When we last met in this column, I discussed the possibility of giving it up. Five dollar comics routinely top the sales charts, and the most recent round of Big Two solicitations paint an even bleaker picture. Marvel's solicits list eleven comics at $4.99, with two more at $5.99 and one at $7.99. Of course, as predicted, as $4.99 becomes an accepted "regular" price for comics, we start seeing more "special" comics at six dollars and up. DC, for their part, lists most of their books at $3.99 in their recent solicitations. This is disturbing because DC's books, prior to the Convergence event, were overwhelmingly priced at $2.99. Will that price point return after Convergence ends and DC soft-relaunches their universe? Or will they use the opportunity to catch up with Marvel in the $3.99/$4.99 pricing bucket? Just this week, we see eight five dollar comics on the stands, and that's without any from Marvel. Dynamite even has an eight dollar Red Sonja 100th issue spectacular on the stands this week.
It seems to me that the comic book industry has embraced the fact that it cannot grow its audience, and rather than attempt to price books lower and expand their readership, they are content to continually raise prices to gouge the existing readership. It's a strategy that might be profitable in the short term, but could be disastrous for the industry in the long term. Unfortunately, the short term is all that matters to corporations like Marvel and DC that need to hold quarterly shareholder meetings and show constant "growth." As a result, I think we will see $4.99 become the standard price for a lot of regular Marvel Comics by the end of this year, with other publishers following suit shortly thereafter.
So what can you do about it? Well, probably nothing. Comic book readers seem unable to resist paying five dollars or more for a comic if Marvel or DC convince them that the comic will have some sort of lasting, earth-shattering effects on their comics universe. And of course, Marvel and DC claim every comic they publish will have a lasting, earth-shattering effect on their universe. It's pretty much the boilerplate for their press releases. But, if you want to vote with your wallet, each week, I'll select some books, mostly new series, hitting stores that cost $3.99 or (preferably, but they're getting more scarce) $2.99. You can buy those, and hopefully show publishers that there's a loyal market for fairly priced books. But if ten of your friends are buying Secret Convergence Wars Ancillary Tie-In #47 for $6.99, then it's not really gonna matter either way.
Maybe this column should be called "Beat Your Friends Over the Head Repeatedly With a Blunt Object if They Try to Buy a Five Dollar Comic." That one doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well, and would probably implicate us legally, but hey, whatever it takes to make the industry a better place.
The Original Manifesto
(Reprinted from past columns - wow, did we ever believe this could work?)
In case you haven't been paying attention, let me tell you a little bit about how capitalism works in the comic book industry. Corporations like Marvel and DC don't price comics based on what they're worth. If they did, they would be priced at something like 99 cents, which would make them actually competitive with other entertainment choices like video games of movies, which provide longer lasting entertainment on a per dollar basis. Comics, which take ten minutes to read and generally contain one fifth of a complete story, which is later released in trade paperback, cost $3.99, the same price as a three hundred page paperback novel. They're priced like that not because of their value, but because that's how much you're willing to pay.
If Marvel and DC could charge fifty bucks for a comic, they would do that. They pretty much compete only with each other for a niche market that will probably continue buying mainstream superhero comics until the day they die, no matter what. With that in mind, it's easy to see the trend of how corporate comics are priced. You start out with a standard price point... say, $1.99. And then you start to put out "special" comics priced at $2.50 and $2.99. As people get used to buying these, you slowly start to shift your regular comics to that price point until, before anyone realizes it, that's just the new price of comics. Then you start pricing your "special" books at $4.99, and repeat the whole process.
This is what's going on right now. Marvel puts out nearly all their event comics and special issues at $4.99, and DC even recently tried to raise the price of the regular Batman title to that price point. And history shows that readers will not hesitate to buy these "special" comics at that price. In fact, it usually results in a massive sales boost; see DC's September gimmick month and Marvel's Death of Wolverine for evidence.
Now, obviously, you and I don't want to pay more money for comics, but as long as we will anyway, there is absolutely no incentive for Marvel and DC to not continuously hike the price. Not only is this bad for you and me, but it's bad for the industry in general. It may result in more profits in the short term, but comics are already priced out of the range where a casual reader with interest in the medium can dive in without making a major financial commitment.
So how do we stop it? There's only one way. No matter what, no matter how "special" the comic, no matter how much you want it, or how many issues you own in that series, or what it ties into, or how foil embossed the cover is, don't buy it. If no one buys five dollar comics from Marvel and DC, Marvel and DC will not produce five dollar comics. That's how capitalism works.
It's with that in mind that, every week, The Outhouse recommends five comics that you can buy this week that cost less than five dollars. If there's a super-mega-crossover event comic you want to buy this week, we encourage you to put it back on the shelf and buy one of these instead. Or any comic that costs less than five dollars. No excuses. No exceptions. No corporate comics for more than $3.99.
If there's a creator-owned or small press comic that costs more than that, that's okay. That's a different business model where the book may actually cost more to make, with smaller print runs and the lack of a major corporation to reduce the costs. We don't want to hurt creators. We want to send a message to Marvel and DC. So we're focusing this effort, for now at least, on corporate comics priced at $4.99 or higher.
We hope you'll all join us in this boycott, because if we don't all stick together, we'll all be paying $4.99 for the majority of our comics within a year of two.
Five Comics to Buy for Less Than Five Bucks
BOOM! Studios - Plunder #1
by Swifty Lang and Skuds McKinley
It's horror story set on a research vessel starring Somalian pirates. As a bonus, the creators have awesome names. Check out the solicitation:
WHY WE LOVE IT: Swifty Lang gave us a whole new look at werewolves with Feeding Ground, a terrifying tale packed with social commentary. When he told us he'd teamed up with newcomer Skuds McKinley for a story of horror on the high seas, we were all in.
WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT: BOOM! Studios and Archaia have been at the forefront of the horror comics revival, with titles like Feeding Ground, Curse, and Clive Barker's Next Testament. Plunder is the next step in that evolution, as fans of Captain Phillips and The Thing will enjoy this mix of current events-inspired adventure and supernatural terror.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: After facing off with an illegal Chinese vessel, a gang of Somali pirates tries to board what they think is a research vessel, only to find themselves in the midst of a massacre. As their worst nightmares become reality, the 14-year-old boy who went from translator to reluctant pirate not only becomes the key to survival, but must decide for himself how far he is willing to go in the name of self-preservation.
Dark Horse - Ei8ht #1 - $3.50
by Rafael Albequerque
It's an original series written and drawn by American Vampire artist Rafael Albequerque. Questionable spelling techniques aside, you can't really go wrong here, especially for $3.50. Here's the solicit:
Welcome to the Meld, an inhospitable dimension in time where Joshua, a chrononaut, finds himself trapped. With no memory or feedback from the team of scientists that sent him, he can't count on anything but his heart and a stranger's voice to guide him to his destiny.
Image - Secret Identities #1 - $3.50
by Brian Jounes, Jay Faerber, Ilias Kyriazis, and Charlie Kirchoff
This new series from Image promises "classic super-team action and intrigue for the 21st century." It also has a large enough creative team to form its own superhero team, apparently. Is it for you? Check out the solicit:
The supergroup known as The Front Line have just invited new hero Crosswind to join them. But what they don't know is that Crosswind is a mole, sent to learn all their secrets. And the Front Line have LOTS of secrets. Writers BRIAN JOINES and JAY FAERBER and the stunning art team of ILIAS KYRIAZIS and CHARLIE KIRCHOFF bring you classic super-team action and intrigue for the 21st century. Behind every mask is a secret...
Image - Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars #1
by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, and J. Bone
The rhyming creative team of Acker and Blacker bring you this comic based on their podcast, The Super Thrilling Adventure Hour. With art by J. Bone and colors by Jordie Bellaire, this book is likely to please fans of pulpy, old school science fiction. Here's the solicit:
BASED ON THE HIT NERDIST PODCAST! Shine your astro spurs and don your robot fists! Justice rides a rocket steed across the crimson plains of the fourth planet, where one man brings fear to robots and aliens...and hope to humans who make this frontier planet their home. He is...SPARKS NEVADA: MARSHAL ON MARS!
Marvel - Silk #1 - $3.99
by Robbie Thompson and Stacey Lee
I have to admit, Marvel's Spider-Man line hasn't been my cup of tea for a while, but it's refreshing to see the House of Ideas launch a book without a super-sized #1 collector's issue priced at $4.99. So if you've always wished Spider-Man had boobs, and you don't want to read Spider-Gwen, this I guess this is the book for you. Check out the solicit:
Cindy Moon exploded out of her bunker and into the Marvel Universe when we first learned that she had been bitten by that same radioactive spider in the first arc of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. She then went on to save Peter Parker's life (more than once!) and traverse the Spider-verse alongside Spider-Woman. Now, as SILK, Cindy is on her own in New York City, searching for her past, defining her own future, and webbing up wrong-doers along the way! Robbie Thompson (writer from TV's Supernatural) fills this new ongoing series with his unique blend of antics and feels. Featuring stunning covers by Eisner Award winner Dave Johnson and interiors by future superstar Stacey Lee. Rated T
Holding the Line at $2.99
Since I started this column, DC Comics has led the pack, producing mostly $2.99 comics each week. That may change after Convergence. I hope it doesn't, but it doesn't seem that the lower price point is benefiting DC on the sales charts. For now, though, DC continues to lead, with sixteen $2.99 books. Image comes in second, with five. Marvel has three, though one of them is the final issue in a shitcanned series and another is a cartoon tie-in. Dynamite and Bongo each have one $2.99 comic this week.
Stay strong, cheapskates! Don't fucking give a corporation five dollars for anything that you can consume in ten minutes today!
