I’m just saying I was entertained for longer for the cost.
Back then $2 kept me entertained for an hour.
Today I’m paying $20 per hour for the same entertainment
That’s 1000% increase in the cost of that entertainment over 30 years…
Just gives some perspective on how the hobby had changed.
I’m actually very happy to hear this.
I have a circle of friends/hobbyists I correspond with often and posed this question and got crickets.
None/Zero of us knew of any kids/pre-teens coming in fresh to comic book reading for the love of reading the comic.
All us adults can argue which comics right now by DC/Marvel are well written, or well drawn or both. We can argue all day about what a good story is; what good art is; whether covers make the comics. But without new blood genuinely enjoying “the comic” for a reason other than money, the hobby’s future would not look good for sustainability.
the calculation on that is roughly 54-63 gallons to go 1/8th of a mile, but what do I know, I still like to tie an onion to my belt.
You are out west, back in college I lived in Delaware, we had gas for .70-80 cents a gallon. This isn’t “olden times” either, it was back when Clinton was president.
Bro that’s over 20 years ago. Someone born during Clinton era can vote now and may have kids of their own.
I totally get that. But before that gas was more expensive.
National Averages
1990 prices:
Gal Milk $1.30
Gal Gas $1.15
Comic book $1.00
2023 prices
Gal Milk $4.30 (+230%)
Gal Gas $3.30 (+190%)
Comic book $4-$5 (+300-400%)
A $1 in 1990 is worth $2.40 in 2023 dollars, to put it in perspective.
If comics were still priced at $2.99 or less I would think more younger kids/high school/college would be interested. $5…no way.
What I’m seeing here is I can buy milk for less than a comic now and trade milk for comics. This couldn’t possibly go wrong!
Spawn
We should all drop every title that costs $3.99 and above and just buy spawn and it’s variants.
Who’s with me?!
1/2 gallon of milk at the gas station on the corner is $5.49 right now and just yesterday the Spider-Boy kid still waiting for the next issue Dec 20th picked up Daredevil 1 thru 3 from the new series. I’ve now sold out of Daredevil #1 with that sale.
If kids want something they find a way to get it. They seem to have no trouble getting a Funko Pop for $11.99 every time they see one they want. I have kids showing up with debit/credit cards regularly and one group that weekly came in with $100 bills. I watched one buy a $49.99 Marvel Gallery Spider-man statue and then 3 minutes later in the security camera from the street I see the packaging go into the trash can mostly then him and his friends take off on skate boards and I’m thinking one wipe out and that piece of plastic from Diamond is going to be broken into a dozen small pieces.
When I was a kid, my allowance wouldn’t cover comic purchases so we worked chores and odd jobs, cut grass, shovelled snow, etc… and the reward would be to go downtown and blow it on comics, model ships, donuts and slurpees/big gulps.
Comics and gas per gallon were about the same price back then, 60 cent per gallon. Marlboro cigarettes were 75 cent a pack. Marvel put out that super expensive GI Joe #1 at a full $1.50 in 1982 and I found a way to buy a copy. They still do the same things now marking big comics up 2.5 times the cover price of their regular comics which were 60 cent cover price at the time. with comics now moving to $4.99 cover price on average, I expect in 2024 to see the first $12.50 cover price thick one hit the solicitations and the same people that have saying they’d quit or walk away since the 70’s when prices shot up from 25 cent to 60 cent more than doubling in a short time will still find a way to buy what they want. Comics have been in danger of going out of business since 1938 some say yet kids still walk in the door today and buy or get their parents to.
Kids dont know the value of a dollar…
Comic sales vary by location…
whats the name of your shop ?
I go back to the fact I still buy a lot of comics. But mostly older books. I got a stack of silver age comics for $40 this week. Bunch of Marvel and DC lower grade, but complete, comics. That’s the stuff I live for. I spend way less a week on Marvel and DC new books, still buy smaller press new comics, but my subs for Marvel and DC have been greatly decimated.
What’s relevant is it’s not the price point that’s keeping kids out. It’s more a case of lack of exposure. In 1991/1992 Marvel stopped newsstand distribution thru Curtis Distributing and in doing so removed comics from places kids would have the opportunity to be exposed to them. When I was a kid I had at least 4 different places in a small town to purchase comics from so we did. A 7-Eleven and another convenience store with spin racks. 2 different drug stores on main street with comics as part of their magazine racks. I believe the grocery store on the other end of town also carried them. When newsstand distribution disappeared, there wasn’t another place in the entire town to buy comics from 1992 until 2014 when we opened. Children grew up having never seen a comic and were having children themselves.
That’s one of the things I hope the new wholesalers lower shipping options and free shipping start to change. Any existing business can add a rack or shelf of comics into their existing inventory with low minimal investment. PRH ships for free, even a single comic. Lunar will hold your purchases until you have a specific minimum you set and ships as cheap as $11.50 a box. If you’re in a community that there are no stores, speak up to a few local businesses and drug stores and let them know they can get back in the game relatively cheaply. For a while Diamond was even promoting discounted spin racks and specials to encourage people to start their own businesses stocking smaller venues like gas stations and such. There was some paperwork you had to fill out but the overall thought is if you make it available, growth should begin to grow.
In the 70’s Marvel comics went from a quarter to 50 cent, that’s a 100% increase in price in less than 10 years.
In the 80’s Marvel Comics went from 50 cent to $1.00. That’s a 100% increase in price.
In the 90’s Marvel Comics went from $1.00 to $2.25 to 2.99. That’s almost a 200% increase in price.
Since 2014 we’re just now going from $3.99 to $4.99 for Marvel Comics. That’s only a 25% increase and far less than what has been the normal increase many of us have lived thru.
The cost of producing comics has gone way, way up. The only time I complain about the price is when they tack on a back up story and charge me an extra $1. DC started this garbage and Marvel has started doing it too. Hate it.
But, it’s more than just some books now are $4.99. GODs issue 1 was $9.99. Amazing Spidey is $5.99. Daredevil #1 was $6.99.
Cost is one thing, but paying $6.99 for a #1 issue that’s got a meh story printed on toilet paper doesn’t seem like a winning formula. Oh, and they’ll reboot that series in 9 issues so that they can overcharge for issue 1 again.
If they were written by (example) Alan Moore with artwork by (example) Berni Wrightson, I’d have no issue paying a significant crazy cover price.
Alas, those types of writers / artists are long gone. Replaced by mostly 
's and 
's
The writers Marvel employees now are mostly ones Ive never heard of…
and never will again.
At least DC has a strong track record of somewhat good writers
@BJ new comic book prices now are NOT because of inflation. Real inflation doesnt jack up prices to $6.99, $7.99, $9.99…etc.
They have a fairly standard formula. $4.99 is becoming the norm when simple normal mark ups to match prior increases over time would have the normal books at $7.99 by now instead of $4.99. Charging another buck for more pages or more expensive cover stock is fairly normal as well.
I’m grateful we aren’t at $7.99 minimum.
That GODS #1 book was $9.99 and oversized which put it fairly equivalent to what they did got GI Joe #1 in 1982 which was 2.5 times the cover price of their regular comics at the time. The math is pretty straight forward. I actually regret boycotting that one and not buying a copy for the store shelf because 2 weeks after it came out, I actually had a teenager in asking for it by name. I haven’t ordered #2 or any of the others since then. If it was up to me all comics would be a buck but that’s not going to be a reality ever again for most comics.
Ultimate invasion #1 was $8.99. It included 10 pages of sketches from the 1st issue. Why???