Over on the Source Blog today DC Comics issued a press release of a surprising kind in the day of rising comics prices. This time a lot of books will be dropping in price from $3.99 to $2.99 with a decrease in the number of story pages to 20 pages starting in January. As a result of this pricing strategy more than 80% of DC's titles will be at the $2.99 price point.In comments, Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee had the following to say:
Books affected by the price change / page decrease are:“As Co-Publishers, we listened to our fans and to our partners in the retail community who told us that a $3.99 price point for 32 pages was too expensive. Fans were becoming increasingly reluctant to sample new titles and long term fans were beginning to abandon titles and characters that they’d collected for years.” said Dan DiDio, DC Comics Co-Publisher. “We needed a progressive pricing strategy that supports our existing business model and, more importantly, allows this creative industry to thrive for years to come. With the exceptions of oversized comic books, like annuals and specials, we are committed to a $2.99 price point.”
Action Comics;
Adventure Comics;
American Vampire;
Batman: The Dark Knight;
Batman: Streets of Gotham;
Batman Incorporated;
Detective Comics;
Doc Savage;
Gears of War;
God of War;
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors;
JSA All-Stars;
Justice League of America;
Kane & Lynch;
Legion of Super-Heroes;
Ratchet & Clank;
The Spirit.
Marvel has drop prices as well.
ReplyDeleteWell that's good for some of us readers, but I feel bad for the creators. Now they're making less money for their issues with 12 less pages. I kinda feel bad for the artist who gets paid by the page. 12 pages seems like a lot of money to lose.
ReplyDeleteIt's only 2. Comics at the moment are 32 pages total with 22 story pages. Now it'll be 20 story pages with 2 additional ad pages.
ReplyDeleteWell that is true, and it sounds a lot better than 12. But still, if an average artist has a monthly book and gets about $250 per page...isn't that him losing $6,000 a year?
ReplyDeleteThat still sounds kinda shitty.
Maybe (hopefully) they make up for it in other ways, but my immediate reaction is a "wow, that sucks for them."