Will You Still Buy Comics When $3.99 Becomes the Norm?

[iSteve]

Comic prices are going up. What will you do?

[conorkilpatrick]

I would answer the top yes, but not with those descriptors.

[iSteve]

I would answer the top yes, but not with those descriptors.

Yes, I got carried away and went slightly over the top. :D Oh well.

[esophagus]

In Canada some comics have already hit this mark. So, if they go above and beyond that I'd probably cut back. I'm hoping that if (when) American comic prices go up ours stay the same.

[labor_days]

Where is the: "Yes, because $3.99 is less expensive than most other forms of entertainment/hobbies and they are worth more than that anyway", option?

That would be my choice. Most likely.

[gobo]

In Canada some comics have already hit this mark. So, if they go above and beyond that I'd probably cut back. I'm hoping that if (when) American comic prices go up ours stay the same.
Your comic shop doesn't use the american prices?

[esophagus]

Your comic shop doesn't use the american prices?The one in Red Deer didn't, but I've yet to start regularly going here. The guy in Red Deer was "nice" enough to throw me a "39? I'll go with 35." every once in a while. But in all fairness he didn't have the market to sustain himself using Canadian prices, American would be killer.

[paper]

Does Kirkman have an opinion on it? Should we wait until he releases another Kirkmanifesto to decide?

[esophagus]

Is Kirkmanifesto what people are calling it? Or are you just that witty.

[paper]

....that. :)

[deadspace]

Does Kirkman have an opinion on it? Should we wait until he releases another Kirkmanifesto to decide?

teehee! :D

I'll probably still buy the same amount. Cos I'll be earning shitloads by then :D

[owlboy]

I don't know, it might push me more towards trades but I don't see myself giving up comics ever.

[mrmister]

I get a 20% discount at my LCBS so since I save money that way I'd probably only cut a couple of titles instead of making massive drops or quitting altogether. Hopefully the next jump is to $3.50, but I doubt it since people are used to paying $3.99 for lots of books already.

[jon_samuelson]

Where is the: "Yes, because $3.99 is less expensive than most other forms of entertainment/hobbies and they are worth more than that anyway", option?

That would be my choice. Most likely.

While in principle I agree with you Labor, I enjoy comics enough that $3.99 is a price I'm technically willing to pay, I think there must be something to be said for the way the industry's run that necessitates a $3.99 price tag for 22 (or whatever) pages of entertainment.

Most of what I'm about to argue are actual questions I have, not so much beliefs that everything's gone in the shitter. And basically it boils down to "Can it possibly really cost $4 to make a comic profitable?"

How much is the legitimate cost of producing a comic? Paper, printing, paying the writer/artist/colorist/inker/letterer and then the editorial staff? How much would they save by using slightly lower quality materials? I mean the paper is pretty high quality anymore, and I liked them just fine back in the day when they were more or less on newspaper. There must be some happy medium that will allow for high quality printing, but not be ridiculously expensive. And to hell with cardstock covers. The last thing I want to be paying extra money for is a thick cover, it doesn't enhance my enjoyment of the product at all.

How much revenue do comics make off of advertising? It can't possibly be insignificant. Regular magazines (Sports Illustrated, GQ, whatever...) must make a friggin' fortune off of advertising. Granted there's A LOT more advertising in those magazines, but they also have to pay a lot more people to produce it, they have a higher print run (which might actually help the profit margin, I dunno). They still have high quality printing. Sure they cost more, but in a content/$ sense, there's A LOT more stuff in those magazines.

How much do comic companies make from the movies? It must be a damn fortune. How does it affect their profit margins, in what way is this money funneled into making comics? I have a sense (being the anti-big-corporation guy that I am) that the preponderance of that money just winds up lining some fat-cat's pockets.

What's the comparative profit margin on trades? Part of me feels like it might be lower because there's no ad revenue, and they cost less on a "per issue" basis.

How does Diamond fuck it all up by being a middle man? How much cheaper would it be if comics companies were their own distribution company? Would smaller companies get completely boned by this, like A.S.P. or any other company I can't think of (should the smaller companies then form some sort of distribution conglomerate of their own?)?

I guess, for me, it really seems like for comics companies to justify a $3.99 price tag, there must be a lot of places where their losing bales of money, because that seems like an awful lot for a 22 page book that gets ad revenue.

[cormano]

I'm already trying to cut back, but this would make me do it even more. It would never make me stop completely, though.

[labor_days]

I really couldn't quantify my enjoyment of comics by the number of pages in a single issue.

For me the value of Kevin Maguire or Cliff Chiang's art is incalculable. I feel fortunate that I am able to purchase books they have taken their pencils to at a rate that is more than fair.

Same goes for the writers. I would pay $3.99 per page of Geoff Johns' JSA, Morrison's All Star Superman or Brubaker's Criminal. All Star Superman should cost a million dollars an issue.

I will only care about the cost of comics when I am jobless and living in utter poverty.

[horatio616]

I'm like Emma Frost. I never look at the prices.

I hate it when I buy an issue that I end up not liking, but I don't mind when I pay a little extra for a book I like.

[cammyknoxville]

The day every comic goes for $4.99, is the day I buy nothing but graphic novels.

[gobo]

Truly Labor is the king of hyperbole

[labor_days]

I truly believe the value I get out of reading All Star Superman has no price that is defined for me by page count or the number of books in my stack. It is something I enjoy immensely and an able to afford. The value as such should be defined by that, and that alone.

If given the option between 1,000 mediocre books and a single panel of AS Superman, I would always choose the latter.

A million dollars is hardly enough for the delight I got out of reading the panel where Superman sends the little Kandorians out of the palm of his hand to help the children dying of cancer. Not nearly enough.

[gobo]

Long live the king

[cam-]

ahhh.... the norm

http://www.phillybeerclub.com/Portals/PhillyBeerClub/cheers-norm.jpg

[jon_samuelson]

The guys who run my local shop are reasonably good friends of mine, so I asked them about it. They said that they've heard nothing about a price increase, and that the guys in the retailer forum they visit would certainly have been bitching about it. Just thought I'd mention it.

[cenquist]

If it ever came to this, what about the companies printing half there books on a lower quality paper/ink/printer and the other half what they currently do? Would you pay more for the higher quality or less for the craptacular book?

[sugarsickness]

I've already decided to cut my already low monthly count simply because I don't get to read a lot of them so rather wait for the trades then let that issue stack get any higher.

So I'd say I wouldn't mind paying 3.99 for my monthlies, because the ones that I enjoy enough to make the over-a-mile-out-of-the-way-walk-on-the-way-to-work trek in southern california heat to my comic shop I really LOVE. If I love them enough to not mind leaving for work two hours early for the train ride + walk there and back then I'd pay that little bit extra.

[racemccloud]

I'm already cutting back at $2.99, so I would definitely be cutting back at $3.99.

[adultbraces]

Oh, that day is gonna hurt when it comes. Everyone is feeling the crunch though.

[horatio616]

Oh, that day is gonna hurt when it comes. Everyone is feeling the crunch though.

Off topic, but are you an adult with braces or is that just something you fancy or are you an orthodontist?

[adultbraces]

Off topic, but are you an adult with braces or is that just something you fancy or are you an orthodontist?
None of the above. One day my fiancee and I were talking about stuff that freaks us out and she mentioned adult braces (adults with braces, i.e., Tom Cruise). I thought it was hilarious, so it has stuck.

Don't want to offend any adults out there with braces though, so all apologies. Disclaimer.

[aerodynamics]

Adults with braces are awesome and should be subject to an enormous tax credit.

Except Tom Cruise. There will have to be a loophole that exludes anyone who owns a spacegoing warship.

[denmmurray]

Does Kirkman have an opinion on it? Should we wait until he releases another Kirkmanifesto to decide?

He'll just tell everyone to start doing completely black and white books to save on the costs. Then tell everyone that they should go on a cruise to discuss it.

[scootman]

damn i have a hard enough time buying comics now. when $3.99 hits, i gotta start getting a job or something

[adultbraces]

Adults with braces are awesome and should be subject to an enormous tax credit.

Except Tom Cruise. There will have to be a loophole that exludes anyone who owns a spacegoing warship.
Hahaha! Good point.