DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 2011

[Nardpuncher]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

I used to buy the DC Trek comic n the late 80s/early 90s...I think they were about $2.00 or just below that.

I've looked at some modern comic and they look really good, but I'd be happy (if I were younger and buying comics) if they went back to cheaper paper too, if that would get the price to drop even more. I don't need my comic to look like a car brochure.

 

[TheBrew]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

I used to buy the DC Trek comic n the late 80s/early 90s...I think they were about $2.00 or just below that.

I've looked at some modern comic and they look really good, but I'd be happy (if I were younger and buying comics) if they went back to cheaper paper too, if that would get the price to drop even more. I don't need my comic to look like a car brochure.

Agreed. Buying a comic should cost as much as buying a TV show on iTunes.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Agreed. Buying a comic should cost as much as buying a TV show on iTunes.

I'm trying to think of what 45rpm single (and you got two songs!!) cost in 1970 but the Alzheimer's is kicking in. I don't think it was much off the price of a comic then though.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

I remembered that I do have some comics...I have the first 6 volumes of the Dark Horse collections of Savage Sword of Conan which are like big black and white phone books. No frills, just Conan.
Though that's not a completely fair comparison as they were originally in black and white on cheap paper anyway.
But my point is that I think many readers would be happy with cheaper comics on cheaper paper. Especially kids with only $10 pocket money. It's be nice for them to get 2 or 3 comics each week instead of one.

And do they even need/have inkers and letterists (what do you call the guys who write the words?!?!) anymore? You certainly don't need guys to actually write the words these days. maybe I'm really dating myself and they got rid of them years ago!

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

And do they even need/have inkers and letterists (what do you call the guys who write the words?!?!) anymore? You certainly don't need guys to actually write the words these days. maybe I'm really dating myself and they got rid of them years ago!

They still have them and they're still needed. A lot of lettering is done digitally rather than by hand these days, but you still need someone to perform the lettering function.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

That's funny, because I think comics are overpriced at $1.99 on the iPad.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

I used to buy the DC Trek comic n the late 80s/early 90s...I think they were about $2.00 or just below that.

I've looked at some modern comic and they look really good, but I'd be happy (if I were younger and buying comics) if they went back to cheaper paper too, if that would get the price to drop even more. I don't need my comic to look like a car brochure.

Agreed. Buying a comic should cost as much as buying a TV show on iTunes.

I'll third.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

I can remember back when comics were 10 cents, and the increase to 12, 15, 20 and 25 cents during the '70s. And the gasp-inspiring jump to 35 cents that put some people over the edge.

Yes, I'm old.

Do you remember when kids could buy a piece of candy for 1 cent too?

You mean they can't still?

I can remember back when comics were 10 cents, and the increase to 12, 15, 20 and 25 cents during the '70s. And the gasp-inspiring jump to 35 cents that put some people over the edge.

Yes, I'm old.

Do you remember when kids could buy a piece of candy for 1 cent too?

Bugger that, I used to go into the store and get a little brown paper bag and fill it with assorted pieces and the owner would charge me a penny per five pieces.

From 10 cents to 12 to 15 etc I could always afford a fistfull of comics on my allowance each week and I knew the exact hour every Thursday that the truck delivered the new stacks.

Yup, in my mom's home town, which we visited frequently as a child) there was this great old general store -- the kind with the severly worn wooden floor and the post office in the back -- where you could get a sack full of penny candy for a nickle. And the comic books were on the bottom tier of this old wooden magazine rack at one end of the store. I seem to recall that they came in on Thursdays, if I'm not mistaken, as well.

 

[Captain Craig]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

That's funny, because I think comics are overpriced at $1.99 on the iPad.

More truth here.
I have both the DC & Marvel apps but only get the Free ones. Most of which are material I've read but I pop them out whenever I'm in a waiting room/ on a train etc just to pass the time.

They really shouldn't be no more than .99 cents at most.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Eh. Lowering to 3 bucks....
Still not interested in getting back into monthlies.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Because this is what comic books need...

to be shorter.

 

[Goliath]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

This is the first comic I can remember owning:

The Warlord, no. 1, dated Feb 1976--25 cents. Purchased at a local convenience store. Now long lost.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

This is the first comic I can remember owning:

The Warlord, no. 1, dated Feb 1976--25 cents. Purchased at a local convenience store. Now long lost.

here's mine. Flash 28. 1 dollar. And told a complete story. Awesome. Still have it.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

My first comic purchase...

My first superhero comic purchase...

Both 50 cents. And I still have them both.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

There's a used bookstore in Winnipeg (my hometown...but I'm in Asia now) that has stacks of old DC and Marvel going back to the mid 70s or so. They sell them for 25 cents each or 5 for a dollar or something like that. They're all mixed up though, as in not alphabetized or anything.
I think next time I go home I'll but a couple dozen. If not just for the ads!

 

[theenglish]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Honestly, I don't know what is up with businesses these days. They are clinging to this model that is outdated. Publishers and the music/movie industries need to realise that they are no longer making products, they are selling an entertainment service. They need to cut back prices substantially and market differently.

First DC and Marvel need to cut out the crap and reduce the number of comics they produce each month by about half.

Then they need to completely rethink how they sell the comic "service" and "product".

Comics can easily be sold in three forms. The current premier format of fine paper and colors, a retro magazine style form like the old comics that can be sold much cheaper and sold from groceries stores and convenience stores like the old days (this is where you hook the kids), and an ebook service that can be sold much cheaper possibly with varying prices where you can subscribe to the entire line.

The only way to make a profit is to sell your product more cheaply and get more units sold along with having the option for a member service online.

I am sure that many people would pay twenty bucks a month for a subscription to the entire DC or Marvel line even if the titles were reduced by half.

This whole protecting the bottom line and sticking to the "old" way of doing business is not going to allow them to keep going any longer than major record labels or movie studios.

 

[Mr Light]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

I think they're gonna make more money flooding the market with 20 Batman books than only having 3 Bat books a month. Those little mini-series and one-shots are gonna sell. If you only publish 3 monthlies, I don't think the numbers on that are going to rise. The people who buy the minis are already buying the monthlies.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Reducing the price and increasing volume isn't the only way to generate a profit. The current business model of selling a lot of titles at a higher price point to an affluent niche readership keeps them in profit. But it's not an optimal business model, nor one that is good for the industry in the long run, and they need to shift to a new paradigm. But in doing so they need to be very careful not to disrupt the current direct market business model and be left with no viable substitute in place. So that's the maneuvering we're going to see over the coming years, one aimed at growing volume - and particularly growing the presence of digital comics - without a premature breakdown of the existing model that leaves comics publishers high and dry.

Also, a lot of people talk about getting comics back into newsagents and convenience stores. The comic book industry didn't summarily decide to withdraw from those venues. Comics were crowded out by other products competing for limited shelf and floor space. The direct market was nurtured as a replacement business model out of necessity. It's not as if comics publishers could easily reclaim that space by printing cheap comics on lower grades of paper.

Edit to add: Dark Horse Comics has announced they'll be launching a digital comics app in January with a price point of $1.49 per issue. They'll also offer bundled story arcs at prices ranging from $2.99 to $5.99.

 

[theenglish]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Interesting points...but the bottom line is that comics need to move out of the exclusive comic stores if they want to keep going, and charge a price that people are willing to pay.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: DC Comics announces $2.99 price point for all 32-page comics in 20

Personally, I think monthlies should just be allowed to die. The writing is on the wall. Trades are cheaper, bound, available in most bookstores and they generally tell the WHOLE story at one sitting. The monthly story is structured now FOR the trade anyway... Why do I want to wait 6 months? It's not like the old days where some stories might take an issue or two with longer stories seeded in the back ground.

Of course, if they reduced to a quarterly, or something, graphic novel, it might reduce product, so, I don't know.

Monthlies just feel ... out of date.