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Numbercrunching The $2.99 Price Point

Published Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:00:26 -0500

Both Marvel and DC announced a return to the $2.99 price point for monthly comics at NYCC. But the figures are confusing for some and the headline can often obscure the reality. Time for a Numbercrunching special…

Current DC $3.99 22 page book (such as Emerald Warriors): 18c a page

Current DC $2.99 22 page book (such as DMZ): 14c a page

Current DC $3.99 22 plus 8 page book (such as Action Comics): 13c page

Future DC $2.99 20 page book: 15c a page

Interesting the new price point will give less bang for three bucks – though it will be "core" content, not "back up".

It is worth remembering that a number of titles will retain the 22+8 $3.99 position, which remains the greatest "value" price point.

Current Marvel $3.99 22 page book: 18c a page

Future Marvel $2.99 22 page book: 14c a page

But this new price point only works on NEW series. Previously published titles will remain at $3.99 – which be the majority of Marvel's line

So for pure value, the Marvel $2.99 and DC $3.99 price points will give you the most bang for your buck. But then again, they may not be the titles you want, and as price points they will not be common.

However if you are a collector of a certain line of books, the Superman titles or the Spider-Man titles say, DC should be the one giving you overall savings. If you like to try new titles, Marvel should be giving you more for your money. But we'll have to see how this works in practice.

The other elephant in the room is reduced work for the comics industry. By moving a number of titles from 22 pages to 20 pages, and some 30 page books to 20 pages, that's a lot less pages a month to be written, drawn and read. Less work for comic creators – less comic creators. DC however expressed to me that they believe this may be a chance to get ahead on certain books and provide greater regularity for some titles. Also, many exclusive creator deals promise a certain number of pages to be completed, so those creators won't be affected at all.

And over at Marvel, as Bleeding Cool previously reported, they are talking about significantly reducing the number of titles published, again with implications for the creative community.

The January Previews listings out soon are going to make very interesting reading indeed.

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