I stopped buying them after civil war. They also already had a lot of 4 dollar comics back then which turned me off immediately. That sort of price is going to alienate a lot of people I think.

He still buys comics hurp durp etc.

I'll probably steal more, rather than buying comics that catch my eye.

are American THAT poor nowadays? From my European point of view that's cheap and affordable, even if it was 4€.

/sigh.

I remember when comics were $1.

Heck, I remember when they were 75 cents.

Think of how many Mcnuggets you could buy for that much.

>>16293388
It isn't much about being poor for me. It is about how much entertainment do I get for my 4 bucks. The answer is about 10 minutes. That seems like a pretty weak ratio compared to any other form of entertainment I partake in.

>>16293388
No, it's just that comics are so shitty that they're nowhere near worth $4.

I only buy comics I think are worth buying anyway.

>>16293388

I think European comics are longer. $4 for a 22 page comic is horrible, especially since you can get a Graphic novel with 6 issues for $15.

>>16293404
lol pirate logic. You made then cost that price you know.

What is $4? ~3 euros? I think the Donald Duck magazine costs 2,5€ here, it's 31 pages so the prices are comparable.

>>16293415
Can't you take a subscription to lower the overall cost?

I work on a budget cause of student loans and shit, so while I'm not gonna drop buying the on-goings I like, this is going to certainly put a damper on me trying new ones.

>>16293430
dysney mags run mostly on reruns and unrelated articles. I don't think you get cooking, fashion and music info in marvel comics.
Would be an interesting concept, though. make it half comics, half something else. pretty cheesy but why not. It works for Dysney...

Buying comics In my country is roughly about $6.50 US :(

dunno. still less expensive than tobacco and alcohol.

How much were you guys paying before hand?

I get like, two Marvel books.

This hardly affects me.

>>16293476
...you haven't read an european Donald Duck magazine have you? 31 pages, usually two or three stories, no fluff at all. Comes out weekly, the only reruns are by popular request. Then there's the monthly paperback that is way over 100 pages, double size twice a year. The magazine and the paperback have no story overlap. And so forth.

>>16293425
Keep telling yourself that.

It's not that the market is stagnant because of its retarded adherence to the direct market model, it's the PIRATES!

So they're (at least) doubling the size of all their books, right?

>>16293519

>>16293519

>>16293511
May have changed from when I was a teen then, because in France, the usual "Picsou magasine" and "Journal de Mickey" where like 50% non comics material. They were fun, but not completely devoted to comics. There are some 100% comics stuf, though, but irrcs they are montly.

>>16293532
Could be region difference, Finland's Donald Duck magazine is published by Egmont but a big chunk of the material is from south europe.

>>16293514
I used to think like this when I was a teenager with no moeny. But when I ralized the ridiculous amount of piracy we are living in now, I changed my mind.
5% of piracy doesn't really hurt. 50-90%? Now that's something else.

>paid 3.99 for the 50 page issue of brightest day #0

Feels good man.

Also, i was cooling off on comics anyway. Tired of spending $50+ every wednesday. I am just gonna buy the stuff i really really wanna see.

So im likely sticking with dc for a while.

I dont get it, its 4 dollars. whats the big deal?

>>16293580
People have no income plus no one agrees with what is a fair price for a comic book.

>>16293486
Tobacco and alcohol are more rewarding.

>Ah, liver damage and lung disease. Sweet Moses, it was worth every drink, every puff...

I only buy the titles I REALLY want so I get like 2-4 titles a week on average. The rest I pirate it works for me.

>>16293584
For all the work that goes into an average issue of say, Spiderman, id say 4 dollars is more than fair.

They up the price because not enough people are buying, so they can't get huge bulk print reductions or high advertising rates.

As they up the price, they lose customers.

>>16293580

Americans are in debt all the fucking time dispite having a higher income on average then the majority of the western world. This can be attributed to a bunch of crap that Americans must buy, but are provided by the Government in Europe.

FOUR

FOUR DOLLAR

FOUR DOLLAR COMIC BOOKS

>> buying comics

What is the meaning of this phrase?

Well, that's funny. I was thinking about switching to trades only for my Marvel books anyway, since they're generally quite good about that.

>>16293476

....and cross-words, at least 3 prize contests, and sometimes an extra comic.

>>16293624
If you were trying to get that stupid Subway song in my head, fuck you, it worked.

>>16293603
Given how horrible I find the average issue of Spiderman, 4 bucks seems like an insult to me. But, clearly, I can't speak for the die hard fans.

>>16293699
Its the same with every commercial comic book, though. Whether you like Spiderman or Batman, the amount of effort the Pencilers, Inkers, Letterists, Writers and Editors put into their comic to get an issue done periodically is fantastic.

Haha, buying comics, good one!

I prefer the european comics. 8€ and then you get a full story of asterix, TinTin etc.

>>16293388
American are cheapskates.

>>16293772
Yes, but those artists and writers are paid for their work, not based off of percentages of sales. So raising or lowering the price has nothing to do with the production staff getting a fair payment for their work.

Raising the price will simply alienate more people, and those guys working so hard will probably get less work in the future if they don't strike gold with their book being popular.

I know Awesome Man's sister would buy comics, if she wasn't raped, killed, and dumped in a field.

Yeah... the Marvel half of my purchases will be drastically cut, at least. More money for independent press shit though, so that's good at least.

YO HO YO HO A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME

>>16293388
>>16293388
>>16293388
>>16293388
>>16293388
>>16293388
>>16293388

>>16293560
>LOOK AT ME MAKE UP NUMBERS

>>16293476
>>16293511
>>16293554
>>16293671

Girls, girls.. DISNEY IS MARVEL

>>16293486
LOL i can get a fifth for 1.60 and cigs for 60 cents USD
>but no comic or gaming stores

>>16293388
$4 for a flimsy paper book that is already chock full of ads and will take like five minutes to read through. That shit better come with a coupon for a free pizza or something!

Long John Silver: When I was just a lad looking for my true vocation
My father said "Now son, this choice deserves deliberation
Though you could be a doctor or perhaps a financier
My boy why not consider a more challenging career"
All: Hey ho ho
You'll cruise to foreign shores
And you'll keep your mind and body sound
By working out of doors
Long John: True friendship and adventure are what we can't live without
All: And when you're a professional pirate
Bad Polly: That's what the job's about

In order to expand their overall reach, comics in general need to take some steps to better their lot. Raising their prices is not going to help things.

If anything, they really should be lowering the prices.

>>16294138
Fuck yeah! Tim Curry!

$4 is expensive?

What?

just gonna stop reading comics after siege. I might start on 24 hour bass practice and improvement shit

I mean, I'm sure this kind of thing isn't done on whim. Marvel has marketing guys, so I'm sure there's some sort of plan behind this.

What I'm wondering is where the trades fit in with all of this. Are the marketers trying to push toward people buying more trades over monthlies? But then how do they find out what warrants a trade, and what does not?

>$4
WOW THATS A LOW PRICE

>>16294176
By itself, no. If you only have one comic that you read, it really doesn't mean much. But if you're following more then one series, or picking up numerous issues on a weekly basis, the extra dollars add up.

>>16294176
That's the point 3 going to 4 is nothing, but 3 going to 4 times 20-30 comics a month isn't nothing.

Yes, basement dwelling fags, it's time to go outside and get a job so you can afford the things you want. Stop living on your allowance, 'cause really, that's the only thing that seems logical if you're considering $4 expensive.

Aside from Agents of Atlas and Hercules, which are made of win, there hasn't been a Marvel book worth buying since Civil War.

I don't know where you guys live but comics have always been 3-4 dollars around here.

>>16294253
SO EDGY YOU SURE TOLD THEM!

>>16294253

God I love that pic.

>>16294253
It isn't 4 bucks that is so expensive to me. It is the ratio of what those 4 dollars gets me... which is not a whole lot.

>>16294264
Are you Canadian?
There is nothing going on in a comic that warrants that price. A Fucking paperback novel costs just a dollar or two more. Comics already have ads on every other page, so the price jump is just them trying to stick it to us.

All of my Marvel books have been $3.99 for a while already. This is news?

>>16294284
Paper backs are 5-6$

>>16294268
your are just butthurt you can't dumpster dive for your comics like you do for your food..

>>16294418
And they will entertain me for at least a day.

A comic will entertain me for 15 minutes.

>>16294388
Oh man, I haven't seen those pictures in forever

>>16294438
lol ADD. You can get medicine for that you know.

>>16294438
Colored ink is moronically expensive.

>>16294284

Mass-market paperbacks generally cost eight bucks, are printed on cheaper paper, have no color other than on the cover, have no illustrations, and are printed in much larger numbers.

The print runs of comics are more along the lines of novels published in trade form, and those tend to run in the fifteen dollar range.

My first issue of X-Men cost a dollar. It was printed on newspaper pulp, had a limited color palette, was written in the days when comics professionals were paid almost nothing (this is why the Hero Initiative exists), and was assembled under the labor and input prices of the market over twenty years ago.

Comics today are printed on better paper, the colors are of a much higher caliber, writers and artists are paid fairly for the first time in industry history, and are assembled using labor and materials at contemporary market prices. I don't know enough details to say if $3.99 is a "fair" price, but I certainly don't expect to pay anywhere under three bucks.

people who can pay for a computer and a monthly internet connection have no right to complain about a 4$ comics.

>>16294482
I understand pricing issues and production costs, but I just don't think they should keep increasing prices on comics while at the same time not making any motions to change the industry to an easier format, as we already have problems with good comics going unread and then canceled.

>>16294482
also considering the inflation, 4$ isn't really far from the old 1$ for the average Joe. The main difference being that back in the day they had like 10 titles at the same times to follow everything, while nowadays there's like 20 titles per editors with neverending crossovers and inter references that make it nearly impossible for people to follow a simple storyline.

>>Prices go up partly because decrease in sales
>>Price increase? Fuck it I'm a' start downloading

>>16294482
These are reasons why monthlies do not need to be printed on high grade materials. It is just a waste. Print them on high grade materials for the trades and collections, but keeping the cost of monthlies low is better for the industry. Increasing the price will only result in fewer sales, and people refraining from checking out newer books.

I would love to see a return to monthlies being printed on newsprint if it meant I could buy it for a buck or a buck fifty.

>>16294475

This is true.

I work at a copy shop. Our basic charge for a black and white copy is 9¢. Color copies start at 59¢.

>>16294571

The paper is largely a function of necessity. A modern coloring job looks terrible on newspaper pulp. Color needs to be printed on a paper that's somewhat less absorbent so the colors stay vivid and don't bleed into one another. This was less of an issue when the industry's palette was simpler and bolder.

>>16294627
While this is true, there are ways to get around this problem to an extent.

There are also cheaper papers that I think take to color better than what Marvel and DC use and don't have that horrible glossy, kinkos feel to them.

Take Orc Stain by James Stokoe. It is printed on a somewhat lower quality paper and looks just as vibrant as any comic from the big two, color wise that is. It also is sold for $2.99

Oh lawdy, stop complaning. $4? Wow. I pay up to $7-8 AUD for regular things. Got Messiah Complex all-in-one, and thatwas $45. Whist your noise!

All Marvel's good books were already 3.99.

why don't they just double the page count and double the wait? that way they save money on shipping costs and writers get more time to put out better comics so the price becomes less an issue.

Just sell trades

Tips for Marvel:
- Make comics twice as long
- charge the same as now
- ditch variant covers
- If a character or team have several ongoings, cut it down to just one

Profits have just been saved.

>>16294749
Thats what radical printing does

$4 isn't expensive if you're just following one monthly.

However both Marvel and DC make it nearly impossible to follow just one monthly an actually get a complete story these days.

It's like they're doing everything they can to stop getting new readers. Super dense and convoluted megacrossovers and raised prices and stories dedicated to decades-long backstory, it's no wonder why I haven't met any non-pirate new comic fans in like half a decade (that and I subscribe instead of going to comic shops since I'm a huge recluse).

>>16294830

There's definitely a part of me that agrees with this, inevitable industry contraction be damned.

Aside from getting more content per dollar, writing specifically for semi-self-contained trades would liberate writers from having to write plot beats that fit into a 22 page monthly. Prose novels have chapters of varying lengths. I'd like to see graphic novels follow suit.