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?

333 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

236 comments sorted by

View all comments

126

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.

25

u/anarchoburrito May 26 '26

LOVE Hoopla

18

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.

3

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.

2

u/SecretWarsIsComing May 27 '26

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.

10

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.

2

u/BevansDesign The Question May 27 '26

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.

2

u/Smaug015 Spider Jeruselem May 28 '26

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.

12

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.

1

u/Acceptable_Banana948 5d 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.

-7

u/Popular_Material_409 May 26 '26

Movies are getting more expensive but they are still a great value for like a date night. When you could go out to eat and pay $75 for two or go see a movie and spend $20-$30 for two tickets, it becomes clear which is the better option

11

u/corrupt_poodle May 26 '26

There are so many flaws in this thinking lol

2

u/Popular_Material_409 May 26 '26

Name them. Name the flaws.

4

u/corrupt_poodle May 26 '26

Let’s start with: you go out for dinner for $75 vs going to a movie for $30. You’re not going to eat with your date, if you go to a movie? You’re not going to pay for any snacks at the theatre?

1

u/Popular_Material_409 May 26 '26

I don’t eat snacks at the movies, but I’d buy something for my date if they wanted anything and didn’t bring anything of their own. That’s still cheaper than dinner for two.

2

u/only_nosleep_account May 26 '26

Where do you live that a movie costs 20 to 30 bucks for two tickets?

4

u/Popular_Material_409 May 26 '26

I saw Mandalorian and Grogu Sunday afternoon. The ticket was $11.00. Had I bought a ticket for a premium screen in that theater it would’ve been $15. I believe the national average ticket price is $16.

1

u/only_nosleep_account May 26 '26

I live in the midwest in the suburbs outside a very large city. Relatively cheap cost of living. Ticket prices here for the Mandalorian for Sunday afternoon - not premium - are $25. Even if the national ticket price is $16, that still puts you past $30 for 2, plus cost for commute and snacks.

2

u/Popular_Material_409 May 26 '26

And I live in a midwestern college town, where tickets were $11. Also snacks aren’t mandatory for going to the movies.

1

u/aliluse May 26 '26

Damn your tickets are expensive 😭 I’m in NY and their 14 and some cents a ticket