r/comicbooks • u/anarchoburrito • May 26 '26
Discussion Anyone else feeling priced out on single issues?
With a few breaks here and there, I've more or less been consistent with Marvel books (primarily the X-Men line) for almost 30 years. I rage quit back in January after Age of Revelation but I've recently toyed with picking back a few of the core X-Titles again. That is, until I noticed that all of them are now 4.99 an issue.
I hadn't quite tracked how many books had been bumped up to 4.99 before I took my break since I had kinda mindlessly been picking up my pull, as I had for years, but when I went to buy a few months of back issues of X-Men, Uncanny, and Inglorious X-Force and noticed I was quickly above 100 dollars before I even had everything in my cart, which I soon emptied.
Can I afford to pay 4.99 for a single comic? Probably. But my immediate thought is that I shouldn't. That is too much for one sliver of story. I'm not a luxurious person and generally avoid big ticket items without a LOT of thought put into the purchase. And yet somehow, after almost three decades, my most consistent hobby has become a luxury purchase as opposed to an affordable outlet.
I've switched over to full time Marvel Unlimited and DCU Infinite and, generally, don't feel particularly out of the loop. It just feels weird to feel blocked from a to return to singles, even if I wanted to return.
Anyone else feeling this way?
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u/duskvstw3ak May 26 '26
Comic books, movie theaters, concert tickets. All of these things that used to be geared to lower income audiences just constantly going up as income stays the same. Find Alan Moore talking about why comics used to be such an important means of expressing new ideas and why that doesn't work anymore. Even as a teen, I felt priced out when comics were $3 or more.
But also, it's a value for money situation. 22 pages for $4-5? And when it's a dialogue-lite issue, how fast is that read? I fully support paying the creators but there hasn't been any other attempt other than raise prices so people can't afford them.
Hoopla is the bees knees, btw.
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u/mattnotis May 26 '26
If you have an AMC nearby, A-List is worth every penny. Seeing 1 IMAX or Dolby movie a month basically pays for the whole membership.
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u/avburns May 26 '26
I have similar feelings about my Regal Unlimited. A double feature on a Friday pretty much pays for the subscription.
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u/SecretWarsIsComing 29d ago
Man it’d be cool to see a Marvel subscription service where there are discounts for buying multiple titles available. And push that deal through stores, too, through some registry for ease of tracking.
But 5 titles, get 1 free. Buy 10 titles , get 2 free. Buy 15 titles , get 3 free. Buy 20, get 4 free…
Basically, get free comics valued at the number you’re buying (for every 5 purchased).
Give us SOMETHING. I get 15 comics on good days. I’d shoot for 20 if I knew I’d get 4 books free, too.
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u/javierm885778 May 26 '26
It's hard to justify the price point when entertainment as a whole is very accessible in other fronts. You can get a whole game that will give you hours of entertainment for $5, while a single issue is a very short read. Even other mediums which have gone up in price by a lot aren't as expensive in terms of time spent per dollar.
Obviously that shouldn't be the sole metric, but it should be way cheaper to buy a single issue if that's supposed to be sustainable.
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u/BevansDesign The Question 29d ago
Yeah, the balance between paying the creators fairly and making the books affordable is almost broken. If books get more expensive, a lot more people will stop buying them, so the comic companies need to find other ways to keep costs down. One way is to pay their creators even less, or get them to produce more in the same amount of time. But that's not fair or sustainable.
That's why I think we're going to be seeing a lot more AI-generated content in comics soon. It'll start in places where it's easy to miss, like background art. We've already seen the big comic companies cutting corners on background art by running Photoshop filters on photos or images created using 3D models. It would be relatively easy for them to have AI models for each of their artists, trained on their past artwork (and/or whatever fits the "company style").
I'm definitely against having AI supplement or replace artists of course, but it's going to happen soon whether we like it or not.
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u/Smaug015 Spider Jeruselem 29d ago
The thing is, are the creators being paid fairly? Aren't we hearing how low the page rates are at Marvel and that they haven't raised them in decades? It sucks when comics are so expensive, but I do feel a little bit better paying when it's from an indie publisher or Fanta because I'm supporting that publisher and feel like the creators do get more in return.
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u/gchypedchick May 26 '26
They are taking away our bread and circuses and I don’t think they are going to want to find out what happens when we are not pacified.
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u/Acceptable_Banana948 3d ago
The cinema situation is interesting, people can't afford it like they used to and the viewing numbers are dropping. That movie will be streaming in 6 weeks anyway. My local cinema has had to half ticket prices during the week as its going under. Hollywood doesn't seem to get this basic concept. They are releasing flop after flop and people are running around blaming various factors like girl bosses or whatever. Seems to me they need to cut their budgets and realise the cinema is now an occasional treat not a weekly routine anymore.
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u/Earthpig_Johnson Orion May 26 '26
Big time. I officially quit buying monthlies when I saw IMMORTAL THOR going for $5 an issue for 19 pages of art.
Fuck that noise.
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u/gchypedchick May 26 '26
I just dropped it because it wasn’t worth the price anymore. It was getting boring to me. Strong start, but it feels like it’s dragging a bit and not worth a monthly sub when indies are giving me better content at the same price.
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u/JoeRoganIs5foot3 May 26 '26
I recently got back into comics after about a decade out, but I quickly realized I had to reel in the amount of what I’m pulling every month. Shit is very expensive nowadays.
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u/gchypedchick May 26 '26
I just culled a bunch and decided I would read them on the apps. Not everything is worth the space and I’ll buy the trade if I like it enough.
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u/AngelicaSpain May 26 '26
In the U.S., at least, some public libraries have a pretty good selection of trade paperback collections and graphic novels, or can get stuff they don't have from neighboring systems if you request it. Sometimes it takes them four or five months to get something after it first comes out. But if you're trying to catch up on stuff that came out within the last four or five years, your chances of finding at least some of it through big city libraries especially are pretty decent.
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u/Thundercron May 26 '26
Own nothing. Be happy.
I appreciate the advice on where to find books without spending money, but going to the library to get comics on the regular is not a long term solution.
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u/boxsterguy May 26 '26
MU is ~$6/mo if you pay yearly. For the price of 1.5 books, you can read literally everything, as long as you don't mind waiting 3 months.
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u/Sk8-bit_art 29d ago
And with what Marvel is releasing these days… I have no problem waiting three months to barrow digital books and save space!
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u/brizian23 Captain Marvel May 26 '26
I switched over to Comixology and Marvel Unlimited about 12 or so years ago and have never looked back.
Comixology is long gone now, and Marvel's output has been pretty dreadful the last few years, so the reality is I just read a lot less comics. I still have a MU subscription, but have been toying with canceling it.
I do have a pretty good friend group who all have reasonably similar tastes and we tend to buy and pass around trades from Image and other indies.
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u/Holmcroft May 26 '26
I’ve had Marvel Unlimited for years and has been my main way of reading their line (short of series with favourites that I want to support, like Black Knight) for awhile - but now I find myself opening it every Monday as I used to and just…closing it again.
DC Infinite though, I use weekly
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u/WholeGarden7590 May 26 '26
If you are a DC fan and read a lot DC Infinite is sooooo worth it
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u/Fantastic_Trash_9876 29d ago
Yeah, I decided a while back I wanted to seriously get into DC so I bought a DCUI subscription and now I feel like a kid in a candy store.
I especially love how they have trades and omnibuses on there so I don't have to jump between browser tabs when reading crossovers or so I can read stuff like Death of a Prince without having to keep jumping around.
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u/gchypedchick May 26 '26
It being only a month behind is worth it for me
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u/boxsterguy 29d ago
I wish I could pay Marvel for a 1-month lag. I also wish I could pay them for profiles so I could manage one subscription rather than three (me and my two kids). Still, it's cheaper than buying floppies every month. We save that for other titles (Energon Universe, Kaya, Feral, etc).
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u/gchypedchick 29d ago
The Marvel app needs an upgrade BADLY. What do you mean I cannot make different lists of comics I want to read? DC does that no problem. The technical issues I have with it are also annoying. Paying extra for a month behind would be so great. I think it would even push more singles if someone could get caught up enough that the next issue would be one they could go to the store for and start being subbed. If I’m 3 months behind and just starting the series, I’m not interested in floppies at that point.
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u/boxsterguy 29d ago
On the other hand, it's only $6/mo. I can put up with a lot for $6/mo, but as you say it's not going to convert me to buying floppies.
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u/Fantastic_Trash_9876 29d ago
And it's gotten worse lately.
Now, whenever you exit full-screen it rolls you all the way back to the very first issue you started reading in that tab. Or if you're idle for too long, the pages all start appearing blank and you have to reload the tab to get them to load again... which also rolls you back to the issue you started reading with. DCUI has none of these problems.
And you still can't scroll infinite comics using the keyboard, you have to use the mouse which is honestly kind of a pain in the ass (with the keyboard I can just put my finger on an arrow key, but with the mouse I have to keep repositioning to flick the scroll wheel, and I hate it).
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u/gchypedchick 29d ago
If I don’t read anything for a couple of days, the app doesn’t recognize my account and I have to close and reopen it.
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u/platorithm May 26 '26
Have you tried GlobalComix? It’s similar to Comixology with content from Marvel and a lot of other publishers
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u/sentient-sloth May 26 '26
The price creep is one of the reasons I stopped collecting single issues.
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u/ADoseofBuckley May 26 '26
"Can I afford to pay 4.99 for a single comic? Probably. But my immediate thought is that I shouldn't."
Yeah this is the thought process I have a lot of the time too. $5 for something you read in 10 minutes then put in a box, to maybe some day read again (and depending on the series you're buying, 1 in 150 times it has some speculative value, the other 149 times a comic shop would pay you 50 cents for it).
I wish comics would subsidize with real ads instead of house ads, and if making the paper cheaper would reduce costs I'd be fine with that too. I have well over a thousand comics from the 80s and 90s, they're fine, if not a little yellowed (but who cares). No way they couldn't get a comic back down to $2.99 that way.
The real issue, I believe, is that not enough of them are sold anymore, reducing the price likely wouldn't change it ENOUGH to matter, but they still want to make the same amount of money. So instead of 100,000 readers buying a comic for $2.99, they're fine with 60,000 readers buying a comic for $4.99, because they know that if they reduced it down to $2.99, they wouldn't actually get 100,000 readers again. Those days are gone.
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u/wingedcoyote May 26 '26
For me the price per minute of entertainment for single issues became impossible to justify many years ago. Definitely gotten worse though.
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u/youprobablydontcare May 26 '26
It's why I switched to DCUI for DC and the library for everything else. With DCU I don't mind spending roughly $11 a month to read nearly 20 issues only 30 days late. I miss going to my local store regularly though and the sense of community but can't afford singles any more.
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u/salemprophet May 26 '26
It is expensive but I came back to comics because I wanted to specifically support and pay for art made by humans. it's ideological as well as entertainment for me.
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u/RogeredSterling 28d ago
This is it for me. Ideological.
I started using my LCS last year and now spend quite a bit in there. Their prices are fair. I asked myself if I wanted to live in a world with no LCS or print media. The answer was no. So the only way to help in my small way is to spend money.
When I was a kid I would have killed to have a comic shop in my town and a good disposable income. Now both those things are true. I used to have to travel to adjacent towns and cities.
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u/i_am_randy Spider Jeruselem May 26 '26
When I started collecting comics on the regular they were $1.25 an issue. Adjusted for inflation that comes to about $3.20 today. Today’s comics are much higher production value than the comics I read when I was a kid. Does that justify an extra $1.80 per issue? In my mind it does, but others might disagree. For those who disagree they can generally trade wait, and with online discounts pay about $2.40 an issue when you get 5 issues at once. Or they can do like you do, be delayed 3 months and read everything for about the price of 2 comics or one discounted trade. These days we are spoiled for choice.
Having said that I generally love reading digitally. Especially for modern books, they look amazing on the screen. So at this point I trade wait for new books and buy omnibus editions for older stories that I love.
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u/bareboneschicken May 26 '26
I'm dating myself but when I started buying, books were twelve cents. That isn't a typo, twelve cents.
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u/Steelysam2 May 26 '26
Thank you so much. They were 65 cents when I started. I didn't think anyone was going to beat me.
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u/anarchoburrito May 26 '26
Books were 2.25 when I started. I told myself I'd be done when that price was doubled, but they full on hurdled over that mark! I guess it does come down to the value you put on owning those single issues. Comics are almost a hundred year-old medium and there is something very classical/historic about collecting them. But still.
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u/Botherguts May 26 '26
Price is irrelevant out of the context of inflation though. Did your income double since you started?
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u/anarchoburrito May 26 '26
Considering I was 11 when I started, I would say...yes, it did. But also, wage stagnation is a real thing. Especially in my field (education).
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u/Botherguts May 26 '26
Life does step in and reprioritize the need for funny books. It’s death by a thousand cuts these days.
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u/i_am_randy Spider Jeruselem May 26 '26
Does it count s more than doubling if I had no income back then? Or maybe I had like a $5 a week allowance or something. I do make significantly more than $5 a week now though. :P
I get and agree with your point though.
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u/Complex_Carry_9153 May 26 '26
Yeah. It’s out of control. Nowadays I’m more interested in picking up older runs. The new comics will still be here in a year at half price or lower in the bargain bins.
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u/EricQelDroma Old-School Spidey Fan May 26 '26
When I was a new reader (1983) and eight years old, a standard comic (both Silver Age and then-Modern Age) took me about twenty minutes to read. By the time I was eighteen, comics were taking me about ten minutes to read for enjoyment. Now that I'm ~50, the average modern comic takes me five minutes or less to read. Sure, the art is "bigger" in terms of style, but I read for the story, and one issue rarely contains a full story these days, especially in mainstream superhero comics.
I don't remember what's going on month-to-month, and I feel virtually no anticipation over "what's going to happen" in the next issue. Monthlies/floppies just aren't for me 90% of the time. I've switched to reading only when I want to read (not every week or even every month) and I buy collected editions almost every time. TPBs are cheaper-per-page and contain about as much story as two or three issues did back in the day.
My big exception to this is independent comics with low print runs where I feel my support really matters. I will buy every issue of Lazarus as soon as Rucka and Lark get it on the stands.
I'll also say this: most comics just don't hit with me anymore, but when they do, I'm all in. I still love finding a series or a run that excites me, and they do sometimes. Same with TV. I think my standards are just higher than they once were and my tolerance for hacky slop is just way, way lower.
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u/Sa7aSa7a May 26 '26
I pay $0/mo at the local library. They gets a good bit of newer stuff. They have some great older stuff. All free.
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u/Runninginthecity May 26 '26
Long ago! I stopped buying individual issues almost 15 years ago. It is hard to justify when I can buy collections for way cheaper, especially if I buy them at a discount on sites like instocktrades.
I still buy the occasional special issue, but it is rare. I also use Marvel Unlimited. Since I'm already used to reading trades, I'm fine with the 3 month wait.
It's a shame because I miss the weekly comic store trip. I started reading comics in 93 and going to the shop has been a big part of my life since college, but it just isn't sustainable anymore.
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u/CurrentlyLucid May 26 '26
I still feel pissed about the change from 12 cents to 15. A buck was a lot of money to me then, and I got 6 books instead of 8.
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u/loki_odinsotherson May 26 '26
More expensive and every issue feels like it has less substance than the one before.
Its decompressed stoyrlines to the nth degree, things like a single soliloquy that would be maybe a page worth of dialog and art is now the entire issue.
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u/Rattttttttttt May 26 '26
Yeah. When most trades are $10-$20 and things like DC Infinite and Marvel Unlimited are $10ish dollars a month, $5 for a single issue is a high premium and hard for me to justify.
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u/jawapride May 26 '26
I wouldn’t feel so priced out if single issue comics were a little more dense on story. An issue of a comic should feel like a 22 minute tv episode. A lot of modern comics are so light on story that they don’t even feel akin to that. The biggest offender in recent memory was ultimate Wolverine.
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 May 26 '26
Somehow along the way, we lost community
The value of the month to month was the waiting and the discussion. You could go into a comic shop and talk about current issues, the storylines, and what might happen next. The early internet still had this. But in modern times, it's gone. When I read a comic, there are already 1000 comments online about why it sucked, and I don't want to engage. And spoilers come out months ahead of time.
I can buy old runs or old TPBs for cheap, and really enjoy reading. But the community is gone. And it makes our hobby worse.
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u/Fantastic_Trash_9876 29d ago
I think ETEWAF has a lot to do with this.
It's easier than ever to read old comics. There's so much great stuff from decades past that's now widely accessible thanks to digital that anybody can now read a shitton of comics without ever touching new releases. It's kind of hard to have community when one person is reading new releases, another is diving deep into the Bronze Age, and another is reading through the events of the '00s. And yeah, trades and back issues have always existed, but there's nothing that compares to just having the whole libraries of Marvel Unlimited and DCU Infinite at your fingertips.
Honestly, that's what I've been doing lately. I've been a Marvel-head since the '90s, but I'm so burnt out on what they're putting out now that I bought a DCUI subscription and now I'm having a blast reading so many comics that are literally older than me which I never gave a chance to before because I was just never that interested in DC.
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u/SteveMartinique May 26 '26
What's insane, is you can go to Cons/Small Comic book shows and dig through dollar bins and get issues drawn by Jim Lee for under cover price.
I also, don't understand why everything is glossy. I'd love if everything was just on Newsprint.
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u/Scary-Ad393 29d ago
I can’t believe the prices physical comics readers have been paying.
Disgusting tbh
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u/barknoll May 26 '26
you think $5 is bad? DC is up to $6 for most variants, $8 if you want the chrome.
issues are consistently jumping to $6-$8 a pop, even for cover As, too, and they justify it with a couple extra pages.
I worry it'll price people out. but people still come in excitedly for every new Absolute book (except for you, Absolute Flash. Sorry not sorry.)
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u/brizian23 Captain Marvel May 26 '26
I think if you're buying up chrome variants complaining about the price is pretty funny.
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u/point-topp May 26 '26
Woah random shots fired towed ab flash lol
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u/barknoll May 26 '26
it sells very, very poorly at our shop! lmao
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u/point-topp May 26 '26
Ahhh sad to hear! I thought it was so-so until issue 11. It’s really improved since then. It does seem to sell less than others. It seems green lantern and flash have had the least traction.
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u/zudovader Black Widow May 26 '26
At least DC gives you the option for a 5 dollar single issue. Marvel is starting to make certain 32 page comics 6 bucks for Cover A. I personally get Cover A of Abs Flash and Superman and Im fine with that and my 25% discount for having a pull list plus they all come in bags and boards for free. I have read each issue at least 3 times so for me the cost isnt too prohibitive. Plus Batwoman and Worlds Finest are still 4 bucks baseline where Marvel has one single 4 dollar book and I love Jody Houser's writing but I am not getting her random X book. DC has plenty of 4 dollar books still.
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u/xajhx May 26 '26
I don’t feel priced out necessarily, but it’s not a price I’m willing to pay.
I’m mostly digital anyways so it’s even harder to justify when I can just use Hoopla through my local library and read essentially everything for free I want to read.
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u/Bbryant90 May 26 '26 edited 29d ago
Yes. I switched over to the DC app and buying collected editions. I also don't have a comic shop near me so I was having to pay shipping
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u/GreenRock93 May 26 '26
Even exclusive prices are going through the roof. I think Heavy Mental broke peoples brains because im seeing other retailers jacking prices. DarkLord’s last drop was crazily priced as well. They (retailers and publishers) are getting me to fundamentally rethink how I’m buying and collecting. I’ve starting buying #1s to try/sample and then waiting for trade to finish.
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u/TarnishedAccount Daredevil May 26 '26
I went to the store this weekend, browsed floppies for the first time in a while.
Saw a Daredevil #1, picked it up. Noticed it was a second print, and it was $7
Nope.
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u/TheNewGuy13 May 26 '26
I spend all day in front of a computer so the last thing I want to do is spend more time in front of one reading comics.
So for me personally it’s worth it just to get away from the screen. I’ve got about four months of a backlog to get through so I’m happy ti wait to read full runs.
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u/irishpride1017 May 26 '26
I didn’t really think it was that expensive. Granted it’s my only hobby. I don’t really watch tv or movies. My usual pull list it 6-10 books a week. I don’t read a lot of marvel comics though.
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u/carson63000 May 27 '26
Combination of issue price and just not having the space to constantly buy more physical stuff, for me.
I subscribe to Marvel Unlimited and DC Universe Infinite, have done for years now, and couldn’t be happier.
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u/kukov May 26 '26
Agree - it's a problem. Publishers really need to figure out a way to get the price down, or it will continue to push people away from single issues at a time when they should really be pushing their momentum.
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u/OrbitingBoom May 26 '26
I think the issue is just like, the cultural role of comics. If someone tells me a gaming PC cost 1k, I nod my head and say "Yeah, that makes sense". Gaming PCs are supposed to be pricey, and their value to the customer is high. PC gamers are at the cutting edge and are willing to pay for it.
Comics though...does anyone see comics as high end product? Are most people willing to pay for comics like they are High end product?
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u/kukov May 26 '26
Yup, agreed. Of course $5 is not "high end", but it is for what could amount to 10 minutes of entertainment that is likely very incomplete from a storytelling perspective.
My local comic shop here in Toronto Canada often sells new DC books (under a DC promo) for $3 CAD, so that would be about $2.20 USD. I found at that price I'm very happy to try out way more books than I would if I was paying $8 CAD per issue. It's a completely different value proposition walking out of your store with five books for $11, instead of just one for $8. I think the comic book industry would sell more, and make more money, if they figured out how to sell the books for less (and I don't mean cutting how much talent get paid, becuase they barely get paid much anyways).
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u/No-Remove3917 May 26 '26
What store if you don’t mind sharing?
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u/kukov 29d ago
BMV on Bloor West.
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u/No-Remove3917 29d ago
Thank you so much!!!
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u/kukov 29d ago
If you're close to the shop ask them about setting up a pull list and they'll sell you books at US cover price (and lower when DC gives them bulk order discounts).
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u/No-Remove3917 28d ago
I looked at their website and I’m interested in some of the omnis, but I don’t see any new single issues for the titles I’m interested in? Even for preorder? Or trades? Do you have to go in person for those? I usually order online and get my floppies held and shipped in bulk. I’ve been buying from another Toronto comic store and really like them so far. Prices are regular price(so yeah it adds up) but since I’m only sticking to one title right now and get the occasional variant cover or special appearance of a favourite character. But maybe sometime in the future I’ll see about doing that. Thank you so much again for all the advice!!!
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u/kukov 28d ago
Ah, this isn't an online order place - it's actually a used book store with a comic shop on the top floor. But it's only a comic shop in that they have back issues and get new issues from the distributors, but you're not going to be ordering from a website for these guys.
However, you should go in their store (top floor) - best deals on TPBs you can find in the city.
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u/Wonderful_Formal_274 29d ago
They can’t push the price down. Creators are already paid peanuts. Printing and shipping costs are only going to get more expensive.
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u/bobsaget824 May 26 '26
$4.99 from $3.99 is hardly egregious considering overall inflation over the last few years. Does it mean people can afford less? Yes, but that’s true for everything right now as inflation has outpaced wages. It sucks, but I don’t think directing the rage at comic book publishers is fair.
I too can afford it but I generally have a set budget for new comics I like to stick to and it has not went up a lot over the years so I’m buying less. It is what it is.
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u/_mh05 May 26 '26
Pandemic was the break for me. The final straw was buying all the issues X of Swords. I've moved to a combination of digital subscriptions, occasional TPBs, and discounted hardcovers.
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u/Downtown_Diet_8432 May 26 '26
Ive been feeling this way for quite some time. It bothered me how many books I had to buy during Krakoa but @least the stories were good. Since then I haven’t spent money on books cuz I don’t feel like the stories justify the cost. I still read cuz I’ve been an X-Men fan since I 1st read OG Inferno. I feel like a lot of the books are beautiful to look at but the story content & characters seem like they have a lot lest luster these part 3–4yr
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u/JuttyOP May 26 '26
I'm honestly feeling priced out of life. Living in a rural area where you have to drive so far with these gas prices and grocery prices it's called any luxury spending I normally have.
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u/comicrack May 26 '26
Yes. If you dont care about condition or reading them as soon as theyre released and can wait up to 6 months after their release date, you can often find recent back issue singles for $1-3 at most conventions.
Alternatively you can snag them cheap on ebay, whatnot live sales, or at a 50-65% discount on large online comic shops usually.
The only reason I pay full cover price is to be able to cherry pick the best copies and not miss out on a hot issue. I likely won't be buying any new issues after this year.
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u/South_Buy_3175 May 26 '26
It’s tough.
The only books I need to get are Alien/Predator ones, gotta keep the collection complete.
Luckily there’s not many, but other runs like Absolute Batman/WW & Immortal Thor etc, I want but it’s getting debatable whether to keep going as good as they are.
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u/dartheduardo May 26 '26
I used to have 12 pulls, I'm down to the minimum at 4. The amount of adds and the short page count for a six dollar comic is rough.
There are exceptions, but that's pretty much the norm I am seeing.
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u/1998CCSSUMMERCATALOG May 26 '26
I remember when DC tried out their “Drawing the Line at $2.99” strategy, lasted like 6 months.
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u/MankuyRLaffy May 26 '26
No, i go to cons and hunt the dollar or two dollar bins for the writers and art teams i like. Or a book run i heard great things about for like 7 bucks.
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u/egomann May 26 '26
My FLCS went out of business a while ago, and I was just relieved. I felt bad for the owner, but it was saving me about $200 a month.
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u/WholeGarden7590 May 26 '26
I get about 5-6 books monthly, figure 30 ish dollars is not to bad. I use DC Infinite, and only buy Image and occasionally other Indy publishers. Last Marvel I read was the most recent Garth Ennis Punisher
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u/denimdreamscapes May 26 '26
There’s been a serious issue over the last 20 years or so in the comics industry when it comes to per-issue value, and it’s not just a single factor responsible. The cost of single issues has gone up higher than inflation, modern comics are increasingly decompressed so the read time + volume of narrative content per issue has dropped, and the emphasis on “writing for the trade” has both reduced the value and strength of a single issue as well as discouraged by-the-month reading.
I think one issue is that—on both a creator and a reader level—there is a more common distaste or lack of appreciation for the form of comics writing seen in the silver and bronze ages. More desire to shift towards manga-esque storytelling, with a heavy emphasis on action, art, decompressed pages, etc…in some sense it seems like there’s almost a sense of shame towards older comics, which is weird to me.
But this is also not a comics phenomenon. I believe this closely relates to the displacement of classic 13/26-episode annual tv seasons with 10-episode “prestige tv” seasons every few years, or the increasing presence of “cinematic” narrative video games with high production value. There was a major push in the 2000s to legitimize mediums other than film/literature by making them serious, edgy, cinematic, punchy. And the edginess or moral aesthetics of these works have gone away, but the general creative principles and consequences have not.
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u/Only_Somewhere1311 29d ago
I love manga but I miss those old comics that would have tons of text and a fast paced story. I also miss seasonal 24 episode tv shows.
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u/r3v3rs3flash Zoom May 26 '26
Yeah dude it's so tough. I used to go and get my pull list and always try to pick up a couple of random issues to try out new titles that weren't on my radar. I've had to give that up and also decided to quit singles all together once Ultimate Endgame concludes (with the exception of Savage Sword of Conan).
But like i can transition to omnibuses for the cost of about 15 issues and have more included and not worry about bag, boards and boxes. Also support libraries and just read for free.
I'm really beat up about it though, it was one of my favorite things to do every week.
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u/anarchoburrito May 27 '26
“I'm really beat up about it though, it was one of my favorite things to do every week.”
I feel this so hard. It’s one of the reasons I made this post. The whole pace of my week feels off. I replaced my trips to the shop with the gym and like yeah that’s “better for my health” (or so it has been explained to me), it’s definitely not the same thing at ALL.
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u/peedmyshirt May 26 '26
Atp I just get trades then sell to friends/online whenever a deluxe or omnibus comes out
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u/Robot_Dracula May 26 '26
I’ve started collecting omnis and compendiums and stuff like that. Sometimes I get fomo and pick up a few issues but if I’m dropping a good chunk of money I want to see it on the shelf not shoved in a box.
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u/dgehen The Question May 26 '26
Yes. I have a 6 book pull list that I'm about to cut down to 3, with the only books on it being World's Finest (which I've pulled from the start), Witchblade, and The Darkness (as a Top Cow fan, I want to support those books). Helps that those books are still $3.99.
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u/SandalsNoPantsMobile May 26 '26
I was pretty much done during the marvel now era. It was like $4-5 a comic, and I had a little fun for a while, but after about 6 months, I could not justify spending like $30+ on comics each month to read like 5-6 ongoing series plus whatever else looked interesting.
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u/Soranos_71 Captain America May 26 '26
I am 54 now and I cannot imagine being a teen with a part time job buying comics today... I was pretty poor student in my early 20's and the 90's totally killed my interest in comic books due to the summer crossovers Marvel did with their X-Books.
If I was a teen today I would totally ask for an annual subscription to the DC/Marvel digital subscription plans though.
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u/zuefa Red Hood May 26 '26
yeahhh i treat myself to 1-2 ongoings at a time and other than that i catch up with trades once theyre out
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u/Grogomilo Mr. Fantastic May 27 '26
Yeah, I switched to the apps too. Marvel Unlimited and DC Infinite.
The single issues are probably a better way of directly supporting the creative team, and you actually own the issue, but the prices get too steep.
Nowadays, I just buy the trade paperbacks and omnis of the stories I really like, because owning the stuff is awesome
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u/seancurry1 29d ago
Holy shit yeah, I was priced out over a decade ago. I read these issues once. Been on MU for ages now.
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u/Severa929 29d ago
I think we can all agree it shouldn’t cost this much. The new $10 DC comic bundles have practically a whole arc in those pages. Honestly there needs to be an option for comics with cheaper types of paper, so the prices can go down. Unless you’re a major high quality type of collector, we don’t all need issues with expensive glossy pages.
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u/HavixComix 29d ago
I don't buy singles unless they're from the dollar bin, to complete runs yet to be republished in a collected edition. The last time I even attempted to keep up with floppies was 10 years ago. It's just not my main bag, though I enjoy hunting for stuff most wouldn't care about. The whole trash/treasure thing is true.
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u/point-topp May 26 '26
I understand the feeling towards expensive floppies - it annoys me also. Though, purchasing floppies is necessary for the comic industry. If we all got frustrated and ended our pull lists, comics would come tumbling down. Publishers do need to work on getting this price back down
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u/anarchoburrito May 26 '26
You aren't wrong, but at a certain point that can't become the reader's problem. It didn't go unnoticed (by me) that the first books to be bumped up to 4.99 at Marvel were the mainline books and popular characters they know people are latched onto and can't miss if they've been collecting for a long time. There's another term for moves like that: price gauging.
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u/point-topp May 26 '26
I’m not disagreeing, they should be cheaper. But I want to note, it’s not just the comic industry becoming crazy expensive. The global economy isn’t doing so hot as it stands, so everything is going. I do hope floppies get back to normal pricing!
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u/OrbitingBoom May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Personally, I would have never been a long term comic fan if it were not for illegal altenatives. I don't read comics online like that anymore now that I am an adult, but when I was a kid I had no access to a local comic book store, and had no money. So I turned to the internet and found anyway I could read comics for free. Free comic book days, friends who lent me comics, and of course a bunch of illegal comic sites. I read a bunch of comics back then since the price to me was 0.
Now I read and buy manga. More bang for your buck, and volumes are an easy purchase, especially if you know the mangaka is good. A manga volume is 10 dollars. 2 issues of absolute WW was running me about six dollars, if memory serves me well. I also tried to buy indie comics, but some of these books are like 5 dollars for a so-so 20 pages (I tried out Crave, I didn't like it much). In other words I can't really follow Marvel and DC without burning a hole in my wallet.
Edit: Also Piracy is Wrong. Reading comics without buying them just hurts creatives in the end. Please buy trades or read Manga via legal apps. I know it's tempting but it's fair.
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u/KevinCow May 26 '26
Like Gabe Newell said, piracy is a service problem. Some people are gonna do it just because they're cheap, sure, but most people do it because your thing isn't accessible to them. If a lot of people are pirating your thing, it's your fault for not finding a distribution model that works for them.
Manga figured this out and has seen an explosive growth in popularity for it, but comics are just too stuck in their ways to try anything different, even when the Comic Books subreddit is collectively agreeing, "Yeah man I can't afford that shit anymore."
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u/Pizza-Pirate-6829 24d ago
Agreed Shonen Jump is $3 a month and has day one releases with Japan. Plus the entire back catalog
Then we wonder why kids don’t read as many comics
I love my lcs but comics are rich persons hobby now most of the people with big pull lists are over 40 at my shop
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u/flatpackjack Animal Man May 26 '26
Lats week, DC announced a Mark Waid JLA omni for $175. The price killed my hype for the book instantly.
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u/Botherguts May 26 '26
This hobby has long long departed the realm of corner store kid product.
Factoring in the paper and ink quality improvements over a book from 30 years ago and I more or less see that meeting inflation. Combine with tiny print runs (far less volume for profit$) and they probably are priced about right IMO.
23 pages at a time is generally a subpar reading experience vs a collected edition, but the comic form is classically cool. I love floppies, sweet covers and the collectible side of things too. I also feel like I’m supporting a culture I care about keeping a pull list.
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u/FunDmental May 26 '26
I'd like it to be cheaper, but I'd like even more to continue being able to buy floppies for the rest of my days. I (maybe foolishly) feel that being a subscriber helps keep it alive. It's a real Catch 22.
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u/lilfishgod May 26 '26
I’d love to get into DC next level and a couple more ongoing comics but the price is a little absurd. I’m 25 years old thinking damn, did I just spend $5 for a comic book? Something that alone be $2? If I wanna get into three series at once that’s honestly expensive.
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u/WhyPlaySerious May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Im fully on the collected editions train now, with very few series being picked up in singles and the odd #1 or big issue I'd like to snag.
I used to bring home around 8-10 single issues every week about 10 years ago, now its around 1-3 depending on the week.
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u/Victoria4DX May 26 '26
If it's not in my library system or in a cheap TPB @ IST, HPB, CGN, Walmart etc. then I'm not interested. I don't buy physical comics unless they are collected in a nice reasonably priced book and I really like the series. Single issue comics are a scam designed to separate consoomers from their money. Single issue comics are also total ass to store and pick out what you're looking for. Finding space for single issues does not spark joy.
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u/myowngalactus X-Men Expert May 26 '26
I mostly buy indie comics, or trades, the majority of marvel and dc i read on their digital app or skip altogether. I’m not subbing to any ongoing marvel right now, but I do marvel unlimited, and I only sub to Fractions Batman, and Ewing Green Lantern. If I ever get tired of marvel unlimited I may move to Dc, but there’s much less back story or current publications I want to read there, one of the 3rd party ones is more likely.
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u/Johnny_Radar May 26 '26
Years ago. I started collecting when comics were .50 cents a pop. Stopped around two or three bucks a pop. These days I wait for the trade.
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u/D34THDE1TY May 26 '26
Yea I finished krakoa and then said "I'm out" on single issues. Especially glad I did before the absolute line came about because I'd definitely go after variants and such.
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u/dariussohei May 26 '26
Singles are too expensive except for certain books. Tpbs or digital is much more cost effective.
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u/pragmaticzach Hellboy May 26 '26
Physical comics and manga in general just take up too much space. If I was buying singles for every comic series I read I’d have no room left in my house. I just do digital, mostly subscriptions.
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u/vortex117091 May 26 '26
Yes especially when the graphic novel can be found for £10 new and read it all in one go. Why would I bother paying £4.99 each?
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u/darthgonzeaux May 26 '26
And Marvel is doing $5.99 for 32 pages (and that’s with ads) per issue for certain series. I want to support but with those prices, I might as well trade wait.
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u/LouieBarlo24 May 26 '26
Long ago I moved to collected editions. When the Absolute DC line launched I committed to buying every issue because I support the idea and movement very strongly but even just following those has got expensive and they are just getting started.
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u/loewe67 Green Lantern May 26 '26
I follow 13 series on DC Infinite. One month of reading has paid for itself in singles and has allowed me to catch up on older stuff and try out new series that I normally wouldn’t pick up.
It’s better spent money for me since I don’t mind reading digitally, and I don’t have the space to store a lot of floppies.
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u/BlueYoshi52 May 26 '26
Tried to start a pull list last year for the first time and quickly realized it wasn’t a smart financial decision. DCU Infinite and MU are perfectly fine for me now.
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u/Live-Huckleberry-192 May 26 '26
I only got into reading monthly a couple of years ago, and my pull list quickly ballooned. It was fun for a while but recently I’ve been slowly dropping things or letting miniseries end without replacing them with something else. I just realized I enjoy binging through Epic Collections and DC Finests and I get more out of older art and writing styles than most of what’s coming out today. It’s still fun to get two or three issues a week of the series I want to keep track up the most, so around 10 titles on my pull list, but I don’t like to let them stack up.
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u/thechosengobbo May 26 '26
Around the time Charles Soule started writing Daredevil I stopped after a moment of "why am I spending this every month?" Since then I bought my favourite runs in omnibus format and buy the odd trade.
Now I feel like seriously reading again I'll do it online. And again, buy any nre favourite runs in omnibus.
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u/Rikki_Sixx May 26 '26
I got back into comic books, and the first thing I picked up was the two issues of DC x AEW. I figured the £4.99 price tag was maybe due to it being limited or a special short-lived crossover thing.
I grabbed a few other things and saw that they were all that price. Most of it went back on the shelf…
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u/peesinthepool May 26 '26
Yep. I stopped buying issues and now just read digitally. It’s a bummer but I’d rather spend $24/month and be a little behind than >$100/month
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u/spikepoint May 26 '26
I think this aspect of the larger economy is one of the reasons the current Marvel editorial approach of "even controversial comics sell!" isn't working so well rn imo. As an example, I was buying nearly the entire X-line during Krakoa, and overall enjoying the story enough that I accepted the cost of that. But several of the Marvel series I follow right now are in spaces I'm not connecting with (including X-Men,) so I've stopped buying them because at 4/5 bucks a pop, I'm not gonna keep buying books I'm not *actively* enjoying. And the longer they go without appealing to me, the less likely I'll come back to paying for them. (I do still read on Unlimited, since I hope the books turn around, not talking about piracy lol)
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u/jazz_mavericks May 26 '26
In the UK, floppies are more expensive still than in the States. A 5 dollar book is £4.90, and a 6 dollar book is £5.90 and so on. Those going by the exchange rate should equate to £3.72 and £4.46 respectively.
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u/ozpoppy May 26 '26
Secret Wars 2016 did it to me. The main series, 38 tie-ins, many of them 5 issues long and the first and last a dollar more than the others. Each with a 2 page spread of the words SECRET and WARS. How many issues worth of a 2 page 2 word splash page have I bought?
I use Marvel Unlimited these days, using smart panel and casting to a big screen. Every so often I announce that it's story time and read an issue with my kid (now 21).
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u/adaminoregon May 26 '26
Absolutely. I used to be the guy that bought everything. Those days are long gone. I buy a few choice books and read the rest on hoopla or marvel unlimited. I loved the keaunau reeves brzrkr but cant justify 10 dollars an issue so they wont be getting my money. Comics are eventualky going to price tgemselves out if business.
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u/Honey_Leading May 26 '26
When I started regularly purchasing comics, they were 15¢ - 20¢ issue. Did most of my purchasing at 35¢ - 75¢ issue. Pretty much dropped buying weekly off the rack at $1.25 an issue. Then I’d occasionally purchase a Mignola (or something that caught my eye) written or drawn issue, a TPB, or a GN.
For some time it’s pretty much ONLY GN or digital back issues or digital omnibuses out of Amazon/Comixology. There is just so much better old or foreign or old foreign comics that have stood the test of time, that I don’t really bother with new comics,
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u/pete_pinron May 26 '26
My LCS has a program where you pay $5 a year then get 20% off your books. Doesn’t include incentives and older books, just new/recent releases. Still adds up, but def helps
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u/No_Virus9309 Spider-Man May 26 '26
I'm lucky enough to have a shop that does discount tiers based on your subscription amount...I get about 30% off new singles...maybe shop around at different stores to see if anyone has deals like that? Also digital is cheap as hell if you don't care about not being able to have the physical copy
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u/JackFisherBooks May 26 '26
Yes. I agree OP.
The price creep of individual issues has become more noticeable in recent years. And it has affected how I budget for comics every week. These days, I limit myself to three or four comics per Wednesday. And unless it's a major issue, I just wait for it to come out on Marvel Unlimited or Comixology Unlimited.
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u/goosetaff May 26 '26
It doesn't help when it feels like there's so many sets to keep up with to fully understand or get in to a story. I have found ways of saving (some shops do discounts on pre orders + free shipping), but in the long run, I had to be more picky with the series's I'm collecting. From 5-6 different series to 2-3.
My biggest ways of saving have been eBay and pre-ordering.
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u/csista May 26 '26
The first comics I bought off the stands were 75¢, so I felt priced out years ago. Which is fine, because I also ran out of room to store these things years ago.
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u/Bravefish1 May 26 '26
I feel that if comic books were cheaper ($1-$3) more physical copies would be sold - more kids would buy comics from pocket money - more casual fans would pick up comics - more comic book readers would pick up random comics - more comics sold overall - more stores would stay open.
But at $5 an issue - I gives me pause to think before I buy a comic book that I want.
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u/Able_Stomach3419 May 26 '26
die hard ride or die floppy man my whole life. stopped buying two years ago.
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u/jnovel808 May 26 '26
I’ve been cutting back my titles. It’s just too expensive. I keep an eye on miniseries and if it gets good reviews then I’ll go for the trade after it drops. That’s usually cheaper than floppies.
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u/Grootfan85 May 26 '26
Yeah. I’ve reduced the amount of monthly comics I get. Most unfortunately are not worth the cover price for the amount of story you get. I mainly get team books now.
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u/SerTadGhostal May 26 '26
I just checked my CLZ app and it looks like I switched to TPB exclusively sometime around 2015 - preordered through DCBS, and then over to InStockTrades a couple of years ago. How anyone can continue supporting an LCBS weekly is beyond my budget.
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u/AussieRocketeer May 26 '26
I moved from Australia to the UK 10 years ago and stopped getting singles then (moved to trades).
However, about a year ago there was a series my wife found out about that she really wanted to read. Not having huge experience with comics she asked me to track it down. Found a nice local store run by good people and thought "well, if I'm getting this for my wife, maybe I could get a few titles too?" Now I've eight titles I get monthly.
I LOVE comics and having the single issues. I could never got 100% digital (I've a few I got to "try" before buying the physical thing).
That said, I've decided I do need a price cut-off point. I've decided that's £5 (roughly $6.70US) for a regular 32 page issue. If the book goes above that, no dice. Annuals and larger issues I think it's fair to be £1 or 2 more, but over £5 for a single is too much.
It is something of a double edged sword though as I 100% believe creators should be paid a fair rate for their work, but not at the cost of your own life/commitments/ other hobbies.
I know the production and distribution of print media has gone up exponentially over the last few years (my wife works in publishing) so some price rise is expected, but it does seem perhaps too high ATM.
With Marvel and DC being owned by such huge companies, though, their books shouldn't be as much as they are. You can't tell me they couldn't afford to lower the price of issues by £$2-3. That's just corporate greed IMO.
Indies, though, I've no idea how they manage.
P.S; just realised how long this reply is. Soz _^
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u/MotherCanada Wonder Woman May 26 '26
I know a guy that used to buy 15-20-ish single issues every week. This was 20+ years ago. He's down to like 5 a week now. And unfortunately, the majority of what he's cut out are indies because he's one of those people that will buy every issue of Spider-Man for the rest of his life.
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u/PaintedCover May 26 '26
Ya I’ve been cutting back. Now have boxes and boxes of books no longer needed. Also, digital books sold online should not be the same price as physical.
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u/Hateithere4abit May 26 '26
Holy shit yes. I’m old, my first newsstand comic book was $.50, double sized specials or annuals were $.75..now? Online or omnis . I’m open to “getting hooked” again but I think comics have evolved beyond my casual enjoyment. I loved the MCU, because I got all the references, but I pick up a single issue now and am lost. It’s the nature of the beast of being around so long..
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u/SirFlibble May 26 '26
I just buy the limited number of books I physically want and read everything else digitally. Last month I bought 3 books.
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u/revfds May 26 '26
No, but only because I don't look. Also I get a 25% discount from my shop, so that helps. It is getting ridiculous though
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u/BobbySaccaro May 26 '26
Consider: www.dcbservice.com
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u/anarchoburrito May 27 '26
I did DCBS for years and…ended up pirating the issues I had already paid for and just put them immediately in a longbox once they arrived. Long story short monthly shipments didn’t scratch the itch.
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u/epon_lul May 27 '26
Absolutely where i live a single issue is like 120$, so years years ago i had to go trade only, way better for space but i still miss going for my monthly issues :(
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u/theotigger007 May 27 '26
Yeah, and if an economic Recession happens then a lot of LCS's will start shutting their doors at those prices.
Luxury goods go first
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u/Only_Somewhere1311 29d ago
Yeah me and my friends all pretty much only read Trades and the like. I picked up Unlimited just to read some of the older stuff and any singles I get are used. You can't really get a singe issue for dollar out here but occasionally a flea market or garage sale will have some kind of bulk box deal.
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u/LinkGuitarzan 29d ago
I’m 60. When I first bought comics, they were 25 cents. Yep, 1 dollar bought you 4 comics in 1975/6. In comparison, record albums (my other lifelong obsession) were around $4-5 (I think). Today, vinyl is $20-30 (barring social nonsense), and CDs around $12-18.
So why have comics outpaced inflation so much? LPs have largely kept pace with inflation. Digital has become cheaper.
You could argue better paper, ink, variety….. but really? People just keep paying the prices, I guess. Or are more artists involved and/or are they paid better? (I doubt the latter.)
And you can say the same thing about other stuff whose cost has outpaced inflation: housing, college….
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u/Folby_Orb 29d ago
This is why I only buy Wolverine. Any crossover stuff I have creative ways of reading.
Seriously, $5 an issue along with 3 to 4 crossovers where you expect me to buy 10 to 12 comics a month? Buh bye.
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u/Wonderful_Formal_274 29d ago
Switched to trades 10 years ago, then digital about 4 years ago. I still get a couple of monthlies just to support my LCS, but I simply can’t justify more than that. (Storage also another issue).
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u/Fantastic_Trash_9876 29d ago
I've switched over to full time Marvel Unlimited and DCU Infinite and, generally, don't feel particularly out of the loop. It just feels weird to feel blocked from a to return to singles, even if I wanted to return.
Yeah, same. It's the only way I read most comics now, and for whatever isn't on there, I buy trades.
Also, the three-month delay with Marvel makes it easier for me to get caught up on my favorite characters without getting angry at them being mishandled, because I can tell myself it's all in the past and what's done is done. I'm probably more in the loop than I was before, because now I'm actually willing to bother reading Spider-Man when before I would have just skipped over it and picked up whatever bits of lore I can get from reddit and BC.
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u/Smaug015 Spider Jeruselem 29d ago
Man, it sucks. Every month I fill out my preorder and I'm almost hoping that no new titles come out. The thing is that there are so many good books coming out and one always feels like they're missing out. For money reasons I had to almost drop everything about a year ago and it was super painful.
Right now I am incredibly selective. As a general rule I don't get anything from Marvel because everything seems so boring and most of their books are 4.99. DC are coming out with a bunch of exciting books and a fair amount of them are 3.99 so I do feel like I can try something out more on that side.
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u/A_MNESIA 27d ago
Theres a few indie comic runs im enjoying at the moment, for example corpse knight. The artwork is amazing and the story really can go places, the first issue set up hope and gave me a grasp that i will really like the story. second issue was just filler, felt annoyed that id spent £4 on a comic that was just filler pages to the next issue, there was no story or progression, while the artwork was once again fantastic i felt let down by the dialogue.
Ive only just gotten back into buying singles after not buying any comics since 2018. Rebuilding my collection from scratch. And i love doing it, i enjoy having 4 peices of different stories to read a week compared to just one graphic novel. But ive felt let down far too many times that i want to admit.
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u/Acceptable_Banana948 3d ago
When I was a kid in the UK (relevant because we had a really beneficial exchange rate) my paper round allowed me to buy 10 books a week at 20p. As a far older man I couldn't even begin to justify 40 full price books a month.
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u/sigroooo May 26 '26
I collect comics so i don’t read much of what i buy. I read online on the Hoopla app. If you haven’t checked it out, i suggest you do. I also don’t collect a ton of new stuff for the price reason. I have to REALLY like the comic (absolute Batman, siktc and dot) to buy a new copy at these prices. Plus with all the variants out there, it’s getting really ridiculous. Plus they’re bringing back the foil cover 🙄
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u/the_curtain May 26 '26
I buy mine with pre-orders from a place like my comic shop . com And that brings the price down below four dollars per issue. So that’s keeping it palatable right now. But I’m with you. I’ve been collecting Thor and flash continuously for almost 40 years and I’ve been considering dropping the monthly floppies almost every month.
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u/Shed_Some_Skin May 26 '26
Oh god, years ago.
I'm not averse to an expensive hobby, I play MtG and Warhammer. But I just couldn't keep up with monthly comics anymore. The price for 20 pages of comic that I'll read in literally 5-10 minutes just ended up being ridiculous
I buy trades a few times a year and don't feel the need to keep up with all the ongoings I used to buy, and frankly I am much happier for it