How Is That Line Holding At $2.99?

Alwaysjammer

Two years ago, DC launched a new initiative, Drawing The Line or Holding The Line At $2.99.

After a series of 22 page comics had risen in price to $3.99, while some remained at $2.99, DC decided to make a difference. Their monthly comics would become 20 page comics, all at $2.99. With the New 52 Relaunch, this stuck, though some titles with extra pages would be $3.99. After a little jiggling about, the standard set in, 32 page comics with 20 page stories for $2.99, 40 page comics with 28-30 page stories for $3.99, often a 20 page main story and a back up story.

But inflation, however low, would only allow such a situation to be maintained for so long.

In June, DC launched Superman Unchained as 32 pages for $4.99 and Batman/Superman #1 as 32 pages for $3.99. We’ve learnt since that Superman Unchained includes a four page foldout which may add extra content, but two dollars extra? Maybe it was a solicitation error…

It seems not. In July, it’s spreading.

Solicited as 32 page comics (read 22 pages of story) but charged at $3.99 are Justice League Of America #6, Justice League Dark #22, Superman Unchained #2, Batman/Superman #2.

All the other $3.99 titles are solicited with having 40 pages, or 28-30 story pages.

There’s a pattern here of the most popular titles gaining the price rise while keeping the story content low, while less popular titles stay at $2.99 for 20 pages or $3.99 for 28 pages.

Obviously we will know better when the titles ship. Maybe the new $3.99 books will have 22 pages as Marvel titles generally do?
bleedingcool.com/2013/04/08/how-is-that-line-holding-at-2-99/

CaptShazam

Look at the recently released March sales numbers. The first $2.99 title is not found until # 19 on the list (Green Lantern). 33 of the top 50 books are above $2.99. The month had a sales increase over last month and a 22 plus percent sales increase over a year ago.

$3.99 is the the brief future because on some level the market is bearing it. People still seem willing to pay higher amounts so the companies are going to charge the higher amounts. DC has done it the smart way and gradually introduced the price increase so that there is no mass outrage and people slowly accept it. 3.99 is just a speed bump on the way to $4.00 plus books.

Is this good for the future of the industry? Doubtful, but the publishers have rarely cared about the long term health of the business. Short term profits is the name of the game.

BlackUmbrella

This is why their second tier books can't survive. The prices cause you to pare down to only the very best books. I'm happy to wait for prices to drop on digital, so I rarely pay those prices anyway. But you can only spend so much every month, whether you get 12 books or only 8 for the money.

Alwaysjammer

BlackUmbrella said:

This is why their second tier books can't survive. The prices cause you to pare down to only the very best books. I'm happy to wait for prices to drop on digital, so I rarely pay those prices anyway. But you can only spend so much every month, whether you get 12 books or only 8 for the money.

that is very true!

CaptShazam

BlackUmbrella said:

This is why their second tier books can't survive.

Does DC even really care anymore about their second tier books? They have to know on some level that a lot of these books are failures before they even start. Maybe they hope for a unexpected hit but they probably just like the #1 issue short term profit.

I think there are around a dozen titles under 20 thousand in monthly sales at DC ready for the axe but there is just not enough replacements available. Especially with the amount of titles floating in the 20 to low 30 thousand sale mark that are just months away from dropping to axe level status.

Another reboot is just around the corner. (IMO)

Torchsong

If we pay it, they're more than happy to charge it. Bottom line.

Wouldn't it be fun if they made a $3.99 book with lackluster art and writing about a top-tier character and nobody bought it? Let me know when that happens.

Until then, open your wallet, bend over, and try to think about England... :)

mwhitt80

Ugghhhh.

jaydee74

Wait. @Torchsong why think about England? Anyway, I don't buy $3.99 books. There are books that cost that much that I would love to read but I'm not supporting those books the only way I know how. Besides, there are plenty of good books that are $2.99 that I buy and enjoy so I still have that.

Chuck_Melville

It's a losing battle. I fully expect all of the rest of DC's line to go $3.99 within the next year or so, if not sooner. The real battle then will be keeping them from going to $4.99.

John_Steed

there will always be sales - just takes a bit of patience 8->

fredzilla

I've noticed that most of my monthly books have been whittled down to just a few titles. My regular floppies are just Batman, Daredevil, Superior Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, and Star Wars. I'll try some others here and there, but I only get my physical books from DCBS and thus never pay full price anyway. Everything else I purchase is in trades.

I've now begun to scale that back as well. I didn't get sucked into AvX and figured I would just pick it all up in the trade--until I saw what it cost at my LCS ($75!). There's also this thing called a library where you can usually find a lot of stuff without having to pay a dime (unless you return it late...). I've been able to read plenty of stories this way. Even if your library doesn't have a large graphic novel/comic section, most libraries do inter-library loan. Patience is all you need. ;)

At some point this bubble will burst, just as the housing market did, and the publishers will find out real quickly how dispensable their product is. Yes, I know the argument that comic purchases go up in times of trouble, but they can afford it now because of the boon that superhero geekery has in pop culture. No one is forcing anyone to purchase outrageously priced books. The books are only worth what people will pay for them, and most people seem to be willing to pay that price.

Chuck_Melville

fredzilla said:

There's also this thing called a library where you can usually find a lot of stuff without having to pay a dime (unless you return it late...). I've been able to read plenty of stories this way. Even if your library doesn't have a large graphic novel/comic section, most libraries do inter-library loan. Patience is all you need. ;)

The library really doesn't help me very much, since they won't let me keep the books. They're almost as bad as the digital comics in that regard. Worse, because you can actually touch the comics in the library.

fredzilla

Chuck_Melville said:

The library really doesn't help me very much, since they won't let me keep the books. They're almost as bad as the digital comics in that regard. Worse, because you can actually touch the comics in the library.

I can see that as a valid point. I suppose this raises the issue of price versus purpose. Are you buying the book to collect it or to read it? I would say that as a collector, you beholden to the price you're ultimately willing to pay. There was a time when I was just like that. But as I've seen enough American Pickers/Pawn Stars/Storage Wars/Toy Hunter shows, and as I look at the ever encroaching collection I have amassed, I know that my stuff will never bring me the amount I would be willing sell it for. Instead I've had to train myself to focus on one or two titles to collect and the rest I just purchase to read. This is usually the only place I spend my entertainment money so I can live with this arrangement. I know a lot of people aren't like that and that's okay.

Chuck_Melville

fredzilla said:

Chuck_Melville said:

The library really doesn't help me very much, since they won't let me keep the books. They're almost as bad as the digital comics in that regard. Worse, because you can actually touch the comics in the library.

I can see that as a valid point. I suppose this raises the issue of price versus purpose. Are you buying the book to collect it or to read it? I would say that as a collector, you beholden to the price you're ultimately willing to pay. There was a time when I was just like that. But as I've seen enough American Pickers/Pawn Stars/Storage Wars/Toy Hunter shows, and as I look at the ever encroaching collection I have amassed, I know that my stuff will never bring me the amount I would be willing sell it for. Instead I've had to train myself to focus on one or two titles to collect and the rest I just purchase to read. This is usually the only place I spend my entertainment money so I can live with this arrangement. I know a lot of people aren't like that and that's okay.

I buy comics so I can enjoy them, and a part of that enjoyment is the collecting -- being able to locate a long-missing issue in order to complete a run is a thrill unlike any other. And I like to be able to haul books out on a whim and read through twenty-five or thirty at a time anytime I feel like it.

I know there are folks who are casual readers, who just read the books once or twice and then discard them. I've never understood that. That just feels so wrong to me. I paid my very hard-earned dimes, nickels and bills for each of those comics in my collection and I expect to get a lifetime of enjoyment out of each and every one of them before they crumble into dust.

jaydee74

Chuck_Melville said:

It's a losing battle. I fully expect all of the rest of DC's line to go $3.99 within the next year or so, if not sooner. The real battle then will be keeping them from going to $4.99.

You're probably right on that and when it does happen, my spending habits will absolutely change. I get a handful of books now and all of them are $2.99. If that changes and all DC and Marvel books become $3.99, I can see myself getting even less books if not stopping all together. I enjoy my books but not at that price and I am slowly getting priced out of the hobby which is really a shame but I guess I always have my back issues to fall back on. I could see myself simply getting Green Lantern titles though if all books became $3.99.

Chuck_Melville

jaydee74 said:

Chuck_Melville said:

It's a losing battle. I fully expect all of the rest of DC's line to go $3.99 within the next year or so, if not sooner. The real battle then will be keeping them from going to $4.99.

You're probably right on that and when it does happen, my spending habits will absolutely change. I get a handful of books now and all of them are $2.99. If that changes and all DC and Marvel books become $3.99, I can see myself getting even less books if not stopping all together. I enjoy my books but not at that price and I am slowly getting priced out of the hobby which is really a shame but I guess I always have my back issues to fall back on. I could see myself simply getting Green Lantern titles though if all books became $3.99.

You just have to adapt. If I was really going to be upset over the increase of prices, I'd have quit buying comics when they went from a dime to twelve cents. (Yes, I really have been reading them that long.) Inflation is a sad fact of life. I'll be cutting back the number of books I get according to the amount of 'free money' I have to spend on them, but I'm not going to be stopping just because the price goes up. Fortunately for me, DC has been making it much easier for me to choose which books I'll be cutting from my buy lists, so all is well with the world.

jaydee74

I never said I would quit comics all together. In my first sentence, I said that my spending habits would absolutely change. I get about 10 monthly titles at the moment and all of them are $2.99. Let's say Marvel and DC change things next month and now all of their books became $3.99. I would probably slash my list to about 4 or 5 books. That would be better for me at that price and I could deal with paying that much if I got less books. I remember buying my books for about seventy-five cents to a dollar. (I'm an old comic book buyer but like I say about a lot of things, I older than some but not as old as others) Life is about adapting and changing and that includes comic buying habits and the ever-changing of prices. Nobody likes it but it's just a thing that happens.

kfreeman

My golden rule--if a book goes to pot, even if it has your favorite character in it, drop it like a hot potato. That's the only way you are going to send the powers that be a meaningful message.

In a similar light, if you aren't getting "x" amount of enjoyment from a book that costs "x" dollars, drop it too.

Use that freed up cash to try something new. You might like it better than that original book.

jaydee74

It's a good rule to have.

Planeis

CaptShazam said:

Look at the recently released March sales numbers. The first $2.99 title is not found until # 19 on the list (Green Lantern). 33 of the top 50 books are above $2.99. The month had a sales increase over last month and a 22 plus percent sales increase over a year ago.

$3.99 is the the brief future because on some level the market is bearing it. People still seem willing to pay higher amounts so the companies are going to charge the higher amounts. DC has done it the smart way and gradually introduced the price increase so that there is no mass outrage and people slowly accept it. 3.99 is just a speed bump on the way to $4.00 plus books.

Is this good for the future of the industry? Doubtful, but the publishers have rarely cared about the long term health of the business. Short term profits is the name of the game.

Hard to say where the price could go where people would genuinely stop buying the characters they wanted. Hard to imagine paying the price for one comic book that you could get one paperback novel for. I know, the comic has art, which is why we like them. But sometimes the art isn't even all that enjoyable. Sometimes its awesome, but at the end of the day I mainly buy for the stories. Hard to justify $4 plus for something that takes 10 minutes to read.

Planeis

John_Steed said:

there will always be sales - just takes a bit of patience 8->

or people selling their collections on ebay....

or doing what I mainly do, go to the library. Thankfully I live in a somewhat metropolitan area that appears to have possibly more than our fair share of comic lovers because libraries always seem to have a lot.

Planeis

Chuck_Melville said:

fredzilla said:

Chuck_Melville said:

The library really doesn't help me very much, since they won't let me keep the books. They're almost as bad as the digital comics in that regard. Worse, because you can actually touch the comics in the library.

I can see that as a valid point. I suppose this raises the issue of price versus purpose. Are you buying the book to collect it or to read it? I would say that as a collector, you beholden to the price you're ultimately willing to pay. There was a time when I was just like that. But as I've seen enough American Pickers/Pawn Stars/Storage Wars/Toy Hunter shows, and as I look at the ever encroaching collection I have amassed, I know that my stuff will never bring me the amount I would be willing sell it for. Instead I've had to train myself to focus on one or two titles to collect and the rest I just purchase to read. This is usually the only place I spend my entertainment money so I can live with this arrangement. I know a lot of people aren't like that and that's okay.

I buy comics so I can enjoy them, and a part of that enjoyment is the collecting -- being able to locate a long-missing issue in order to complete a run is a thrill unlike any other. And I like to be able to haul books out on a whim and read through twenty-five or thirty at a time anytime I feel like it.

I know there are folks who are casual readers, who just read the books once or twice and then discard them. I've never understood that. That just feels so wrong to me. I paid my very hard-earned dimes, nickels and bills for each of those comics in my collection and I expect to get a lifetime of enjoyment out of each and every one of them before they crumble into dust.

For me it was the first time I moved. I had boxes and boxes. I looked at them and was like, "ok... some of these I care about. The others I have not looked at or thought about in a long time." The ones that hadn't even crossed my mind I either sold on Ebay or donated to friends/library. The ones I liked I kept. Then the next time I moved the "kept" file got smaller... and smaller... and smaller.

I just had to run a long errand for work and was listening to this podcast The After Disaster, where they were talking about the emotions we get ourselves wrapped up in over objects or things from the past. Thats how I use to feel about comics and magazines (had boxes of ESPN and Motor Trend too). Made me think about how I need to go into my overcrowded basement and get rid of some stuff. It is painful, but in the end I've found it very freeing.

Planeis

"Fortunately for me, DC has been making it much easier for me to choose which books I'll be cutting from my buy lists, so all is well with the world."

ZING!

jaydee74

For me, it's really a matter of "Is the price worth the money I shell out?" There are books out there that I would love to read on a month to month basis but the price point really just doesn't work for me so I don't get it. It's a thing for both Marvel and DC. There are a few $3.99 books that I think are good but just not good enough at that price.