The Comics Rack

Learn From The Past, Why Don'tcha?

   Back in the mid-90s, Marvel thought they were the head hogs at the trough. They owned their own distribution company, were #1 in sales and saw their first stock offering shoot through the roof. Anything with Marvel on it seemed to be gold: even the bad comics were selling. Unfortunately, Marvel became convinced that their license to print money would never end and, in one of the most ill-advised moves in publishing, decided that since readers wanted Marvel product, they would be willing to pay lots of money to get it.
   Soon, Marvel began to raise the price on their Masterworks volumes; moving from $29.95 to $34.95 and eventually settling on $49.95. Comics prices went up and then there were the odd hard back collections that had an increasingly higher ticket price for each volume. There was a Chris Claremont volume that went for around $50. The Frank Miller Spider-Man book was around $75-80. Something, I don't remember what, finally reached $99 and then there was the Nick Fury volume that would reprint all of the Steranko Nick Fury stories. It was never printed, but was solicited at a wholesale price (wholesale, not retail) of $180 (!), at a time when you could have bought mint copies of every comic Steranko ever did (including the ones he only did the covers for), a Venti Frappuccino at Starbuck's and still had change left over. Shortly after the announcement of the Nick Fury volume, Marvel went into a collapse.
   The reason for this little history lesson is a dangerous trend I see occuring at DC comics. In the August, 2005 solicitation, DC is offering a new printing of the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons series Watchmen in an oversized hardcover edition with extras called, Watchman: The Absolute Edition. Whereas the previous Absolute editions (Hush and The World's Greatest Super-Heroes) were both oversized, slipcased hardcover editions, they had an SRP of $49.95. This new edition of Watchmen raises the bar once again to a new high SRP of $75!
   Now, taken by itself, this price hike wouldn't be quite so alarming, if not for a couple of factors. DC, according to most everything I've seen, is the best selling comic book company; similar to Marvel's position in the 90s. But, even though they are the best selling comic publisher, the prices on all of the regular DC comics are slowly rising. And, just to prove that this seems to be a trend, in the September Previews, we find that DC will be releasing a Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Absolute Edition for the incredibly inflated price of $99 (!): one dollar short of a Ben Franklin and something that is way outside the budget of your basic comic collector. All of these factors put together suggest that DC, like Marvel in the 90s, is getting too set on itself and has no regard for the fans and collectors who put them into their #1 position.
   Granted, Watchmen is a modern classic, but it has been continuously in print for nearly 20 years. It is not rare or hard to come by and the trade paperback is still available. Outside of 48 pages of supplemental material, this edition will not differ one bit from the paperback. No extra story pages, no scenes deleted from the original, just the Watchmen series in a slipcased hardcover. I will admit that there is a small group who want the supplemental material, but I'm afraid that I've seen way too many DVDs with this same type of filler that only seems to exist to justify a higher ticket price. No, I'm afraid that DC is simply looking for a way to gouge more money from the dwindling fan base of collectors.
   So, here are my suggestions to DC on how to fix this problem, even though the problem itself may only be perceptual on my part. First, lower, or at least cap, the price on all your regular comics. They are too expensive now and a raise in price will only hurt sales. Putting all the regular comics at $2.50 might be a good place to start. Second, look at the history of the industry and don't follow Marvel's lead...lower the price on the Archives. Yes, I know they cost a lot to color and to clean up and all that, but I remember when they first came out they were $39.95. The jump to $49.95 came with the first Capt. Marvel volume and this price increase was apologized for in advance on the grounds that you weren't sure of how many copies you would sell and so you had to have a higher price. Sounds good on paper, but isn't it odd that all the Archives jumped to the $49.95 price soon after? Lastly, quit putting out vanity editions. The slipcased The World's Greatest Super-Heroes was a good idea, since its contents were all oversized to begin with and each book retailed for $9.95, so this collection costs a smidge less than buying them all separately. But to put out a third reprinting of Hush at $49.95 and then something as common as Watchmen at an even higher price is just bad business.
   DC needs to try and lay down some plans that will keep them in business, and growing, for the next 60 years, not taking the quick buck approach the helped Marvel's collapse in the 90s. After all, isn't there an old saying that says "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it?"