The Price is Wrong

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’m receiving a number of queries as to my reaction to DC’s announcing of certain titles going up in price, including my two. And implicit in the question, sometimes spoken and sometimes not, is whether I’m going to offer to write those titles for close-to-free as I did with Marvel.

The answer is, no, of course not. The two situations are not analagous.

Look, I’m not stupid. Price increases are a part of the comics business. I used to sell the things for a living, remember. But there are significant differences between the two situations. First, the DC increase covers a larger group of titles, so I’m not feeling quite so singled out. Second, DC didn’t make the announcement by saying in effect, that they were raising the prices of three titles specifically to help them limp along for another year. Instead I perceive this as simply the first stage of what will likely be across-the-board price increases for the entirety of the line. I don’t have inside info on that; it’s just a guess. Third, I’ve made no bones about the fact that making the offer to Marvel was a means of getting “Captain Marvel” noticed. And it worked. And fourth, DC higher-ups simply don’t employ the same kind of over-the-top publicity tactics that Marvel does. By openly challenging Marvel, I was using the same PR-milking tools that current Marvel management uses. Sauce for the goose, as it were. There’s no point in going publicly nuclear on Paul Levitz because it’s an inconsistent reaction to his public demeanor; it’d be tantamount to kicking Johnny Carson in the nuts. As opposed to going mano a mano with Marvel management which is kind of like engaging in a steel cage match with Dennis Miller and Bill Maher.

“Proportionate response” is the watchphrase, young PADawans. In the cases of both YJ and Supergirl, I have major storylines coming up that ideally will overcome any hesitancy generated by the price increase.

However, I think we’re going to have to face facts: The 22 page pamphlet-style of comics is a terminal format. Who the hëll would want to pay $3 for a 22 page comic? It’s insane. Sooner or later, I think companies are going to have to bite the bullet and collapse several titles together into $3.50 perfect bound titles on slicker paper with stiff covers, 32 or 48 pages, and *that* will be the regular format. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

PAD

14 comments on “The Price is Wrong”

  1. Publishers might also try moving comics online, as a pay service, in order to cut out printing and distribution costs. Although without a hard copy presence, comics are likely to slip off the radar of popular culture, and collectors would lose interest.

    I agree, though–something’s gotta give. Comics were never meant to be so expensive.

  2. Peter, what’s your opinion on CrossGen’s Compendias? I think they’re way ahead of you on the idea of collapsing several titles into one book idea, though the price and number of books are undoubtedly different than what you might be thinking.

  4. It’s getting there. I’m much pickier about which books to buy and which to let got these days than I ever was before. I wouldn’t mind an across-the-board price change, where ALL titles would cost $2.5, if I knew it was going to lasr 5 years. The bound editions is a proved, good idea. they do it in Italy, Holland, Spain, probably other places too.

  5. I don’t really read any CrossGen books, so I don’t have an opinion on the Compendia one way or the other.

    PAD

  6. I agree that the format still being used has got to be replaced sooner or later. I personally think that what should be done is to come up with a formate similar to opinion journals like the New Republic and the Weekly Standard, which are usually 40 pages at length, and slightly wider than the pamphlet.

    It’s hard to understand why Marvel and DC are taking so much considerable time in trying to make a change for real. I think that they could do it, but so far, no results are on the horizon. If we keep on discussing the whole issue though in as many places as possible, then it’s possible that we will succeed in making some changes for the better.

  8. I think that the 22 pages comic book is dead even in a creative way. Today, 22 pages give small room for tell a story with a certain weight.
    I think too that comic books of 32 or 40 pages means that we must forget the monthly cadence of the series.
    And at this point…
    Why Marvel don’t publish monthly comics of 40 pages (instead of 18 issues a year)?

  10. I think that the 22 pages comic book is dead even in a creative way. Today, 22 pages give small room for tell a story with a certain weight.
    I think too that comic books of 32 or 40 pages means that we must forget the monthly cadence of the series.
    And at this point…
    Why Marvel don’t publish monthly comics of 40 pages (instead of 18 issues a year)?

  11. I think Peter is talking somewhere between the CrossGen Compendia and the recent Marvel Must Haves that reprinted something like 4 issues for $4.95. The one I got had the Sept 11 Spider-Man, X-Men Evolution #1, and an issue each of The Hulk and Daredevil. I thought it was a great value, but I suppose they could afford to do that because they had already paid royalties once and only had to pay re-print royalties for the new version. The Compendia work the same way – reprints of several issues that have already been out in pamphlet for, bound (the Marvel Must Haves are stapled), for $10.

    I think people are more likely to blow $5 and take a chance on a magazine style book than $10 on an unfamiliar work.

    Just my 2 cents.

  12. Well I live in Brazil, and the compedia style is widely used here. gvalley mentioned some european countries, they work the same way here, for the exception of one or other title (like Spawn for example).
    They’s ve changing the formats (more in matter of size and lenght) from 5 years to now, but the “compendiun” style has always endured.
    Personally, I’m not a big fan of this style. I think that make our choice wideness more limited. One of the main reasons that attacted me to pick up american original comics – even though they are way more expensive that brazilian translated ones – is that I had more freedom on chossing what I wanted to read.
    The titles or stories reunited in one volume, some may interest me, but the rest not. From personal experience, its feels like that you’re forced to read the other stories, so you’ll feel that haven’t wasted really wasted your money, in terms.
    The compedioum format, may be economically friendlier, but I do preffer the idea of getting more pages in each book. I’ve checked some old books that I’ve acrquired since I started buying original us comics, and there are issues with 25 -26 pages as a regular montlhy book. I don’t see why that couldn’t work nowadays. Just like Sergio mentioned, why don’t marvel instead of publishing 18 books a year , deliver us 12 issues a year but with more pages each.

  13. I’ve been saying for years that the future of comics is the Prestige Format that DC pioneered lo those many eons ago with DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. This, along with a more infrequent publishing schedule — and here I disagree with Bill Jemas’s obsessive need to have 24 issues a year of [insert comic], as I don’t think demand warrants this — would serve to make comics more attractive both from a creative and a consumer standpoint. Writers and artists would have more time and space to work their magic, and Joe Comic Buyer would be able to save his pennies for something worthwhile.

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