Xiroteus

Aside from price most comics are't designed very well to just pick up, read and get an entire story. Much more arc based then in the past and it makes that three to four dollars not feel as well spent if someone is only getting a chapter to a story. Comics would just have to be cheaper and done differently for kids to read them that's why I just figure new readers don't have to be kids they can be teenagers or adults however twenty somethings normally don't just start reading comics it tends to come from somewhere. I started as a kid like most readers.

I know their inflation however comic prices have increased far more then standard levels of inflation for a number of reasons. Makes it hard for adults to justify the price even if they can afford it. I do wonder what comics will be like in fifty years. Digital makes it easier to access yet they still have to seek comics out along with digital wanting too much for newer comics.

kahuna

When I was in the service I use to frequent The Little Comic Book Shop in Wahiawa. After they closed I started going to Jelly's.

Matt925

I'd guess in ten years comics won't exist outside of graphic novels. Marvel and dc only make money from movies now anyway. Things change. There aren't any more radio dramas, why should comics be any different?

exharrison

Might give everyone time to get through their to-read pile.

taffer

Yeah, comics have risen in price far faster than inflation.

Inflation calculator

Comics were 10 cents in 1940. That's equivalent to $1.67 today.

Comics were 75 cents when I started reading in 1987. That's equivalent to $1.55 today. So comics were just slightly cheaper than 1940s then.

It was 1991 when comics reached $1.00. That's equivalent to $1.72 today. This is when comics started getting expensive.

Comics were up to $1.50 by the mid-90s and over $2.00 by 2000.


I agree. Things don't last forever. The comic industry won't either. I really do believe that the comic industry will die off with my generation. In 30-40 years when all the 30-somethings alive today are old and dying, who will be left reading comics? Nobody. There aren't enough young people reading to support the industry without all us old farts around.

I believe superheroes will live on in other media like TV and movies. We are already beginning to see that transition now with the huge popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Comic books however are an old relic of a bygone era. Their time has pretty much passed.

Trevor

I've done that math here and in my head many times. It's crazy that as a kid I could find comic books in almost every other store in town, and buy five with my weekly allowance. Nowadays a kid might not even have one store within town; and only be able to afford one or two.

I'm sure the industry will survive, but it'll have to change. I'm guessing it goes more trade-oriented for awhile, they still appear to be decent sellers in bookstores; then slowly go all-digital.

davidh777

I've never heard of Jelly's, but I go to Waikiki every other year or so and hit Other Realms, which looks like it's not that far from Jelly's. I actually credit Other Realms with reactivating my comic nerdiness. I hadn't read since before college, but I went to Other Realms and discovered these magic trade paperback compilations that collected all the issues from my youth, or convenient-to-read complete stories that were new to me (Crisis on Infinite Earths). I got a couple for the plane ride home and was completely hooked again.

taffer

The problem with getting rid of single issues is that you lose advertisement revenue. Unless trades start doing ads...

I don't think comics will ever go all digital. Many people hate reading on a screen. Many people want a tangible physical product. Then there's also the fact that you don't "own" digital comics, you just "rent" them. As small as the market is now, it would be much smaller in an all digital market because I think many readers would just drop comics completely. I know I would. If comics became all digital, I would drop immediately with no regrets. And that's coming from someone who has been a lifelong reader since the 1980s. I am just that against digital. Things like the New 52 didn't get me to drop, but going all digital definitely would.

Trevor

I wonder how much revenue they really get from ads. Do the advertisers really pay them all that much? I know back in the 60s with million issue print runs it was probably proportionately high revenue, but I doubt it's much now. Plus, don't many/most comics come without ads now? Or just a couple non-house ads at least?

And if work slows down I may write an anti digital rant later....

taffer

Yeah, most ads seem to be in-house now. Still though any lost ad revenue at all has to be picked up via a higher price tag paid by the consumer. So that means even higher prices...




The thing that peeves me most about digital is how people try to claim its so much better for the environment. That's not at all true.

Trees aren't just randomly chopped down and turned into paper. People seem to have this idea that that is what happens, but it doesn't work that way. Just like there are farms where cows and pigs are raised to be turned into food, there are also tree farms where trees are grown specially to be turned into paper. We don't just chop down random forests at all. So the idea that we are killing forests to make paper products is just wrong.

Another thing to consider is that paper degrades and "returns to nature" fairly quickly. Plastic however takes a very VERY long time to degrade. All those plastic parts in our computers and tablets are very bad for the environment. Considering people generally only keep a computer for a few years before tossing it and buying a new one, that's very bad. Fifty years from now we are going to have huge landfills full of computers.

So as it actually turns out, digital is worse for the environment than paper comics...

mrhan

Here's a link to their website:

http://www.jellyshawaii.net/

The one in Honolulu is actually just a few blocks from Other Realms.The one in Aiea has a bigger selection of old books. It's behind a Ford dealer and Goodwill store. The Other Realms guys are pretty cool, too. They have a lot of old books on the wall. Their back issue bins are more recent books but overall still a good place to check out.

There are also two other stores in Honolulu that I've been to once a couple of years ago. I can't remember their names but their right around the corner from each other on 12th ave. One of them actually sells all his TPBs (new and old) for half price but most if not all his stuff is recent. The other one has this dick owner that actually raised the price on me on one book I was interested in. It was clearly marked $20 and he actually went online; went to Mile High and came back to me and said it was $30. I scoffed and walked out. I never went back. Edit: I just remembered. It's called Gecko's.

Paul_SD

This is the way I used to think.
I have always loved everything about printed media- the entire sensual experience. The smell of the paper and ink, the heft in your hands, turning it page by page...every aspect was a pleasure. And I've always loved the basic technology and craft involved in the construction of a book.
Digital comics are sterile and antiseptic in comparison.

But then I actually got a tablet and picked up one of the GIT sets and I was hooked. Yes the tablet experience misses out on certain pleasurable aspects inherent to an actual physical book. But OTOH, it has certain advantages that are substantial enough to make me want to give up book collecting entirely and sell off most of what I already own. There are several titles where I have a nice copy collected on the shelf (or bagged and boarded in a long box), but for ease of interface, would much prefer to just pull out the tablet, read the content, and then delete it until such a time (if ever) I have an urge to read it again.

And thanks to the due diligence of fans who were doing it for love, not money, there are scans available for just about every classic comic in existence. It's a shame they can't all be up to the uniform standards of the GITs...but they do exist. A good chunk are even cover-to-cover...which to me is one of the greatest things about the GITs and one reason I generally prefer to read the material that way rather than in a snazzy, remastered collection on modern paper.

mrhan

Why is the digital versions the same price as a floppy on new issues? Shouldn't it be cheaper because obviously there aren't any material/printing costs?

I remember they always printed an excuse in the comics for the higher prices every time there was a price increase; higher material costs etc. What's involved in producing the digital version to justify the same price?

taffer

I have tried reading comics on a tablet. I got the Nook HD+ when it dropped to $149. I hated it.


Honestly, I don't think material costs are really that much. Paper is cheap. Its even cheaper for a large company that buys it in massive bulk. The paper cost to make one comic would be a few pennies.

Paul_SD

Haven't tried the Nook, so I don't know how well their reader works.
How big was the screen? If it's Mac Mini sized, I wouldn't blame you for not enjoying it. The full sized tablet is just about perfect for me. Any smaller and I don't think I would be inclined to use it nearly as much.

Paul_SD

Because people are conditioned to paying a certain price point for content, regardless of the delivery system.

Back in the early 80's I remember all the press that CD technology was being given with it's roll out. One of the big selling points was how much cheaper it would be to manufacture discs, compared to vinyl, once the economies of scale were in place. Obviously that never happened.

Adam Tyner

To avoid pissing off the brick-and-mortar retailers that are still the backbone of the industry and because I think there's a fear of "devaluing" the product if it were priced more reasonably.

I love how gorgeous comics look on my iPad, and digital comics are a godsend when I'm on a long flight and don't want to pack a bunch of bulky trades. I just can't bring myself to transition to digital for my Wednesday floppies. The tactile sensation, actually going into a store where the staff know my name and know my tastes...I don't want to let go of that.

I'm old enough to remember being appalled when Marvel started inching towards $1.25 for their books and thinking that I would never, ever pay that much for a comic.

Paul_SD

I agree those are probably the primary considerations.

Good point about pissing off the retailers, many of whom are already hanging on by a slender thread.

I travel quite a bit too and spends weeks at a stretch on the road. The realization that I can finally have several long boxes worth of vintage books with me at my fingertips- in addition to a bunch of movies, TV shows, and some music all in something the size and heft of a large notebook is electrifying.

PhantomStranger

Marvel and DC have always claimed in recent decades that actual printing costs only make up about 10% to 20% of each issue's wholesale cost. I don't know how much of that is true given their size or whether it's sales propaganda for their ever-growing prices. At least that is the reason they give when explaining why digital comics are priced nearly on par with printed comics.

The problem is the creative talent behind comics these days are making more money than ever given the shrinking audience to support the medium, not to mention the bloated support staffs that companies the size of DC and Marvel carry. Classic, big-time creators in the '60s and '70s were basically making nothing for their work at the time and titles regularly sold in the hundreds of thousands per issue. It's not a coincidence that comics' pricing started outpacing inflation when the talent had a viable avenue to make money on comics outside of the big two, starting with Image. That started the bidding war for premier talent.

Xiroteus

It could be different yet it's rather unlikely because new people of any age really don't just start reading comics in their twenties for the most part.

There was that window when comics doubled in less then a decade.

As a kid I often would pick up comics in random locations until the the mid nineties when comic shops were finally around.

I love the concept of digital comics if and when done correctly. Cheaper and downloadable as I like the space they save yet I'm not going to spend that kind of money on renting comics. I'll be the odd one out saying I find it easier to read on a screen with good resolution because I can hold it easier. When reading comics I basically have a flat surface that must be used because I like my comics perfect and that's jut uncomfortable. A computer screen or tablet tends to be easier.

If ever done right (downloadable) the idea of having several hundred or even thousand comics on a device the size of a deck of cards is quite appealing to me. Something is lost in digital however the possible positives tend to outweigh the negatives for me. Having a room full of long boxes is not remotely appealing. Now a book shelf full of hardcovers would be far better then boxes while digital would save space.

What did you hate about it?

It's not all to surprising why prices have increased. Being cheaper would help sell more serious to people already buying comics yet likely not too a great enough degree to make the space or even more. People just don't seem to care. It's an expensive hobby to stay current which is why I likely hear about a lot of people waiting for lots, buying cheaper back issues etc... It's nice to have good tablet on the books we enjoy.

taffer

The Nook HD+ is 9" so its only slightly smaller than the 9.7" iPad. It also has a very high 200+ DPI so its nearly the same quality as Retina.

To me, even that is too small, especially in landscape mode for double page spreads. Plus, holding a tablet just doesn't feel the same as holding a book.

exharrison

Jim Zub cited about 80 cents for a typical $3 creator owned book with a small print run(http://www.jimzub.com/the-reality-of...-owned-comics/). Obviously, that is more than what Marvel/DC will be paying for most books. 10-20% would equate to 30-60 cents on the $3 books. Seems pretty likely in comparison.

DVD Josh

I was a large collector in my teens. Recently, I stopped by the comic book store near where I took my dogs for grooming. I had an hour to kill, and it sounded better than sitting in my car listening to Comedy Central radio play the same jokes over and over. Anyway, I was shocked to see so many $4 and $5 titles...$60 a year to read comic books per title? No f-ing way. That's ludicrous. What's funny was there was a huge box by the door that said free with purchase. Long box after long box filled with what looked like recent issues. I asked the guy how many free with purchase and he said "how ever many you want." I wish I could have bought something from the guy it was a nice store and he was very cool but I just couldn't justify it.

taffer

Yeah, comics to me are like crack cocaine. I am addicted. The price of modern comics is absolutely ridiculous, and if I wasn't hooked already I would never consider getting into them now.

I buy about 30-35 comics per month. That's at least $120 per month on comics. That's more expensive than any of my apartment's utility bills.

The Valeyard

I've reduced my monthly comic bill down to about $60 on current titles. I still spend about $20 to $40 a month on older books and supplies tho.