Got into comics back when comics used to cost 25 cents. Quit when the prices rose to $1.25 and never looked back. Got too expensive for even a working joe like me just getting out of college.

Nowadays, comics are a whole other animal. Until the comic book industry realizes that it should be kids driving the industry and not late-teens and adults, comics will never regain the readership back in its hey-day. I guess with artist salaries being what it is nowadays and production costs, it just isn't possible anymore. And, yes, it's sad that a smaller start-up comic company have to scrape for every last cent to be profitable so even they can't lower prices by much.

I think when I started reading comics, they were about $1.25, which was maybe '91-'93 or so. I distinctly remember it being shortly after they were $1.00, which was definitely in 1990.

I think $0.60 was the going price when I really started reading comics in the early '80s. I remember paying $1.25 for an issue of "Quasar" back when Spidey had the Captain Universe powers and thinking I'd never, ever pay that much for a new comic again. Here I am almost twenty years later paying $3.99 pretty routinely...

I really considered getting back to collecting comics quite a number of times over the years especially as special events happened (ex. Death of Superman, Death of Captain America) so I always hit the stores whenever big issues like these came around. Never could get myself to collect on a consistent basis though because the prices got so high. That and the fact I got hooked on collecting DVDs instead.

$1.50 / Book (late 80's / early 90's).

Hmm... early 80s, so probably around 60 cents or so. Before that I was 7 or 8 and ruthlessly addicted to MAD Magazine, Archie comics, and kids magazine like DYNAMITE or BANANAS. I still read superhero comics but not as frequently. All that changed when I picked up a DC Digest edition featuring the Legion of Superheroes, and I was insanely hooked from that point on... New Teen Titans, Legion, Infinity Inc, All Star Squadron, JLA, Superman, Batman, Jonas Hex, I was a HUGE fan of 80s DC. I wasn't into Marvel as much at the time, although I did later get into Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, and Captain America (I never got into Spider-Man or X-Men all that much).

Anyway, my first comic I remember owning was a Giant-Size treasury comic featuring various Superman/Flash races over the years. I was maybe 5 or 6...



The original is long since lost, but I recently bought another copy on eBay. It was as awesome as I remembered.

I always wanted that book, was a huge Flash fan back in the 70s. How much did it run you?

Surprisingly, not too much. I think I paid 8 bucks or something.

40 cents for Sgt Rock at the local Venture store in 1978 or '79.
Since the average price of a book became $2.99,I stopped setting foot in a comic shop.They just are not worth that price.Really,why are they so damn expensive?
"Oh,it's because paper costs more now a days".
Well,print it on cheaper paper than.

Wow, it's been awhile since I've purchased a comic book. Can't believe they're up to $2.99 or $3.99. I guess I bought my first books in the late 70's at $.25.

Timely thread. Last weekend I went to pick up some wings and had to wait 20 mins., and this new comic book store had opened right next to the place. So I ducked in to see what the kids were into these days. Lots of interesting titles and such...for $4 a piece. Shocking.

I paid anywhere from $.75 to $1.25 an issue when I collected. I could spend $10 and easily walk out of the store with 8-10 titles. Today, that would possibly give me 2. I have started thinking about just getting graphic novels, they seem cheaper and it's really the story I'm interested in anyway.

^ I'm really surprised that a new comic store would even try to make it with the current economy. Good luck to them though. (where is this, by the way??)

50¢, I think Marvel had just bumped it up from 40¢

20 cents cover on Marvel-Two-In-One #1, with The Thing vs Man-Thing. One of the all-time best comic covers, too. I actually had a shirt made of that cover, lol. I guess you know that you're a comics geek when the shirts sold in the back of Previews aren't good enough; that you need to have one made that doesn't even exist, lol.

15 to 20 cents for normal comics
50 cents for the (later on) for the "Normal Giant" size comics
$1 for the "Really Giant" comics

Man that was along time ago. Used to cut lawns, shovel snow, sell roses, trade Wacky Packages...to get enough money to buy then. To my shame I did "shop lift" a few.

Had the same one and several other (Wonder Woman, Sup vs Ali, Sup vs Spiderman, 2 LofSH, 2 Superman...), they were all GREAT bang for the buck.

Now, it would cost atleast $25 dollars new.

Great times back then, stories simple but very enjoyable!

My LCS was offering 50% off back-issue floppies so I was tempted by Superboy LSH #205, one of the 100 page Super Specials. But they had it priced at $24.75! Even at 50% off, I couldn't bite.

25 cents

40 cents cheap!

I didn't buy superhero comics until I was older. They cost $1.50 - $1.75. I was reading indy titles like Mage, Badger, and Grendel, which may have been more expensive than the majors.

My older brothers would occasionally buy comics, which I would read, and they usually had a 15¢ cover price. But the first comic I remember that I picked out was Justice League of America #101, which had a cover price of 20¢. I would have been 9 at that time.

That was the start of about 30 years of collecting and one of my last comics was Starman #80, with a $3.95 cover price, but that was an extra-sized issue. Regular comics had a $2.50 cover price. A 1250% increase over the years.

DC was still .10
Marvel, Charlton, Gold Key, & most of the "off-brand" comics were .12
Dell & Classics Illustrated were .15
Can't remember about Harvey comics since I rarely read them...probably .12

I think all of the "Giant" volumes & annuals were .25

Best of all...comics (including Golden Age) were 2 for .05 at a local used book shop (although that price was soon raised to a whopping .05@!


Good times for a beginning comic collector. The best part was the wide variety (funny animal, superhero, western, war, horror, comedy, 'realistic adventure', tv & movie adaptations, literary adaptations, true-life or 'educational' comics, etc. Something for every taste...if you were a kid.

Ditto.

Not sure the exact price but it was around 1980. The first issues I remember having is a Star Wars comic that had Lando falling off Cloud City & a Fantastic Four issue. They had to be less than a quarter. I did get several other FF comics when I was really young so I have always liked them.

In Jr. Hight when I started getting Transformers & GIJoe, the price was around 75 cents and issue. In the course of those issues, the price went up to around $1.25 for a normal issue. Recent GIJoes & Transformers are around $3.99. Damn price jumps.


Thing is, it seems you got more story back then. They could tell an entire adventure in a single issue & once in awhile, two issues. Now a days, they just drag the story out & it seems pretty hardly anything happens in a single issue. I can't remember recent comic stories that didn't take a few issues to tell.

75 cents and I stopped buying when they went over $2 about 10 years ago. I can't imagine people buy them for $3.99.

Still cheaper than dating women!