After DC announced in October that the bulk of their ongoing titles would drop down to $2.99 and 20 story pages, the natural question was — will Marvel follow suit? As of today, Bleeding Cool is saying yes.
The site’s saying that Marvel will be “dipping a toe in the water” of 20 pages of story books in May, though not necessarily at the expense of current 22 page titles.
Right now, most of the publisher’s conventional 32-page with ads $3.99 comics are miniseries, licensed books and Ultimate titles, plus a handful of Marvel Universe offerings like Invincible Iron Man, Secret Avengers and Uncanny X-Men. Other $3.99 Marvel titles come in at 40 pages — like Captain America and Amazing Spider-Man. Some titles, like Thunderbolts and Heroes for Hire, remain at 32-pages for $2.99.
The plan, according to the report, is for 20-page comics to release 13 issues a year so freelancers won’t be losing out on their rates — though 13 issues of 20 pages a story year is 260, four less than 12 issues of 22 pages (264. Math!).
We’ll keep monitoring this one.
January 28th, 2011 at 8:30 am
Oh it may be at the expense of existing 22 page books. It’s just that Marvel aren’t going in at the deepend like DC over this one. It will be a selective change.
Set your watched for May Previews folks!
January 28th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Wow, times have changed. Marvel is following DC’s lead.
January 28th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
As a content arm of Disney, the drive-for-profit that existed when Marvel was a standalone company is not as pressing. They now fill the same roll at Disney that DC does at Time Warner; a feeder company to the bigger corporate goals. It’s a winning situation for Disney/Marvel and definitely for consumers.
January 28th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Can’t say I’m surprised, these aren’t comic book houses we’re talking about, they’re multi-national corporations. Support the independents!
January 28th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Here’s how Marvel can save $1 per issue of Avengers:
Kill the 10 pages of black and white “oral history” at the back. You could put that junk on a Web site, fer cryin out lout.
January 28th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
I like how Marvel calls the $3.99 books “double-sized”, and charges $5.99 for 40 pages and a 8 page back-up tale that is awful. Even the 40 page $3.99 books have crappy back-up stories. I would not mind two less pages for $2.99, but $3.99 for shlock, just is too much. Looking your way Quesadilla!!!
January 28th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I second the idea of dropping the “Oral History” of the Avengers. Every comic fan knows the history of the Avengers pretty much by now. If you have to have the history, do it as a 1.99 book for 20 pages.
January 28th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Noooooo, no no nono..
The “Oral History of the Avengers” is the second-best thing to come out of the latest AVENGERS relaunch. (First obv. is JRJR drawing the stuff he’s been getting to draw.)
I absolutely love Bendis’ take on the history, and the format. Just wish it was much longer, and looking forward to reading it long-form, all in one go. In the meantime, when I’ve been on the fence about one of Bendy’s Avengers books, the “Oral History” puts it on the buy pile every time.
January 28th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
I agree with those mentioning the “Oral History”. Another thing they could adjust would be the recap page. Could they not publish the recap page inside the front cover like other publishers do? This way you can open up the book and (gasp) actually start reading the book without interrupting the flow of the story! Makes sense to me! The way it is now is almost like a hiccup.
And as for the books $3.99 and up: why don’t they do different versions of books. In other words, have a standard version without the back-up stories for the regular price, and for those who want them, a deluxe version for a dollar more. I remember Marvel doing this back in the ’90s, but instead of extra content, it was different grades of paper (kind of miss that, actually). As comic buyers, we need value for our money!
January 28th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
I’ve been anticipating Marvel doing this after DC did so recently. They (Marvel) were getting mired in bad publicity in the industry press after DC did this and Marvel stayed it’s coarse. In the aftermath (whether you like Marvel or DC better…I like both), you’ve got to admit that DC has been enjoying some accolades while Marvel has been getting the venom from a lot of fans over the topic of cover price drops. All I know is that this definitely opens up a bit of possible trying out of some Marvel titles that I couldn’t before due to price alone. Hoping this will be.
And to touch on what Oliver Joseph said above: AGREED on supporting the independents!
January 28th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Most definitely agree with dropping all back stories out of all of the titles. I buy a comic book for the current month’s story, and not for anything else that’s whacked at the back of the book. I buy only Marvel, so I’m part of the problem, but really, trying to justify the cost of these $3.99 comic books is ridiculous when you have fluff like that at the back of every comic that’s priced at that point. What a joke. Seriously, who cares about Nomad (Captain America back up)?
I mean, sure there are those that actually want to read them, so why not:
1) Put them in it’s own comic book, at a much lower price or
2) Put all hard to sell titles and back ups, through the digital form only – save production costs etc. right there!
I mean really, how stupid does Marvel think it’s customer base is? (Well, I still buy the $3.99 titles, so that’s an indication hahaha) Tell us the truth, nonetheless!
I’d be buying many more titles if they were at $2.99.
Heck, here’s a thought… get rid of the glossy pages, useless back stories, and bring the price down to $2.50! You might not get the profit margin on each comic straight up like you’re doing now, but I’m sure you’d be able to make it up in volume. I guess that’s what they always seem to forget; volume can make up for lower profit margins.
January 28th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Get rid of the oral history, it’s a waste of space and the majority of it rewrites the Avengers’ history for no apparent reason.
January 28th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Bluntkrayon, I second the motion to get rid of the glossy pages.
Comics didn’t have glossy pages in my hey day, and I was a very happy lad month-in month-out.
January 28th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
You do realize that they put the history pages in to help justify the higher price; they were going to charge that price anyway, and this is just something cheap they can throw in to make it seem more worth it.
January 28th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
I too wouldn’t mind if the “Big 2″ would put comics back into the old standard newsprint format paper/white standard paper. I really don’t care about the glossy paper either. This may also be a reason costs are up, the productions costs of which paper is used. I don’t get why the glossy more nice paper needs to be used. Computer coloring may be why but it can still show up pretty well on standard white paper or even the old newsprint paper from back in the day. Majority of DC’s trade paperbacks don’t have the glossy paper all the time. Just the standard white paper. Its this notion that comics need to be evolved since the mid 1990′s, has this changed. Which it didn’t need to. Marvel and DC in the ’90′s still had standard pages on titles with computer coloring and they turn out fine still in print. Maybe we can have those really cheap trade paperbacks again?
January 29th, 2011 at 6:08 am
Well I hope they do. I feel marvel was running the whole industry into the ground, with constant price hikes and lack luster stories I’ve dropped almost every marvel book I used to get. Marvel has messed up all their properties, with one more day, red hulk, red she hulk, wolverine in everything, making the avengers name a joke its all too much.
January 29th, 2011 at 7:36 am
I have to say that I’ll be surprised if this does happen. I hope so though. This can only be a good thing. I’ll definitely buy more Marvel titles (currently I’m only buying FF and Uncanny X-Force).
January 29th, 2011 at 9:02 am
The oral history is one of the main reasons I’m dropping The Avengers after the current Infinity Gems story ends. It’s pointless and stupid plus when you add to it that you have to read more than one Avengers title to get the whole thing it’s just stupid.
January 29th, 2011 at 11:39 am
Phuckin’ Marvel just make your titles 2.99 so I can buy them. I refuse to pay 4 bucks. But I’m the jerk if I happen to find them on the internet…
January 29th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
If Marvel went down to 2.99 on all their titles I might start reading more of their titles again. Currently all I read is the She-Hulks series, X-Men: Legacy, New Mutants, and Avengers: The Childrens’. Notice that the majority of the titles that I mention are 2.99. The only reason I get Childrens Crusade is because Wanda Maximoff is the first character I was introduced to in comic book land and she is and will forever be my favorite character. If Marvel went to 2.99 I would be getting Uncanny X-men, Uncanny X-Force, Avengers, New Avengers, and several other titles along the way, but due to them being 3.99 I have dropped them.
January 29th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
2.99 or 3.99 i just dont care since this is the last month i will buy single issue except for Inc Hulk(s), Red Sonja and Vampirella.
The rest i will buy i trade and thats only for the Marvel and some Image books. I just dont care if Dc make there books even 1.99 no way am i touching that crap universe ever again.
January 29th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Omar, theft is ALWAYS justified when prices are deemed to be too high! Today’s lesson in rationalization in The Twilight Zone!
January 30th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
To me, the irony is that DC was the first one to drop to $2.99 and drop the backup stories, but the DC backup stories were actually GOOD. Every Marvel backup has been pretty wretched. I can’t even stomach reading Nomad in Cap.
January 30th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Can’t these guys just get more ads to offset the cost of printing the books? I don’t care if I have to flip through a few more ads to keep the price reasonable at $2.99.
13 issues a year? Ridiculous! Who is making these decisions?
January 31st, 2011 at 9:20 am
I’m glad to hear this. I had cut a number of Marvel books after the price hike…a combination of not being a fan of what was being done content wise mixed with a hefty hike on the cover price. The $4 tag also kept me from being inclined to pick up ANY thing new that the Big M was trying to do. I went from reading 5-8 books from them a month (not a lot I know) to just one. I’ll be more likely to pick up new series and give them a shot at $3.
January 31st, 2011 at 10:02 am
The price point for the Marvel issues is definitely a deal breaker for me. I like quality titles from all publishers, but when you are being gouged for what basically constitutes filler material and reprints, I vote with my wallet and go elsewhere. One option that definitely gives me more bang for my buck is ordering online through Sci-Fi Genre. With the number of titles I get every month, I get a 35% discount all of the cover price, as well as about 30% off of TPB’s and HC’s. Check them out (and not, I’m not an employee, just a satisfied customer).
January 31st, 2011 at 10:19 am
PLEASE! To save Captain America drop the CRAPPY backup stories you have been FORCING me to buy, and put that great title at $2.99. ‘NUFF SAID!
February 1st, 2011 at 5:10 am
I agree with the above comment about differential pricing – 2 versions of the same book one low quality (Budget version) & one high quality (Collectors version) and both priced accordingly.
But let’s take this further – why not have the Budget version published in B&W on the cheapest possible newsprint available and priced at 75c? I know many fans would like to follow characters but the high prices stops them doing this so either you just read up what happened online (not satisfying) or you drift into pirated downloads.
As for the Collector versions let’s really think out of the box. How about Marvel & DC make available the digital files for their comics to Comic bookstores who then publish it in store on quality printers. Modern printers can also staple or bind the comic when done. The price would then be split between the store owner and the publisher – much like iTune purchases. You could even expand it for independents and pay the creators direct!
So you walk in order your comic (or even pre-order by email) and the store has it ready for you.
This way only a comic which is paid for will ever be printed, just think of how much waste would be cut out. No more trees being cut down for comic paper. No more returns of unwanted unsold comics. No more storage problems for stores.
Surely in the eco-conscious age we’re living in, anything to reduce consumption of scarce resources is a good thing.
But, you know what? It’ll never happen – cos it’s too bloody practical!
February 1st, 2011 at 5:45 am
While I applaud Marvel if they do drop their prices I think it’s too little too late, at least for certain titles. I’ve dropped both Thor and Invincible Iron Man due to a combination of price and unbelievably decompressed storytelling (particularly on Iron Man). Having dropped both I have found that I do not miss them at all. If these books were $2.99 I probably would have kept buying them hoping they would get better but the $3.99 price made it very easy to drop them and not look back.
Marvel’s policy of pricing most number one issues at $3.99 also has to go. Most of the time you are getting a 22 page story with reprints to pad it out. Because of this I have stopped trying new titles unless it’s something I am extremely interested in. The fact is that unless a new title is related to the Avengers or the X-Men it is very likely that it will be canceled after the first arc. Marvel need to look at why people aren’t trying new series’ and I have to believe $3.99 number one issues is a big reason. Seems to me that it would make a great deal of sense to price number one issues cheaper ($2.50 or $1.99) to give people an incentive to try them.
February 1st, 2011 at 6:52 am
@ BobDoggie:
True, but they are more some sort of ‘extra’ to justify the 3,99.
If they would remove this, it would still be 3,99 im sure of it.
So just be happy at least we got more pages for 3,99.
That being said, im pleased to hear Marvel is dropping prices, I was very strickt on everything..
3,99 for 32 pages? No way…. the only one im buying now is Uncanny X-men…. keep it at 2,99 people!!