Amazing Spider-Man: regularly priced at...$3.99?
Okay, I was going to post this last night, except that I got in home pretty late. I also realize this is going to be the third Spider-Man related post I’ve done in a row, but I’m hoping this will branch out beyond just focusing on just this, considering the topic heading for this entry.
For those of you who may have been looking at the solicitations for Spider-Man comics for June of this year, you might have noticed the prices for Amazing Spider-Man #634, #635, and #636. Each one of those issues are priced at $3.99. And while yes, there have been $3.99 issues in the past, this will mark the first month that all three issues under the three-times-a-month format will, at minimum, be $4.00 each.
To be fair, the reason why there’s an extra cost is due to extra content being added to these issues, which includes a back-up story relating to the main story by J.M. DeMatties, and another 2 page back-up strip penned by Stan Lee and Marcos Martin. So, presumably, readers are going to be getting more “bang for their buck.” However, this naturally raises a concern: is this an indication that Amazing Spider-Man is now going to cost $3.99 per issue even after this “Grim Hunt” story arc is finished. One would imagine the J.M. DeMatties feature would go after this arc, but what about the Stan Lee back-up?
When asked about whether or not the $3.99 price increase was “temporary” over on the Comic Book Resources Forums, Editor Steve Wacker responded thus:
Not sure. This one was mostly on me because I wanted to add stuff to the Grim Hunt issues. If I decide I want to add stuff to future issues, marketing and sales will figure out the price point. It's not really something I'm involved in.
forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php
Well, hopefully this will be temporary, because if that $3.99 for Amazing Spider-Man continues past this story arc, I will guarantee that's going to be really asking a lot from the readers.
“But wait?” you might ask. “It’s just an extra dollar. That doesn’t seem like much. After all, there are comics that already cost $3.99.”
Ah, yes, but here’s a few things you have to take into account: those comics that are already $3.99--those are MONTHLY titles. Amazing Spider-Man comes out THREE TIMES A MONTH. So essentially, if this $3.99 price increase is allowed to continue past June, readers would be potentially paying $4.00 virtually per week, or $12.00 per month for just one title. And after all, there have already been those who claim to have gone to waiting until the trade paperback for these issues come out or have dropped the title altogether simply because it was already getting too much to invest $3.00 nearly every week or $9.00 a month.
And for those collectors and readers wanting to “complete” their collection, every issue of Amazing Spider-Man for June also includes a cover variant, two just for issue #634. This means that Marvel will be asking those readers to pay, at minimum, $28.00 for that month for just one title. And I’m not given counting all the extra titles like Web of Spider-Man or Peter Parker or the three mini-series that are also coming out for that month in order for people to get their “complete Spidey fix.”
The thing of it is, I think that there can be case made that when the $3.99 price increase for some comic books occurred, it helped to contribute to the decline we’ve been seeing in retailer orders through Diamond Distributors that we’ve been seeing in the sales estimates put out by sites like ICv2 and Comichron. That’s because (and perhaps there are those that can confirm this) is that because of the higher price, customers have now chosen to “budgetize” when it comes to what titles they want to pick up and put on their pull list; which means dropping certain titles in favor of others. And the retailer, not wanting to be stuck with a bunch of extra copies since, under the Direct Market system they allow for no return policy, they’ll under order certain titles depending upon the demand to save costs.
So, if Amazing Spider-Man were to go up to $3.99 and still stay under the current three-times-a-month format, I’m expecting the sales for the title to actually decrease over time, as more readers decide to wait for the trade or drop it altogether for monetary reasons. That is, of course, if the $3.99 does indeed continue past the month of June.
For those of you who may have been looking at the solicitations for Spider-Man comics for June of this year, you might have noticed the prices for Amazing Spider-Man #634, #635, and #636. Each one of those issues are priced at $3.99. And while yes, there have been $3.99 issues in the past, this will mark the first month that all three issues under the three-times-a-month format will, at minimum, be $4.00 each.
To be fair, the reason why there’s an extra cost is due to extra content being added to these issues, which includes a back-up story relating to the main story by J.M. DeMatties, and another 2 page back-up strip penned by Stan Lee and Marcos Martin. So, presumably, readers are going to be getting more “bang for their buck.” However, this naturally raises a concern: is this an indication that Amazing Spider-Man is now going to cost $3.99 per issue even after this “Grim Hunt” story arc is finished. One would imagine the J.M. DeMatties feature would go after this arc, but what about the Stan Lee back-up?
When asked about whether or not the $3.99 price increase was “temporary” over on the Comic Book Resources Forums, Editor Steve Wacker responded thus:
Not sure. This one was mostly on me because I wanted to add stuff to the Grim Hunt issues. If I decide I want to add stuff to future issues, marketing and sales will figure out the price point. It's not really something I'm involved in.
forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php
Well, hopefully this will be temporary, because if that $3.99 for Amazing Spider-Man continues past this story arc, I will guarantee that's going to be really asking a lot from the readers.
“But wait?” you might ask. “It’s just an extra dollar. That doesn’t seem like much. After all, there are comics that already cost $3.99.”
Ah, yes, but here’s a few things you have to take into account: those comics that are already $3.99--those are MONTHLY titles. Amazing Spider-Man comes out THREE TIMES A MONTH. So essentially, if this $3.99 price increase is allowed to continue past June, readers would be potentially paying $4.00 virtually per week, or $12.00 per month for just one title. And after all, there have already been those who claim to have gone to waiting until the trade paperback for these issues come out or have dropped the title altogether simply because it was already getting too much to invest $3.00 nearly every week or $9.00 a month.
And for those collectors and readers wanting to “complete” their collection, every issue of Amazing Spider-Man for June also includes a cover variant, two just for issue #634. This means that Marvel will be asking those readers to pay, at minimum, $28.00 for that month for just one title. And I’m not given counting all the extra titles like Web of Spider-Man or Peter Parker or the three mini-series that are also coming out for that month in order for people to get their “complete Spidey fix.”
The thing of it is, I think that there can be case made that when the $3.99 price increase for some comic books occurred, it helped to contribute to the decline we’ve been seeing in retailer orders through Diamond Distributors that we’ve been seeing in the sales estimates put out by sites like ICv2 and Comichron. That’s because (and perhaps there are those that can confirm this) is that because of the higher price, customers have now chosen to “budgetize” when it comes to what titles they want to pick up and put on their pull list; which means dropping certain titles in favor of others. And the retailer, not wanting to be stuck with a bunch of extra copies since, under the Direct Market system they allow for no return policy, they’ll under order certain titles depending upon the demand to save costs.
So, if Amazing Spider-Man were to go up to $3.99 and still stay under the current three-times-a-month format, I’m expecting the sales for the title to actually decrease over time, as more readers decide to wait for the trade or drop it altogether for monetary reasons. That is, of course, if the $3.99 does indeed continue past the month of June.