PurpleJedi said:

...WHEN comic books cost 65¢?

I began buying comics regularly when they were 35¢.



My first ever issues of Avengers and X-Men from 1979.

PurpleJedi said:

...WHEN you could buy a gumball for 1¢?

...WHEN roadtrips meant kids looking out the windows, instead of looking up at video monitors or down at their videogames/tablets/phones?

...WHEN comic books cost 65¢?

...WHEN having a beeper was "cool"?

I remember when they cost 12 cents!

Remember when you were the youngest person on your "grown-up" job? I do...I was 18.

Now, I work for people younger than my son.

PurpleJedi said:

...WHEN comic books cost 65¢?

...WHEN having a beeper was "cool"?

.75¢ when I started reading them.

...when kids actually knew what a beeper was? My neice and nephews have no idea. In fact, my nephews never even had a flip phone.

I remember the first time I decided to go buy comic books for my kids a few years ago.

I looked at the price and suddenly I was Chris Rock;

"THREE DOLLARS!?!?! Gotdamn that's alot of money! How's about I give ya 50¢ for the first 2 pages?"

...the only coffee available came in a big metal can with Folger's, Hills Brothers or Maxwell House printed on the label? And you used a percolator or a Melitta to make it?

...when dessert was Jell-O - and you were happy to have that.

PurpleJedi said:

I remember the first time I decided to go buy comic books for my kids a few years ago.

I looked at the price and suddenly I was Chris Rock;

"THREE DOLLARS!?!?! Gotdamn that's alot of money! How's about I give ya 50¢ for the first 2 pages?"

Average price for a print copy is four dollars now. Like with many other forms of media, a lot of people are converting to digital.

sexton said:

PurpleJedi said:

I remember the first time I decided to go buy comic books for my kids a few years ago.

I looked at the price and suddenly I was Chris Rock;

"THREE DOLLARS!?!?! Gotdamn that's alot of money! How's about I give ya 50¢ for the first 2 pages?"

Average price for a print copy is four dollars now. Like with many other forms of media, a lot of people are converting to digital.

I think the big producers are trying to force consumers into digital for monthlies. They claim the constant rise in price is due to the cost of paper production, but TPB (which clearly contain much more paper) haven't seen nearly the same increase in suggested retail. In fact, they're relatively close to the same price they were as much as 15 years ago when compared to increase in the cost of monthlies.

Genesia said:

...the only coffee available came in a big metal can with Folger's, Hills Brothers or Maxwell House printed on the label? And you used a percolator or a Melitta to make it?

...when dessert was Jell-O - and you were happy to have that.

*shivers* Don't remind me! The stone age of coffee drinking. ...OK, maybe bronze age.

sexton said:

PurpleJedi said:

...WHEN comic books cost 65¢?

I began buying comics regularly when they were 35¢.

My first ever issues of Avengers and X-Men from 1979.

I started in 82, but I was buying independent b&w books that I think cost a little bit more than the average color monthly superhero book. Back then I honestly wan't paying attention to such things. My shop had an indie section and that's where I went to do my shopping.

...I could walk into almost any grocery store and pretty much know what was in what aisle. Stop with all this freaking remodeling, I swear.


...Grab Bags(chips) was a new thing.


...the guy on his back porch singing E,W & F Reasons, because the acoustics in our backyards were excellent.


...not being able to fully pull the tab off a soda can, and having to find some other way to open it.

Cerebus said:

sexton said:

Average price for a print copy is four dollars now. Like with many other forms of media, a lot of people are converting to digital.

I think the big producers are trying to force consumers into digital for monthlies. They claim the constant rise in price is due to the cost of paper production, but TPB (which clearly contain much more paper) haven't seen nearly the same increase in suggested retail. In fact, they're relatively close to the same price they were as much as 15 years ago when compared to increase in the cost of monthlies.

Do TPBs really have more paper than monthlies? Because half of monthlies are ads which are removed when collected for the TPB. So what makes up the extra pages?

sexton said:

Cerebus said:

I think the big producers are trying to force consumers into digital for monthlies. They claim the constant rise in price is due to the cost of paper production, but TPB (which clearly contain much more paper) haven't seen nearly the same increase in suggested retail. In fact, they're relatively close to the same price they were as much as 15 years ago when compared to increase in the cost of monthlies.

Do TPBs really have more paper than monthlies? Because half of monthlies are ads which are removed when collected for the TPB. So what makes up the extra pages?

You can still buy TPB with 80 on up to several hundred pages for anywhere from $10 to $30. Dividing that for by twenty pages (which is what most monthlies are now) and multiplying by anywhere from $2.99 to $5.99, I think, still makes TPB a much better deal (meaning, yeah, I think they have more pages for the cost).

Also, when all the big chains started carrying TPB it INSTANTY made them a money making product (monthlies aren't always profitable). They even use them as jump-ons and skip months now - collecting the first few issues of a new series and selling it for a low price while the writer and artists get caught up, or work ahead. And when libraries began stocking them in made them more "socially acceptable". Monthlies are definitely moving more towards digital, but trades aren't going anywhere. Not yet, anyway.

Cerebus said:

sexton said:

Do TPBs really have more paper than monthlies? Because half of monthlies are ads which are removed when collected for the TPB. So what makes up the extra pages?

You can still buy TPB with 80 on up to several hundred pages for anywhere from $10 to $30. Dividing that for by twenty pages (which is what most monthlies are now) and multiplying by anywhere from $2.99 to $5.99, I think, still makes TPB a much better deal (meaning, yeah, I think they have more pages for the cost).

Also, when all the big chains started carrying TPB it INSTANTY made them a money making product (monthlies aren't always profitable). They even use them as jump-ons and skip months now - collecting the first few issues of a new series and selling it for a low price while the writer and artists get caught up, or work ahead. And when libraries began stocking them in made them more "socially acceptable". Monthlies are definitely moving more towards digital, but trades aren't going anywhere. Not yet, anyway.

I agree with everything you said except that TPBs contain more paper so I don't think the publishers are wrong when they say the rising price of monthlies is due to increased cost of paper production.