If comic prices dropped to $1, would you spend more than you currently do?

[modfather]

I just started collecting again, and yes, the $3-$4 price tag is a killer. But I honestly believe that if comics were $1 each, I'd spend more per month than I currently do. I guess the logic is: I go nuts when looking at comics - I'm always in the mood to take a chance. I'd likely spend MORE per month if they were $1, as I'd feel like taking a chance would be worth the $1. Anyone feel likewise?

[The Bus]

I look forward to your harrowing report on the price elasticity of demand in comic books.

[cultshock]

I only buy trades and HCs at this point, but if comics were a buck, I might actually pick one up once in a while just to see if there's anything new I may like. As it is, I haven't bought any new issue of a comic in nearly 15 years and absolutely refuse to at current cover prices (I buy plenty of TPBs and HCs though).

[dx23]

I look forward to your harrowing report on the price elasticity of demand in comic books.

I actually would love to see that too. And I'm being serious.

[Groucho]

What is the current average cost to print a comic book?

[reverie]

I think I misunderstood the poll.. I clicked spend the same, because I'd pick up more titles, but probably spend about the same. So I guess I should have clicked "spend more" (realizing this seeing the results).

As it is, I'm pretty much set to make the transition to trades-only soon enough.

[DvDDan]

i used to be an avid comic collector, have all the x-men from #1 on and all the x-force from #1 on. I stopped collecting because I won't pay 4 dollars for a comic that is half advertisements.

[fujishig]

I think I misunderstood the poll.. I clicked spend the same, because I'd pick up more titles, but probably spend about the same. So I guess I should have clicked "spend more" (realizing this seeing the results).

As it is, I'm pretty much set to make the transition to trades-only soon enough.

Now I'm confused. I thought the poll was saying would you spend more, despite comics being cheaper. Meaning that if you chose to spend the same, you'd get 3 to 4 times more comics at 1 dollar, but you still wouldn't exceed your current budget.

If you'd spend less, I guess that means you'd pick up the same number of comics, and that price is not really the factor, but quality. If you'd spend more, I guess that means that you'd pretty much go buck wild in buying more than 4 times what you currently buy.

Of course, if comics were a buck they would probably be 15 pages with ads on disintegrating paper. :)

[mlemmond]

I haven't bought an actual comic book in a long time (years) but I do buy TP's sometimes. I'm looking at getting some of the Omnibus's and Absolutes as well. If the prices on comics dropped I might be tempted but comics just don't store on a shelf real well.

[GenPion]

I hardly ever buy comic books now. If they were $1 each, I'd buy a lot - and I do mean A LOT of comics. I would probably make weekly trips to the comic shop to buy them up! So spending would definitely increase, at least for me.

[Patman]

Nowadays, my problem is time, I simply don't make the time to read even my ever-growing pile of comics (so I'm behind by about a month on current titles, and even longer on other titles that I quit collecting), and my reading list keeps dwindling as the $3.99 titles become more prevalent.

[madcougar]

I stopped buying comics about a year ago. Completely. Didn't have the time or money. But to answer your question, if they were a buck, I'd happily dive back in - so more money as anything would be more than $0.

[fujishig]

Thinking about it a bit more, I voted that I'd spend more.

I already spend a bunch of money on comics, mainly trades, but I'm running out of room and am cutting back. I think the dollar pricepoint would lead me to try more series if only because that would mean that, in my mind, the comic would be more disposable, like a magazine, that I could give away over time. Right now, comics have very very little resale value, but they're a bit too expensive for me to just collect a bunch of them and then give them away when I'm done with them. So now I just blind buy collections that I think I'll like, and miss out on a bunch of stuff unless someone recommends it to me.

If they were a buck, I'd probably buy a bunch a month, then get the trades of the ones I truly liked, and give away the rest on an ongoing basis. In fact, if it wasn't so painful to read comics on a screen, I'd go for some kind of digital distribution option at around the same pricepoint or at a subscription price to try new stuff out.

[Josh-da-man]

What is the current average cost to print a comic book?

About ten years ago I remember hearing that it was something like $0.10 to $0.20 per book. The actual per-unit costs vary by the size of the print-run.

I would expect that it would somewhat higher now as printing costs have increased (you hear this from all corners of publishing) and print-runs have decreased.

[boredsilly]

Y'know, I honestly don't know if I would. I'm such a fan of the format of collected, that I'm almost completely over the monthly format.

[brayzie]

3.99 is too much now.

2.99 was bad but it went up from like 2.25, 2.50 so it was more gradual.

But a dollar jump to breaking a $5 bill for comics that are constantly delayed and with storylines that needed checklists to follow...nah, I'm good.

I don't mind paying a little extra for indie books as long as there really good. But for the mainstream stuff it's not worth it. On top of that, they usually put the really good covers as "variants" that stores charge alot extra for becuase of their limited print run.

I'm pretty much out of regular comic buying except for the rare, occasional comic shop stop when I'm in the area. Even then I usually walk out with one comic from the back issue bin.

[davidh777]

I might spend more considering I buy hardly anything right now; I might be inclined to try something out for a buck. But my long-term spending/storage plan doesn't really accommodate a lot of floppies.

[yellowlt4]

I have thousands of comics in my collection but when it hit 2.99 for a poorly written, advertised ridden peice of garbage that was delayed and required you to read 3 other (just as crappy) titles just to follow continunuity...I quit! At a $1 I might buy some if I could find a few titles that weren't garbage.

[hitman tommy]

It would probably work out to less or about the same for me. My main reason right now for limiting my pull list is time not cost. If I start to hit a point where I get behind and review if there's anything I'm not enjoying and will cut it from my list. A cheaper cover price would probably keep me with the same amount of monthly books but maybe in the case of a cross over event IE: civil war then I'd probably be more inclined to pick up the books that tie in.

[jeffbase34]

I have thousands of comics in my collection but when it hit 2.99 for a poorly written, advertised ridden peice of garbage that was delayed and required you to read 3 other (just as crappy) titles just to follow continunuity...I quit! At a $1 I might buy some if I could find a few titles that weren't garbage.

Same here. I stopped reading The Fantastic Four 10 years ago when they started doing all that alternate universe crap and forcing you to read other comics. Lee/Kirby years were the best where they had great stories and kept it fun and simple.

[Josh-da-man]

I might pick up more Vertigo books, as a mediocre Vertigo title like Air or Scalped is a lot more palatable for $1.00 (or $1.50) than it is at $3.00. Then again, I generally don't buy the cheap TPBs, either, since I figure that most of these Vertigo books are going to end up cancelled anyway.

I left the Marvel and DC Universes behind for good about fifteen years ago. To be honest, I wouldn't even bother downloading pirated scans of the Marvel and DCU books and waste time reading them, so, no, I wouldn't start following the MU and DCU again.

Now, if the lower prices would inspire a greater variety of high quality work that wasn't tied to Marvel and DC superheroes, then, yes, I might end up spending more money than I do now.

[SkullOrchard]

I stopped buying comics when the price increased from .25 to .30 cents.

[boredsilly]

I might pick up more Vertigo books, as a mediocre Vertigo title like Air or Scalped is a lot more palatable for $1.00 (or $1.50) than it is at $3.00.

Wow. I haven't read it yet, but I've heard nothing but great things about Scalped. Never ever heard it called mediocre.

[dx23]

Funny thing is that today I went to Dollar Tree and they are selling a bag that contain 2 comics and a trading card for $1. They contain Marvel, DC, Image and/or Valiant issues from the 80's and 90's. I bought 20 just for the fun of it. One of the bags even had New Mutants #1. I think all companies should do stuff like this in order to get people back into comics.

[Preterite]

You might be too young to remember, but just about every Mom & Pop grocery store carried something similar at one time.

Back in the days before comic shops, retailers would actually return unsold copies of comics (and magazines and paperbacks) for credit on their next order. It was deemed too expensive to ship everything back, so stores simply had to tear the top third off each cover - the section with the title, date, and price - and send those back. (This was before the advent of the UPC code.)

Someone got the bright idea of collecting all of these returns and selling them. It was a genius move. As far as the system was concerned, these issues were already paid for, so it was pretty much pure profit. Consumers got three coverless back issues for around the cost of a single new issue. In those days, it was usually the only way to get your hands on back issues. And, yeah, it did introduce us to a lot of titles we might not otherwise have picked up.

The books were packed with two titles face out in front and back, with a "mystery" title sandwiched in-between. You looked through the racks for the characters you were interested in, then go through that stack to see which ones were packed with another superhero title visible. If you were sneaky, you'd stretch the plastic bag just enough to scope out what the third title was. Otherwise, it was a lottery when you opened the bag. A three pack of superheroes was very rare and the ultimate prize. Two superheroes with a horror title or Archie was next best. Western and war comics were much less desired. But the worst of all was when you found an Harvey title hiding in your bag - those comics were for babies!

Magazines were also sold the same way. Most were "true detective" and astrology magazines, IIRC, but it's how I got my first issues of Creepy and Eerie, and you could occasionally find Famous Monsters and "In Search Of" style forteana one-shots that proliferated in the 1970's. I think I may still have a weird little UFO magazine still up in the attic. I know I still have a bunch of coverless comics, though I've replaced most of my favorites with covered copies over the years.

You couldn't use that model with modern comics. Comics distributors no longer take returns, so there's no ready source of cheap product. And you couldn't pull three current titles at random and be sure they would be suitable for a general audience.

But Marvel has done something pretty close with its Adventures reprints. These are oversized comics with cardstock covers sold at Target and WalMart. Each one contains two issues worth of stories for a buck more than a single issue. And because they are pulled from the Adventures lines, they're appropriate for kids. I love 'em, and wish DC would do something similar. But that would mean that DC would have to publish titles that weren't about rape without being a promo for toddler toys.