Joe Q on the Potential of a Comic Book Price Hike
There has been quite a bit of talk lately about the possibility of comic books hitting the four dollar price tag and based on message board chatter this would be a very unpopular move by Marvel Comics. During Week 29’s episode of MyCup o’Joe, Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada, addressed such things as the effect the current economy has on comics and the potential for a comic book price hike.
When asked how comic books were faring in the current economic struggles Joe had the following to say.
“Honestly…I don’t know. There’s an old adage that has circulated around the comics industry for many years that I’ve heard from many creators and editors that comics do their best during economic hard times. I’ll be honest with you: I have no empirical evidence that that is indeed true. I certainly hope so, but your guess is as good as mine. I’ve heard a lot of old adages about comics that weren’t even close to being true, some of which I’ve helped disprove myself. The one thing that I know about comics is that our fan base is ravenous. and they’ll do whatever they can to get their fix. But who knows how bad our economy will actually get? That’s the great unknown.”
Regarding the potential death of the $2.99 comic book Joe had the following to say which was not an admission that the price of comics will be rising but also not very encouraging.
“I think it’s safe to say that the rising costs of everything everywhere are forcing us to evaluate pricing on a series-by-series basis. There are many things that go into the pricing of the book, but the ultimate driving force is cost. This can come from many places, from the physical material of the comic, to the shipping and distribution, to the price of talent on a book.”
“Let me leave it at this. We’re doing everything we can to insure that the largest number of customers and retailers can continue to get a large majority of Marvel Comics at the standard $2.99 price.”
With a potential price hike to $3.99 and the current economy in turmoil I can plenty of comic book fans making some serious cutbacks to their monthly pull list.
What do you think? Are todays comics worth a $3.99 price tag?
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