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| Brightest Day #24 (2011) |
Yesterday, I stopped into my local comic book store and picked up the past two weeks' comics from my reserve bag. Included in the stash were the last issue of Brightest Day, the last issue of Justice League: Generation Lost, Action Comics #900, and Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1. The first two were $4.99 each, Action Comics $5.99, and Avengers Academy was $7.99! Are you freakin' kidding me with all of these jacked-up prices?! I bought the first three because they're part of the ongoing series that I've collected, but I couldn't justify spending $7.99 (really?) on the Avengers Academy book. I can honestly say that I've never seen such an expensive "regular" comic book. Even Annuals don't cost that much! I hope whatever's in it isn't integral to the regular series' storyline, because if it is, I'll never know about it. How many people does Marvel think will actually fork over $7.99 for a single comic book?
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| Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1 (2011) |
I read the Brightest Day and Justice League issues one evening. While they were enjoyable, they certainly didn't provide more excitement than a $2.99 comic. In fact, BD had several two-page spreads, so it wasn't even more story, just bigger pictures. I felt a little violated.
A few days later, I read Action Comics #900, hoping for some big revelation or big conclusion to the "Reign of Doomsday" storyline. Nope. It was just a mediocre segway story that was about the same length as a regular issue. I can't even call it a "bridge" between two other issues because nothing much really happened. If I hadn't read the story, I certainly wouldn't have been lost reading Superman or another Super-title. The additional $3 I paid for this "100 page" issue were random Superman stories that weren't part of current continuity...and weren't very good themselves.
A few days later, I read Action Comics #900, hoping for some big revelation or big conclusion to the "Reign of Doomsday" storyline. Nope. It was just a mediocre segway story that was about the same length as a regular issue. I can't even call it a "bridge" between two other issues because nothing much really happened. If I hadn't read the story, I certainly wouldn't have been lost reading Superman or another Super-title. The additional $3 I paid for this "100 page" issue were random Superman stories that weren't part of current continuity...and weren't very good themselves.
DC may be "Drawing the Line at $2.99," but I'm drawing it at $4.99. No $5.99 or $7.99 comics in my future (even $4.99 was severely pushing it!). It's time for me to re-evaluate the comics I currently read and shave a few off the list accordingly.
1 comment:
Good for you! DC did the best thing at stopping the price hike and even dropping some titles from $3.99 to the $2.99 price. I figured some jacked up prices would occur and you confirm that with Brightest Day.
I asked my local shop employee about the prices and if Marvel had responded. He said one of the Marvel suits at the Convention they hold for Retailers stated that as long as people are buying $4.99 and higher they will have those prices. I wonder how bad the economy has to get before Marvel feels the pinch? Like you say, decisions are made and sometimes books not bought.
Most comics are 22 pages out of 32 that contain story. As prices get higher one must justify the cost of 22 pages of actual content.
What is sad is that a full year before Top Cow drew the line at $2.99 and got no fanfare for doing so.
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