Hi, Dave.
DJ> The time was, that 2 bucks could get you 20 comics, rather then
DJ> just one, and back issues were available for  3 for a dime.
     When I first started reading comics... it was very late in the
$0.20 era... and by the time I actually started buying them, they were
up to $0.25.  That would have cut what you could buy for $2 by more
than half (8 for $2 instead of 20).
DJ> It was a time that the poorest of the masses could enjoy, despite
DJ> living lives of the most wretched of poverty.
     Either way... for somebody living in poverty (now or back then)
to spend money on comic books is more than a little frivolous, IMO.
Still... back then there were other ways to scrounge up cash for
comics.  A friend of mine and I used to get up early on Saturday
morning... and head up to the local "watering hole" and scour the
parking lot (and surrounding area) for abandoned beer bottles (which
we would then cash in) and other returnable bottles.  That was how I
got money for that kind of thing (the 25 cents a week allowance I got
from my father had to go into the bank).  Beer bottles were worth a
nickle each (later on...  they doubled in price to a whopping 10
cents!), small pop bottles were 25 cents, big bottles were 35 cents
and the huge bottles (and extremely rare to find too) were 50 cents a
piece.  Most times we'd only scrounge up enough for each of us to buy
one or two books...  but that was better than nothing.
DJ> Now I don't know of a single title costing less then 1.95. a copy.
DJ> The 12 cent comic, lasted 7 & a half years.
     Yes... but how much has the average household income risen over
the past almost 40 years (early '60s to 1998)?  It might not have
risen to the same degree comic prices have... but I don't know too
many people who're making the same salary they did back in the '60s
either.
DJ> IF they would have kept to that, a 2 to 3 cent price increase
DJ> every 7 1/2 years, the prices today, would be a mere 25 cents or
DJ> so today.
     But inflation in the comic industry doesn't necessarily increase
at a constant rate of 2 to 3 cents every 7.5 years.  The cost of
printing, the price of paper, the cost of the talent... has all
contributed to the increases in prices over the years.  I think it's
safe to say it's not the same industry it was back in the '60s.
DJ> When a title costs  basiclly 2 bucks,because of tax, something
DJ> that until 1983, was NEVER added on comics here, well, at 36 bucks
DJ> a year for one title, tan titles add up! Comics have become
DJ> intertainment for the upper middle class.
     For the "upper middle class"?  I don't think it's necessarily
that bad yet...  I mean, is there anything that still costs the
same today as it did almost 40 years ago?  Let's be honest, back in
the '70s...  basically when I started buying comics, they cost $0.25
each.  With a $1.95 comic now... the price (before tax) has gone up
less than 8X what it was (with tax puts it at over 8X).  What did a
movie ticket cost back when comics were 10 cents?  Depending on where
you go these days... a movie ticket can cost you as much as $9.50.
How much has inflation affected the price of a carton of milk, a car
or a chocolate bar over the past 40 years?   How much did a house cost
in the early '60s?  What would one of comparable size...  on a
similarly-sized lot in the same area cost today?  Last July, I bought
a house (before the prices and interest rates started climbing again)
for more than 3 times what my father paid for their house back in the
mid '60s... and my house (a townhouse) is quite a bit smaller than my
parents... as is the property the house is on.
DJ> concevably, by ten years from now, a 36 page comic could go for as
DJ> much as ten bucks a shot.  Oh, they would still last even if 50
DJ> bucks an issue was being asked, but the print runs would be 5
DJ> thousand or less, for the sons of the very wealthy. Heck, a
DJ> hundred bucks a shot could be asked for snazzy covers and print
DJ> runs of 500 copies.In the very end, a thousand bucks an issue for
DJ> 100 copy print runs will be asked. Such money is nothing to the
DJ> children of the Bill Gates of the world.
     Why stop there?  Why not a million bucks an issue... or a billion
dollars an issue?  Only G-7 Governments will be able to read comics at
that point...  My point is that I believe there is a reasonable
limit to how much an individual comic can cost before even fans won't
buy it anymore.  You may have a fraction of comic fanatics who'd be
prepared to pay $10 each for monthly comics... but they're not going
to be enough to keep the comic industry in business (in the
unlikelihood they rise to that price over the next decade)...  and at
that point, they're probably going to be the only ones buying (IMO).
Talk to you later.
David
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