START // 1.23.03

EVERYONE COMPLAINS ABOUT THE WEATHER
by Dan Carroll

So it seems that Marvel has raised the prices on some of their books.

It's not a huge surprise. Nor is it even an especially devastating price hike. Twelve Marvel titles have gone from $2.25 an issue to $2.99; which is less than a buck out of your pocket every month if you want to keep reading the title.

I haven't seen such non-racist anger across message boards in years.

"Comics cost too much" seems to be the general rallying call behind this one. "How can anyone be expected to shell out that much cash for twenty-two pages of story?" These complaints, like most I see on message boards, pretty much crack me up.

Let me put this in some perspective. Out of the twelve titles going up in price, I read X-STATIX. I love that comic. Great story, great art… top-class job across the board. The creative team should take a bow.

If I had to put a price on my love for X-STATIX… probably up to $3.50 an issue. $3.50 is the absolute highest I would pay for a good comic of that length month after month. If the comic ever hit $3.75, I would stop reading the comic. I love Pete Milligan and Mike Allred, but I don't $3.75 love them.

Therefore, at $2.99, this comic does not cost too much for me. And there's a way you could already know that, even if I hadn't told you all this.

I'm still buying it.

If you read any or all of the twelve titles going up in price, and you continue to read it after the price hike, you're sending a loud, clear message to Marvel. "$2.99 an issue is not too much for me."

Apart from that, you can post on message boards. You can fire off angry letters to the editor. You can hunt down Joe Quesada and kill him if you want. But you might as well be speaking in a foreign language, for all the good it will do.

There's a simple fact most people tend to forget. Any organization involved in making decisions for the comics industry is, first and foremost, a business. Businesses do not speak English. They don't speak French, they don't speak Spanish, they don't speak any vocal language ever conceived of by the human race.

They speak in terms of money. And as long as the money keeps coming in, they won't give a rat's ass about how angry you are. They won't even hear you yelling. This goes for Marvel, it goes for DC, it goes for Diamond, it goes for everyone, right down to your local comic book store.

An example: Several months back, I went to a comic book store. I pulled my purchases for the week off the rack, and asked the clerk if they carried a copy of TEENAGERS FROM MARS.

The clerk's response was, "We don't carry indy comics. They don't sell."

I asked him if he would be willing to special order the comic, and informed him that I would prepay. I even got the money out of my wallet and put it on the counter. He stared at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. He repeated very slowly, "We don't carry indy comics. They don't sell."

Now I don't pretend to understand how a person can have money sitting on a counter in front of them and declare that they won't make a profit. But explaining this in words was clearly useless.

Instead, I held up my superhero purchases for the week. I had a copy of X-STATIX, a copy of NEW X-MEN, and a collection of old Walt Simonson THORs. The total cost came to between twenty and twenty-five dollars. I carefully put each one back on the rack, and informed the clerk that until he was willing to special order comics for customers, I would be taking my weekly business elsewhere. I went to another store, made my purchases, and went home. The second store had TEENAGERS FROM MARS already on the rack. I've been shopping at that store ever since.

Money talks, and businesses listen it does. Interestingly enough, I found myself back in the first store recently. I needed a DRAGONBALL Z volume that my current store didn't have in stock, and I knew would be available at the old one. I overheard someone at the counter asking after the newest issue of EIGHTBALL. The clerk's response was that they did not in fact have it, but would be willing to special order if the customer was willing to prepay.

Sound familiar?

It's that simple, folks. Speak with your cash, and businesses will listen. Anything else is just noise, and a waste of your time.