Comic Prices: the Problem and the Solution

As an avid collector of comics for more than three decades, I have purchased many thousands of comic books. With my more than seven years of experience as the assistant manager of a high traffic comic book store, I know about comic prices from both sides of the register. My knowledge in the area of comic pricing is absolute and obvious, to say the least.

No new comic should be priced less than $5.99. This is the truth.

Comic books are in a clumsy period right now. They are trying very hard to be the best they can be, but their progress is being hampered by poor production values and low prices. More and more comics are emerging with superior card stock covers, paper stock and computer processing; but there seems to be a need to still print comics on inferior news print stock and with regular covers so as to keep the prices of comics down. This war between superior quality and the backwards need to print cheap comics could very well be the fall of the comics industry as we know it.

I trace the origin of this war back to Batman issues 404 through 407 and Man of Steel issues 1 through 6. DC Comics had the right idea when they printed Frank Miller’s deluxe format The Dark Knight Returns. As I recall this book had a cover price of $2.95 - a price befitting of the fantastic paper stock and cover binding used in Dark Knight. I can only imagine what kind of glorious creature the comics industry would be right now if they had kept up that pricing practice. Instead, DC comes out with Miller’s take on Batman’s origin and prices each issue at only .75 cents.

Tragically, John Byrne’s monumental exploration of the preeminent comic archetype, Superman, was also priced at a paltry .75 cents. The difference between the price of Man of Steel and Dark Knight is nearly a 400 percent mark up. Believe me, reader, the true fan knows that it is a mark up worth every penny.

When it comes to visionary pricing, Marvel has the eyesight of Matt Murdock. In an attempt to provide fans with collectible reprint editions, Marvel began printing the lush hardcover Marvel Masterworks Editions. These fantastic reprint volumes were priced reasonably at around $29.95. Now the current trend is to reprint on horrible paper stock, and sacrilegiously, in black and white.

These poor man reprints are Marvel’s Essential line and priced at merely $14.95, they are an embarrassment to the House of Ideas. Even Marvel’s new Tangled Web line has fallen victim to improper pricing. Tangled Web is priced at only $2.99. This card stock cover book, with it’s extra glossy stock should definitely be priced at $5.99.

There is far too much concern placed on comic collector’s wallets and far too little concern for the state of the industry and high quality collectibles. It’s as if comic publishers have their rules of acquisition backwards. Even if I did not get my 55% discount from being the assistant manager, I would still pay full price for top notch comics. Higher priced comics mean that retailers have to sell less books, and therefore store’s would be healthier. More expensive comics would also mean that publishing companies would have to sell less comics to meet their overhead. This again would lead to a healthier comics industry.

Ultimately the choice rests with the masses, and I fear that the wrong choice will be made. The comics industry does not need cheaply produced comics that focus on entertaining stories. We don’t need to put our best work in formats that are too accessible. What the industry needs is a robust income, and this can only be attained through greater prices and heightened production standards. The industry needs nicer looking books, not more readers of poorly produced comics.

The opinions expressed above are entirely the author's and do not represent those of Silver Bullet Comics, or any of its staff, or contributors.