$2.99.

40¢

Exactly what I think too. I recall a few years back I decided to try to get back into one of my favorite team books, the Avengers. The first issue I picked up to try to get back into it they were trying to figure out which one of them was a Skrull. And some evil chick was going to destroy Earth, of course. It took like three or four issues for Dr. Strange to do some black magic whatever to figure out none of them were a Skrull. It took three or four issues to tell a story that, back in the 70's and 80's, would have taken a full issue, if that much.

And three bucks a comic? Shoot, I gave up trying to keep up with them after that. All the Marvels I was picking up were pretty well padded with extra fluff to stretch out the stories over several issues.

I'm not defending the whole stretch-a-story-out-for-the-trade-collection trend, by any means... but a lot of those self contained stories were pretty simple. Not saying they were necessarily bad, but a lot of them wouldn't really fly with today's comic audience. Maybe that's part of the problem. While I'm sure there were many examples before them, I think Claremont's X-men and then Wolfman and Perez's Titans really clued me into continuity in comics, as opposed to self-contained comics. The self contained stories were great when I was only getting a random issue here and there, but when I started collecting every month, that's where it was at.

A similar thing happened with cartoons and tv shows... before, every episode would be self-contained, with maybe a few two-episode plots. Now I prefer ongoing series with carefully interweaved plots spanning seasons.

The problem with that, of course, is the barrier to entry for someone new. I have no idea how someone can watch, say, this season of Lost, and follow along without watching the other seasons. Just like I have no idea how someone can really follow an issue of X-men these days. I just read Carey's X-Men Legacy series, and it's like an homage to every single X-event ever... cool for fans that can follow along, but no way someone can pick it up and enjoy it. It's not even about the X-men, it's about Professor X...

And that's really the problem. The superhero comicbook fanbase is diminishing, is resistant to change, and wants heavy, heavy continuity, which is a barrier for new readers. Publishing costs go up as the number of issues sold goes down, so the comics become more expensive and give much less "bang for the buck" than other forms of entertainment. So the publishers start milking the existing readers with all these crossovers and special covers and whatnot, until the well runs dry. Luckily, superhero projects in other medium, especially film, helps to prop up the industry, and licensing iconic characters helps to draw in money.

The hope is that kids who enjoy "Batman: the Brave and the Bold" will get interested in the diverse cast of characters, and somehow find an appropriate gateway comic to the medium, maybe when they're older and have more disposable income.

Sorry for the largely off-topic rant. I don't remember how much my first comic cost (as my mom was buying them) but I do remember 75 cents being the norm when I started taking notice of the price.

I will stop you right there...there were plenty of longer story arcs that comics told back in "the day" and they still managed to get more story telling in one issue than what I've read recently. And they didn't really think of story lines that would fit into one tidy trade paperback, either. So you could find longer story arcs with more quality content. More bang for your 60¢, for sure.

I guess we should clarify... which comics?

Seems like you were reading Bendis's New Avengers comic... I can't really defend it, because the book has turned to complete crap in the trades I've read recently. I can't imagine what it's like to read monthly, and go for a whole year reading side stories about the skrull invasion, instead of, you know, the Avengers.

But I've been reading a lot of DC's Showcase Presents, and while I enjoy stuff like Barr and Aparo's Batman and the Outsiders, some of the plots are pretty bad and/or simplistic (and there's definitely a lack of subtlety). It's hard for me to tell, though, if it's because I'm reading a ton of issues in a row and they weren't originally meant to be read that way. Even recently rereading the excellent Legion of Superheroes "an Eye for an Eye" arc, which I loved as a kid, it seemed like it was rushed through... but I think it's mainly because I'm not eagerly waiting for a month to get the next issue.

I guess that's the reason I go trade-only for modern Marvel... if they're going to tell a story like that and screw the monthly reader, then why should I pay for it monthly?

Funny you mentioned that show. My soon to be 5 year old loves that show and watches it religiously along with Ben 10 and other Cartoon Network stuff. We recently found a new Cartoon Network comic at a bookstore with Ben 10 in it and I bought it for him ($2.50!). It wasn't really large but it at least had several different stories in it.

Cut to last Saturday. After T-ball practice, I told him we would go to the local comic book store to see if we could find anymore Ben 10 or Pokemon comics. This store is at least a little child friendly by having a small section devoted to kids comics. They had no Ben 10 or Pokemon but had the brand new issue of Batman: The Brave And The Bold and he was excited. Only thing was it cost $2.50 for just this normal sized comic book. They had issue #2 as well, but we passed and walked over to their 50 cent section.

There were at least 6 or more long boxes of various comics all for 50 cents each. These were not old dusty rags but mostly comics released in the last few years. I bought him a Voltron ($2.95 list), a new Captain Carrot (!!! I was more excited about this one more than he, I must admit. $2.99), Spider-man Family (a giant 104 pages $4.99), a Transformers ($3.99) and the Superman Returns adaptation ($6.99...that was for me). All of these for $2.73 after tax. Buying these new would have cost us almost $24 after tax!!!

That's just retarded. So instead of buying some new releases, we just went to the gimme spot and went home with comics that some sucker paid that much for just a year or so ago. That's crazy and there is no way the comic industry can last like this.

Some things to consider if anyone in the comic industry is reading this: You guys need to release some cheapos for the children of today because they don't give a shit about bent corners and glossy paper. The ones I bought him last week are already adorned (by my son) with stickers on the cover, various small tears, and just an all-around "I don't care what it looks like, just read it to me at bedtime" attitude. Hell, i bought him a box of old comics from the 70's and 80's for practically pennies the other day and those are the ones he likes the best. He doesn't even give a crap about the glossy covers and fancy colors. He likes the ones with the thread-bare newsprint of yesterday...which kinda even boggles my mind.

With that in mind and knowing how they are going to be treated, why the hell would I spend $25 on 5 comics for a young child?

And you also need to consider that some parents just are going to not buy them at all because they don't want to get their kids into a costly hobbie. My Dad thought nothing of buying 3 comics for a buck for me when I was a kid. You better believe I take pause to spend 10 bucks for those same three comics now. Do I want to get him into a hobbie where the price is just going to keep going sky high and he will want to blow all of his (and my) money on these things. I think not.

One question: I can understand the thoughts behind independents not being able to reduce their prices. But since Marvel and DC are still in direct competition with each other, why hasn't one tried to cater kids to keep up with the market of the future? Why not release some regular dollar books aimed at kids with no-named artists on cheapers paper with cheaper inks or whatever.

Why doesn't DC kid's line (called Johnny DC for some reason), cater more to this market? Their Johnny DC line consists or Super Friends, Cartoon Network, Tiny Titans, Brave & The Bold, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, etc. Why the hell do these kinds of books cost $2.50 or more? I can't imagine that many adult or teen comic book fans actually giving a shit about these and buying them to collect???

And you can get a used car for half the price of a new car if you wait a couple years.

If that's the best response you could come up with, I guess you missed the point of my post entirely. Enjoy the internets!

The impression I get from Johnny DC (though I haven't looked closely) is that it's still, largely, something for adults to enjoy, as they seem to have at least a few continuity jokes that would fly right over the heads of kids. Not sure, though.

The dollar bins have always been around... it's just that now, a lot of stuff gets "dollared out" because the trades come along and completely devalue some comics. I was listening to an old episode of Comic Geek Speak, and they were talking about how for series they weren't that interested in reading, they would just wait for the next convention and get month-old books for a dollar.

I believe (not entirely sure) that Marvel publishes magazines with some comics in them that are distributed at news stands and magazine racks. I know they have digests, which are small collections of issues that range from 6 to 10 bucks. Viz publishes a monthly anthology of popular manga titles (like Naruto) for 7 or so bucks, and that gets on news stands.

As for cheap dollar books... you'd think they could do this for reprints, but I think (not sure) that the shipping costs for the comic book shop would still be pretty high, and the return on investment, even if they sold out, is not as good as a higher priced book for the same shipping price.

Same here.