It’s great to see that DC is committed to providing a more affordable product going into the new year. While the news of the move to a $2.99 price point for all of their ongoing and newly launching titles came at the New York Comic Con last October, they reminded their readers of the pricing today on their blog, the Source. It will also be interesting to see how a reduced page count (from 22 to 20) will affect the storytelling.
Of course it would be great if Marvel found it commercially viable to follow suit with an across-the-board drop in prices as well (to be fair, all new Marvel ongoing titles launching from this point forward will be $2.99). However, it is hard to dispute the quality of Marvel’s storytellers—Marvel has exclusive deals with some of the best writers in the business (Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman and Matt Fraction). It takes money to put out fresh and inventive stories using characters that have been around for decades; there’s a reason that Marvel refers to these writers as its Architects.
With the advent of the iPad and other digital readers into the market, 2011 might be the year that digital comic books begin really making a dent in retail sales. While this may not be great news for the retail market, it could mean an eventual reduced price for new comic books (Dark Horse is making their digital issues available for $1.49 and DC has back issues for $1.99).
2011 might be the year that the digital market explodes, making it feasible to bring price points lower. As the publishers test this new arena in moving their product, it will be interesting to see the financial benefits that might be passed on to the readers.
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