Good news from Marvel: They’ve announced that they’re lowering the price of the debut issues of both Wolverine and The X-Men and Uncanny X-Men to… $3.99. Well, okay, still pricey, but at least they’re not $4.99 anymore, and the price drop comes without a drop in content according to the press release. So, what prompted this turnaround?
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I can’t help but wonder whether X-Men: Schism #1 not making the top 10 for July was involved in this decision (It was just outside, at #11). For the debut of an insanely-hyped event book from Marvel to miss the top 10 entirely is embarrassing for Marvel, and given the talent involved – Jason Aaron and Carlos Pacheco surely made up for the familiarity of “It’s Wolverine vs. Cyclops – again!” – the only real explanation for it being outsold by, say, War of The Green Lanterns Aftermath #1 has to have been that it was $4.99. So does this reduction mean that Marvel may be moving away from a $4.99 price point for the near future, or just that they’ll be saving it for more successful franchises like Fear Itself and Avengers?
August 17th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
I wonder if it might also be because the two new series will be going same-day-digital…as crazy as the $4.99 price point looks in print, it looks crazier still online.
August 17th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
‘Jason Aaron and Carlos Pacheco surely made up for the familiarity of “It’s Wolverine vs. Cyclops – again!”’
It didn’t for me. Much as I like those creators, this direction is completely uninteresting and it seemed like a great time to bail out of X-world entirely.
August 17th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
I can’t fathom why anyone would pay five bucks for a floppy. Now if it were in prestige format and 60 pages long, sure. But five bucks for a floppy?
Even the Marvel fanboys couldn’t justify that price unless they’re total mindless sheep and/or completely insane. DC is looking better and better to me despite their silly reboot. Or, maybe I should just switch to Dark Horse and forget about the big two entirely.
August 17th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
“Call me a conspiracy theorist, but…”
That’s not a conspiracy theory. The conspiracy theory is that Marvel never meant to sell those books for $5.00. They just over-priced them initially, planning to later drop the price a dollar so they can show off how much they care about their fans.
Not that I believe that…
August 18th, 2011 at 5:53 am
$5 for a comic??? That’s just crazy. DC’s doing it too with their Retroactive stuff (and much of that is reprinted material). If the companies are “testing the waters” with a “$4.99 with extra content” product then I hope they fail.
I’m more convinced then ever that comics need the digital form to work for them in their stated goal of bringing in new customers…and fast. I’m sure launching a $4.99 book wasn’t anything Marvel or DC wanted to do (and probably debated for many hours) but ultimately they did it, and to me that choice demonstrates desperation in making thier sales numbers, and puts that burden squarely on the shoulders of the existing fanbase.
It’s like they’re saying, “We tried to grow the market. Nothing’s working. We need to make sales this quarter. Let’s charge an extra buck…on top of the extra buck we just started charging not too long ago…and see how that flies”. And that’s a risky proposition. Clearly it was risky enough that Marvel has now backed off a bit. But I think the damage is done and the initial choice to price part 1 of their X-Men event where they did kept many potential fans away. We all know how important it is to launch an event well. While not unheard of, it’s rare to pick up new fans midway through an event/storyline.
It seems that the often repeated comment, “Fans should vote with their wallet”, a comment we’ve heard over and over through the years, may finally be taking root.
Okay, enough rambling from me…
August 18th, 2011 at 9:01 am
Marvel is insane about its pricing. Some of their $3.99 books have had only 20 pages of actual story in them. If they are going to force the issue of higher price, they can at least do what the “independents” did in the ’80s, give us a few extra pages of content for the higher price … like 24 or 25 pages. But this is Marvel being Marvel: raising prices, cutting pages, and telling you that trickling feeling you have in your ear is just rain. Of course, knowing Marvel, if they were to add content it would be in splash and double-truck pages of someone attacking rather than to actually move the story along. Feh!
August 18th, 2011 at 11:11 am
“the only real explanation for it being outsold by, say, War of The Green Lanterns Aftermath #1 has to have been that it was $4.99.”
Exactly. I was on the fence about this series, as I usually try to stay away from the X-men franchise (I used to buy too many interconnecting titles in the 90′s). But I was leaning toward buying it based on the creative team and early reviews. I got to my store, saw the price and said to myself “yeah, I’ll wait to read it when it’s free at the library.”
Hear it loud and clear Marvel: These prices are getting a little too rich for my blood, and the $5 charge on the first book turned me off so much that I did not spend $21 on the series I was planning on buying.
“HOLD THE LINE AT 2.99!”
August 18th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Seeing as how Marvel just re-signed Bendis (i.e. Uncle Fester)… LOOK OUT wallet.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Seriously though, $4.99 is definitely the breaking point. Most of the books suck as it is. I struggle to find a $3.99 book I’m interested in buying. Bumping the price up is the kiss of death. There is a price point at which I will say no.
September 1st, 2011 at 4:02 am
I passed the point where I said no years ago . It seams the prices have spiraled even more now . Its a wonder that anyone still buys comics . I dont see why these companys can’t produce them on a cheap paper and with adverts as they did in the 60-80s . I mean certainly have mini series like the dark knight returns that warrent special treatment on better paper and at higher prices but for the average monthly book its crazy . How can kids afford to buy comics anymore and they are the future fans . I used to get maybe 25 comics a month from about 8-16 cant in todays comparative pricing(including inflation) you proberbly would only get 5 . Madness.