Marvel Digital Comics Discussion

[CaptainMarvell]

The price is what made me stop 18 years ago and I didn't want to either, so I feel your pain. It was only going up to $2 then too. I've limited myself to getting just three new titles a month, Ultimates, FF and when it comes out Fantastic Four. I've been lucky in that there's a comic book store nearby selling older comics for 25 cents so I can get caught up in some of those story lines.

[DaronK]

Looking through that latest Previews catalogue, I'm amazing just how many Marvel titles are $3.99US or more. I've already mentioned on these forums what I think of Marvel's current price point but now, after seeing those listings, I've made my mind up to drop ALL my Marvel $3.99 titles and not buy any new/ future Marvel titles even if they are at $2.99 but rather wait for the trade or buy them digitally.

What's even worse, a lot of their trades are priced higher than the sum of their individual issues. So if you trade wait, you're actually paying more.

People have been telling me to check out Avengers Academy for awhile now (and as a $2.99 book, I wasn't opposed to check it out). I couldn't find most of the back issues at my shop; though, so I went and looked at the trades. The first one is priced at $19.99 for the first 6 issue arc. Which equates to $3.33 an issue. I know it's not a huge deal, but it makes no sense for the trade to be more. And if you already think the floppies are too expensive how can you justify this???

[JoeMD]

You make a good point, and not one that I considered. However, I'm not actually paying $2.99 or my comics, as that's the American price and I'm in Australia. Store here charge between $5-6.60AU for a $2.99US book. So, for us, if we buy the trades from stores such as BookDepository, we do make a saving.

[Chiasm]

Amazon is the way to go if your going to trade wait as its much cheaper than buying directly from a comic book store where your probably going to pay cover price.

[DaronK]

If you get better deals on the trades definitely do that. I went ahead and picked this trade up, but not until my shop ran a 40% off sale, so I actually got it for cheaper than their original price.

My ire is more aimed at the business practice in general. I don't get how Marvel justifies charging more for a trade when they don't have the overhead of having to pay a creative team to create the product. This is for all intents and purposes a reprint, and a reprint should never be more than the original...

[JoeMD]

Amazon's shipping prices to Australia are ridiculous. BookDepository is free shipping.

[JoeMD]

If you get better deals on the trades definitely do that. I went ahead and picked this trade up, but not until my shop ran a 40% off sale, so I actually got it for cheaper than their original price.

My ire is more aimed at the business practice in general. I don't get how Marvel justifies charging more for a trade when they don't have the overhead of having to pay a creative team to create the product. This is for all intents and purposes a reprint, and a reprint should never be more than the original...

Totally agree!

[Iron Maiden]

If you get better deals on the trades definitely do that. I went ahead and picked this trade up, but not until my shop ran a 40% off sale, so I actually got it for cheaper than their original price.

My ire is more aimed at the business practice in general. I don't get how Marvel justifies charging more for a trade when they don't have the overhead of having to pay a creative team to create the product. This is for all intents and purposes a reprint, and a reprint should never be more than the original...

But you're not factoring the higher printing costs, binding etc. Heck, even a plain old paperback novel is approaching 10 dollars without any discounts. You have the added costs of color processing,etc.

If most trades collect 6 issues thats $23.94 at $3.99 each. We don't even know if Marvel pays royalties to the creators either.

[DaronK]

But you're not factoring the higher printing costs, binding etc. Heck, even a plain old paperback novel is approaching 10 dollars without any discounts. You have the added costs of color processing,etc.

If most trades collect 6 issues thats $23.94 at $3.99 each. We don't even know if Marvel pays royalties to the creators either.

True, but the higher printing costs (and even royalties) are going to be cheaper than what they paid the entire creative team the first time around for the single issues.

[FriendRoss]

decent digital offering this week


not as big as last week. I passed on the #1 uncanny and picked up a physical copy like i did wolverine and the xmen. however next month i do plan on jumping over to digital for both of those titles. im worried with spider island ending we will see a decrease



the big releases for me this week was the spider man and cap issues that linked up the current issue out now with the digital volume library.



i wish marvel offered digital issues for all the titles not available through mail order subscription.. that seems to make sense to me

[Pixie_Solanas]

Amazon is the way to go if your going to trade wait as its much cheaper than buying directly from a comic book store where your probably going to pay cover price.

lol, and you're not helping your community or the taxbase one iota with your purchase, either.

[JoeMD]

Er, can I ask why these two threads have been combined? My original thread was about the price of Marvel's issues. While it mentioned digital comics, that wasn't the main thrust of the thread...

[Memphis Raines]

If you buy something, you should be able to download it and store it on your storage medium of choice. Otherwise you have bought nothing.

This, I TOTALLY agree with. But...

And if you want a legal digital copy, all you really have to do is buy a cheap "all-in-one" printer with a scanner and scan your own books you have bought. Just as legal as TiVO or old VCR recordings.

I disagree here. If you're going to try to print out copies of digital comics and staple/paper clip them all together, you may as well just just stick to floppies or trades. Also, you're better off sticking to just buying the physical copies of the comics anyway considering how much ink would cost you even if the printer is cheap...

[DaronK]

Er, can I ask why these two threads have been combined? My original thread was about the price of Marvel's issues. While it mentioned digital comics, that wasn't the main thrust of the thread...

I was wondering that too...though it's probably because there are quite a few threads talking about Marvel's prices. Though this one probably should have been combined with one of those rather than a digital thread.

[Holdyourfireal]

So, I just signed up for Marvel Digital Comics & immediately, I am disappointed! My favorite run of all time is Sal Buscema's The Incredible Hulk, but hardly any issues are featured! How long should I expect to wait to see these start appearing?

Thanks!

Al from www.statuemarvels.com