is going to be the next bump, probably $3.50 is more likely.

[jon_samuelson]

That'd be nice. I don't collect a lot of books (~30), but as I mentioned, for my habit to go from $90 to $120 would be pretty damn painful.

[patio]

Y'know what? I just remembered something from last year. A lot of marvel books went up in price at the newsstands already to $3.99. But not in the direct market (comics shops). That would explain why they list it that way on their website. ok, whew. Panic attack subsiding.

[conorkilpatrick]

Nothing for me will ever be as traumatic as when it went from $1.00 to $1.25.

My friends and I were all devastated.

[optimus187prime]

Nothing for me will ever be as traumatic as when it went from $1.00 to $1.25.

My friends and I were all devastated.

The fifties were never the same after the 'Great Increase of 1951'. Ice Cream didnt taste the same that summer. :D

[labor_days]

Meh. I don't care about the price of comics. I would gladly pay 4.99 an issue for Captain America. Gladly.

[johnvferrigno]

The first comics I remember getting were either 60 or 65 cents an issue. When i started actively collecting, they were 75 cents. "special" issues, like anniversaries or one-shots were 1.25. God, I feel old.

[optimus187prime]

I was only busting balls dude, you're only as young as you feel.

[johnvferrigno]

I was only busting balls dude, you're only as young as you feel.

I feel really freakin' old. LOL I should probably take better care of myself......

[optimus187prime]

I feel really freakin' old. LOL I should probably take better care of myself......

http://store.sunsweet.com/merchant2/graphics/00000004/273.jpg

[chris-neseman]

Yeah, it's coming, and it's gonna suck.

I think it will hurt a lot of LCSs as people will have one more reason to go the trade route and order stuff online. It will hurt a lot of independent and creator owned books because a lot of people shop on a budget. If that budget is all gone after X-Men, JLA and Batman a lot of people will stop taking chances on other titles.

It kind of pisses me off.

[hank41]

oh man, right when i saw this thread title, i knew Chris was gonna have his little tantrum

[hank41]

but i do agree with everything you said there bud

[johnvferrigno]

http://store.sunsweet.com/merchant2/graphics/00000004/273.jpg

LMAO!

[bean6344]

I have been buying comics every week since 1981 when I first discovered "The Funnyfarm" comic book store in Vandalia Ohio. $3.99 will probably be the point of no return for the switch to trades. Right now, I'm probably 50/50.
I make a fairly good living but enough is enough. If only I was a smoker, I could give that up to supliment my weekly comics habbit.
Bean

[tmaniac]

Y'know what? I just remembered something from last year. A lot of marvel books went up in price at the newsstands already to $3.99. But not in the direct market (comics shops). That would explain why they list it that way on their website. ok, whew. Panic attack subsiding.

Yea, I recently got into comics and the only place of my knowledge that sold them with monthly subscriptions was a Books-A-Million about an hour away, and I would spend about 20 bucks a week on like 4 comics.
Luckily a random person told me about a comic book store about an hour in the other direction, and I get my books from there and ill get like 6 for less then what i spent on the 4 from BaM.
Plus I feel alot more reasonable spending an extra 10 bucks at a family owned store rather then a franchise.

[optimus187prime]

Yea, I recently got into comics and the only place of my knowledge that sold them with monthly subscriptions was a Books-A-Million about an hour away, and I would spend about 20 bucks a week on like 4 comics.
Luckily a random person told me about a comic book store about an hour in the other direction, and I get my books from there and ill get like 6 for less then what i spent on the 4 from BaM.
Plus I feel alot more reasonable spending an extra 10 bucks at a family owned store rather then a franchise.

DCBS offers subscription service that is very cheap, if you are not concerned with getting your books on Wed then you may want to look into that.

[cadgers]

There is a $4.99 Cap/DD one shot coming out this week. For 48 pages that's ridiculous...

[cenquist]

There is a $4.99 Cap/DD one shot coming out this week. For 48 pages that's ridiculous...

Since the Canadian dollar has dropped and my store has gone back to selling there books at Canadian prices, I wonder how much this will be?

[bladesofjustice]

When I walk into my comic book store now, I must look with caution at what I buy instead of picking anything that looks interesting. With certain books though, I wait on trades, where the overall cost is less than buying the individual issues....

Although I do have to agree with fact that the medium has improved, so we do seem to be paying for the better quality....

[simond]

I hope not but working at a newspaper I can tell you. That price of paper has been going up. So I hate to say it but I think it will be the new norm sometime in 2009.

[patio]

Who resurrected this old thread?

Well, there are a lot of books jumping to $3.99, especially the event books and tie-ins, and they don't all have bigger page counts to justify the increase. Nice quality books, no doubt, but it's still hard on the pocketbook.


O-BA-MA!