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Elite Collector
 
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Silver Age Surfer (10/3/2009)
New issues for $3.99? Variant covers instantly packaged by store owners for $29 to $49 a pop? Paper that has no business being in a comic book and, to add insult to injury, more often than not less than 10 highly unimaginative words on a page? Yes, they are simultaneously getting far too expensive and worse overall products. I buy very few current titles.
But I have caved and am reading/collecting Blackest Night. At least they read like old comic books.
Yes. $3.99.
What's wrong with the paper? You would prefer they go to newsprint and raise the price? Most people prefer the new stock they print on. I have no issues with paper no matter what it is because i know that the paper DOESN'T significantly impact the price. What does is the cost of the creators. They are not paid out of a pool any more.
As for the content ... you probably will find lots of people that agree with you but they are mostly old and cynical and see the past as something that was all puppies and rainbows while not realizing there was a ton of crap back then too. Times change readers desires change and what flew in the past certainly wouldn't now.
There is lots of great stuff through all the eras of comics ... whether you think so or not. It drives me nuts when folks backhand certain eras just because they don't like them. It's a downer.
As for variants ... you don't even like new books so why cry over it? Do you realize that some of the variants have very low runs and it can cost dealers a lot of money to get them in? So say you are a dealer and there is a 1:50 variant one of your customers wants but to get it you actually have to order 50 books to get it and your normal order is for 5 copies. What do you do?
Personally I do not approve of some of the prices dealers affix to the variants but I disagree that they should charge cover for them. The idea is to sell through your stock ... or a majority of it anyway. Otherwise it sits in back issue and every square foot or piece of shelf space it takes up is losing money or taking space away from active selling merchandise.
BTW folk, just guess which decade saw the greatest increase in prices?
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Enthusiast
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oxbladder (10/3/2009)
Yes. $3.99.
What's wrong with the paper? You would prefer they go to newsprint and raise the price? Most people prefer the new stock they print on. I have no issues with paper no matter what it is because i know that the paper DOESN'T significantly impact the price. What does is the cost of the creators. They are not paid out of a pool any more.
As for the content ... you probably will find lots of people that agree with you but they are mostly old and cynical and see the past as something that was all puppies and rainbows while not realizing there was a ton of crap back then too. Times change readers desires change and what flew in the past certainly wouldn't now.
There is lots of great stuff through all the eras of comics ... whether you think so or not. It drives me nuts when folks backhand certain eras just because they don't like them. It's a downer.
As for variants ... you don't even like new books so why cry over it? Do you realize that some of the variants have very low runs and it can cost dealers a lot of money to get them in? So say you are a dealer and there is a 1:50 variant one of your customers wants but to get it you actually have to order 50 books to get it and your normal order is for 5 copies. What do you do?
Personally I do not approve of some of the prices dealers affix to the variants but I disagree that they should charge cover for them. The idea is to sell through your stock ... or a majority of it anyway. Otherwise it sits in back issue and every square foot or piece of shelf space it takes up is losing money or taking space away from active selling merchandise.
BTW folk, just guess which decade saw the greatest increase in prices?
I don't think it's so much a matter of "backhanding" modern era works, but rather putting what is currently available in the context of what it's actually worth to me. Of course there was a ton of crap back in the day, but in my opinion there is a hell of a lot more now. Modern comics, for the most part, rely on blood and gore far more than, say, Golden or Silver age titles, and focus far less on storytelling than the do on images. I read Daredevil #5 and it takes me a good twenty minutes, maybe with a break here and there. I read Old Man Logan and I'm done in less than five minutes (if that). So for me, a lot of the value is gone right there.
As for the pricing, I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that dropping the comparatively expensive paper they use now (which used to be reserved exclusively for things like graphic novels) for a less opulent material will increase the cost to consumers, but let's assume for the moment that I'm suggesting something that will actually make new issues more affordable... what's wrong with that? I don't need my 3 squares of dialogueless blood spatter spoon-fed to me through heavy gloss - it's unnecessary and overly indulgent. And I understand your point about not asking retailers to sell variants for the cover price, but a 900% markup? Get outta here. Seriously, I pity anyone who pays that much for alternative cover art and expects the comic to somehow retain that value in the coming years, either commercially or for themselves.
And I don't mean any of this in a "high-and-mighty new comics suck" kinda way, even though it probably seems that way. I guess major-publisher superhero comics (specifically) have taken a direction in terms of format, content and presentation that doesn't stack up in terms of overall value compared to books produced over 40 or 50 years ago for me, as a reader and a collector.
For $49, I can get a Blackest Night variant cover, or Doctor Strange #169 in VF condition. For me, there's no contest here.
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Enthusiast
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i would have to agree with price being a pain, but i'm not really after alot of new books. I would love to see more money's-worth coming from the major publishers, but{
1. your average writer/inker/whatever hasn't got any cheaper to keep happily employed and benefits/pay isn't cheap
2. and nowadays companies are so scared of being sued over stupid things that they keep multi million dollar attorneys on retainer.
3. While printing supply prices skyrocket they have to pay someone to find "better and Cheaper Stuff" (like the Snapple Commercial)
I wouldn't expect it to get any cheaper. Especially considering How many people are involved with these books now days. How many departments and development phases does a book have to endure before it even hits a press??? I hope this ranting seems to make some sense.
I guess my bottom line is with so much (over)development and (over)hyping there's a letdown when it comes to what you get for your money.
Somewhere from the LCS or where-ever you get your books, to home and having read your new prize ultimatley you decide whether it was worth it. For me it's about 50/50. that's my 2............ cents that is
tim the tim
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Elite Collector
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expander (10/31/2009)
I wouldn't expect it to get any cheaper.
Nothing gets cheaper. Even prices of fluctuating thing like gas trend up.
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4192 Legacy Posts
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As for the pricing, I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that dropping the comparatively expensive paper they use now (which used to be reserved exclusively for things like graphic novels) for a less opulent material will increase the cost to consumers,
I have a friend that publishes and according to him, the cheaper quality paper actually ends up costing about the same as the more nicer paper, so the small difference in cost is more than offset by the look of the quality of the final product. I t might not increase the cost overall, but it won't reduce it either.
Aaron
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Elite Collector
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thatjerk (10/31/2009)
As for the pricing, I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that dropping the comparatively expensive paper they use now (which used to be reserved exclusively for things like graphic novels) for a less opulent material will increase the cost to consumers,
I have a friend that publishes and according to him, the cheaper quality paper actually ends up costing about the same as the more nicer paper, so the small difference in cost is more than offset by the look of the quality of the final product. I t might not increase the cost overall, but it won't reduce it either.
One of the reasons they originally switched paper was that the "old" newsprint paper was more expensive than the glossy stock. Just because IN THE PAST the glossy stock was more expensive doesn't mean that it is now. It is a widely used paper now in all sort of publications.
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Elite Collector
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jesjet1969 (10/18/2008)
I get a fantastic discount on my comics including bagged and boarded. however even with that its getting very tough. I stopped collecting nascar diecast, which is about $40.00 a pop. So i could continue buying what I want but at sometime I will have to slow down some. When you start seeing the STILL ONLY 2.99 then I will start worrying. right now I get a new issue if its $2.99 for 1.95 3.50 for $2.25 and buy all my back issues from half price books. Who right now is buying a lot of the LCS back stock. Jesse James I love it, "Still Only $2.99!" That was a good laugh, JJ, would be funny if Marvel did that again. Or maybe it wouldn't, since the price would probably jump to $4 a copy. Yeah, prices are a bit steep right now, but so long as they stay this price for a good long time I'll be hip. Comic book companies gotta look at new ways to make comics affordable, different paper and ink, whatever... just keep it at $3 a copy for the next 50 years and I won't complain.
.I wont lie, shinedown's version is good, but Lynyrd Skynyrd's is what Jesus, Chuck Norris, Chesty Puller, Ronald Reagan, and my Father listen to every morning when they wake up. -'bobthebanshee' on Skynard's 'Simple Man' (an all-time favorite)
 Slaymaster's Master List  http://www.comicspriceguide.com/world/default.asp?m=slaymaster
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Enthusiast
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Frankly, the cost of comics hasn't changed any.
In 1992!, for Battle Angel Part One, # 1, I paid $2.75.
In 2010, for Uncle Scrooge #387, I paid $2.98.
Even the price of manga is a better deal.
Blade of the Immortal #22 had 7 parts and it cost $19.99.
If it had been published as individual issues, then it would've cost $21.00, at least.
Not a lot of savings, but Blade is on the high end. The exception basically.
Take something like Bleach. #28 cost $7.95 and you got nine chapters. That's priced way below what individual comics would cost, if Bleach came out that way.
What's really changed between now and then is the issue of extra covers per issue, the compilation albums, and all the reprinting of just about everything which was sitting in the vaults, where nobody could read it because it was to expensive to get any of it.
I think we're dealing with a shear amount issue, because there is so much out there every week, and so much of it is good enjoyable stuff.
Expensive or not, it's better than meth.
gallyangel
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Forum Sensation
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Last week I made a purchase of 11 comics and it cost me $66.75AU ($60.26US)...That felt expensive :x
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Elite Collector
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Set 0ne (1/23/2010)
Last week I made a purchase of 11 comics and it cost me $66.75AU ($60.26US)...That felt expensive :x
What were you buying that cost you $6 a book? Even with exchange that seems a bit high.
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