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Post by freedomfighter on Jan 30, 2010 1:31:16 GMT -5
Many of marvel's regular books are now 3.99. A buck increase. Nobody noticed? Nobody cared? Stopped buying? Sadly I am dropping a bunch of books. Just gave Incredible Hercules a run but at four bucks a pop, a year's worth of issues is a great dinner out that I won't eat if I keep buying it. As if I needed further incentive not to buy Marvel books...
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Post by betaraybill on Jan 30, 2010 13:13:26 GMT -5
Many of marvel's regular books are now 3.99. A buck increase. Nobody noticed? Nobody cared? Stopped buying? Sadly I am dropping a bunch of books. Just gave Incredible Hercules a run but at four bucks a pop, a year's worth of issues is a great dinner out that I won't eat if I keep buying it. As if I needed further incentive not to buy Marvel books... I hadn't noticed, because I don't care. Truthfully, I didn't care because I was determined to help my favorite local comic shop out by buying around 5 issues a month. I was getting Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, Mighty Avengers and Thor regularly, and then I would add others depending on appeal. I've been picking both of the Realm of Kings limited series (Inhumans & Imperial Guard), Captain America Reborn, DC's Cry For Justice, and I just arranged to get the Tony Stark Disassembled arc. Sadly enough the shop is closing this week! It's tough enough with the economy being like it is, but now the owner's dad is sick and the medical bills he's helping with have him behind the eight ball. I'm thinking about subscribing to GotG and Nova through Marvel and dropping everything else. Partly because of the prices and partly because I'm frustrated that the Avengers and mainstream MU is still under the control of a creator I just don't like...
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Post by humanbelly on Jan 30, 2010 16:58:59 GMT -5
Well, I kind of noticed-- but I don't frequent any LCS's much anymore. At $2.99/issue they were already becoming too expense for me to buy w/out serious pangs of guilt (I mean, I have two kids who are going to need to go to college before long). As mentioned else-thread, I've relied for decades on Marvel's subscriptions, and @ the current $20 price, that still keeps the cost to $1.66/issue. A major discount. And it's almost worse when I do hit the shops, because impulse-buying becomes an all-or-nothing proposition. The act of taking just five books up to the counter and being charged a cool $20 actually has the effect of making me not want any of them. Especially when all five will be read in less than 45 minutes. I may have mentioned this before, but I recently overheard a very nice, earnest LCS owner/manager trying to explain to a disenchanted customer that the price per page was, like, less than 20 cents-- so it was still a bargain from that perspective. And I put down the 8 or so impulse-buy books I'd picked up, got the Archie Comic I'd promised my daughter, and left the store with a lot more cash in my pocket than I otherwise would have. It's not at all the stores' fault, of course. But the industry seems to have completely lost sight of the relative value of their product. And there's almost a tobacco-industry or street-narcotic level of pressure exerted by them onto their consumers: "You like this? Ah, great! Here's three times more! Four times more! And we're hiking the prices 33%-- but we know we've got you hooked-- so we're not worried! Come, children, come!" It's gonna implode. It has too.
HB
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Post by spiderwasp on Jan 31, 2010 1:02:25 GMT -5
I actually had not noticed. The irony is that when the books were much cheaper, I also had less money so I could afford them less easily than now (Not that I have that much now but since my divorce I have more money, ha ha). I sometimes had a dozen titles in my bag that I had to wait for the money to pay for because I had only been able to afford a few in a single week and there was just so much that I wanted to buy. Now I wouldn't buy most of Marvel's crap if it went all the way back down to the 12 cent price.
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Post by freedomfighter on Jan 31, 2010 17:44:46 GMT -5
I'm also annoyed that I wrote "Marvels" instead of "Marvel" In any case, I've tried to buy issues because I fear waiting for the trades leaves sales in a precarious position, and I don't do subscriptions because I never know if I'm gonna like a book month to month. I'll drop a book in a heartbeat these days. I often just wait for comic cons so I can haggle down the price on a collection of books. I hate to do it on books I like- I try and support those but Marvel has just made it incredibly difficult...
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kidcage
Reservist Avenger
Posts: 167
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Post by kidcage on Feb 1, 2010 13:22:35 GMT -5
You know, I noticed it on some of the titles I picked up this weekend that the price went up. While it didn't completely dissuade me from buying some of the books, it is defintiely something I'm going to have to keep in mind on "why not?" buys. I've been meaning to check out Guardians since it seems to be getting some amazing praise, but I'm so far back and probably wouldn't be TOO intent on it to really attempt. Meanwhile, books I'm on the fence about as it is (Ultimate Spider-Man for instance), I may drop altogether since it hasn't kept me interested enough for a $4 comic.
Heck, this weekend I picked up a stretch of Avengers (Vol 1) comics from the #60s - #90s for $4 a pop off a dealer, and those were a better investment than some of the newer comics I've been buying. I've already dropped stuff like Green Lantern (the only DC comic I'd been getting) and UC Spider-Man could very well be next.
The one thing I'm hoping for with the ending of the four different Avengers titles to lead into one is the amount I'll save per month on those.
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comaboy
Great Lakes Avenger
Posts: 34
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Post by comaboy on Feb 1, 2010 16:07:27 GMT -5
Since I only buy one title, I hadn't noticed. ;-)
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Post by starfoxxx on Feb 1, 2010 17:33:42 GMT -5
Now I wouldn't buy most of Marvel's crap if it went all the way back down to the 12 cent price. Here, here, spiderwasp, once again you read my mind. I often go through the Marvel Previews mag and check off the titles that ACTUALLY have anything to do with the MU I grew up with at all. So much Ultimate Crap, Noir nonsense, tie-ins, sketchbooks, etc., etc., ad nauseum......i guess somebody must buy this crap. Luckily, my LCS is pretty lenient with their "leafing through" policy, or I'd really be bitter, getting stuck with a $4.00 turd. One question concerning subscriptions>>>what happens if they cancel your title mid-subscription??
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Post by humanbelly on Feb 1, 2010 18:59:46 GMT -5
Now I wouldn't buy most of Marvel's crap if it went all the way back down to the 12 cent price. Here, here, spiderwasp, once again you read my mind. I often go through the Marvel Previews mag and check off the titles that ACTUALLY have anything to do with the MU I grew up with at all. So much Ultimate Crap, Noir nonsense, tie-ins, sketchbooks, etc., etc., ad nauseum......i guess somebody must buy this crap. Luckily, my LCS is pretty lenient with their "leafing through" policy, or I'd really be bitter, getting stuck with a $4.00 turd. One question concerning subscriptions>>>what happens if they cancel your title mid-subscription?? They're usually quite good about letting you know (although not a peep from them yet about these latest developments). They send you a notice & a form, and say they'll automatically switch you sub to a similar or related title of their choosing, OR you can request a different title, OR you can request a refund. I've always been satisfied with the first two options, and never tried the third. HB
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Post by betaraybill on Feb 2, 2010 21:53:03 GMT -5
You know, I noticed it on some of the titles I picked up this weekend that the price went up. While it didn't completely dissuade me from buying some of the books, it is defintiely something I'm going to have to keep in mind on "why not?" buys. I've been meaning to check out Guardians since it seems to be getting some amazing praise, but I'm so far back and probably wouldn't be TOO intent on it to really attempt. Meanwhile, books I'm on the fence about as it is (Ultimate Spider-Man for instance), I may drop altogether since it hasn't kept me interested enough for a $4 comic. Heck, this weekend I picked up a stretch of Avengers (Vol 1) comics from the #60s - #90s for $4 a pop off a dealer, and those were a better investment than some of the newer comics I've been buying. I've already dropped stuff like Green Lantern (the only DC comic I'd been getting) and UC Spider-Man could very well be next. The one thing I'm hoping for with the ending of the four different Avengers titles to lead into one is the amount I'll save per month on those. You should pick up Annihilation: Conquest (1 and 2 trade paperbacks). Then, if you like what you see, grab the Guardians of the Galaxy trades to get caught up. I didn't start reading GotG until they were at #13... got caught up and don't regret a cent.
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Post by bobc on Feb 3, 2010 14:28:07 GMT -5
I think The Black Panther and Captain America reborn are really great books coming out of Marvel--but I am having more and more trouble finding anything else very interesting. Since I am gloriously wealthy, the price increase wouldn't bother me much if the quality was there. But it ain't.
It pains me to my very soul to admit this, but my hero, Mark Millar, has fallen. His new Avengers stuff just ain't doing it for me. A Red Wasp? Come on. I have also come to the conclusion that Millar without Hitch is like Mick Jagger without Kieth Richards. Hitch's work on Cap reborn is beautiful.
I am also getting very weary of these epic battle scenes on covers, and opening the comic to find zero action. Fortunately I have grown smarter and open the comic in the store before purchasing any false advertisement.
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