Marvel NOW! - Discount Bundles

[Will.S]

You complain about paying for $4 books, yet there are so many ways not to pay cover price on anything.

Yeah it's all dependent on what type of delivery system you prefer.

DCBS and certain comic shops offer either bundled discounts or accumulated/weekly discounts (like my LCS) which lower the overall cost and gives you more lattitude to try out more books. However you have to weigh your options whether you want instant satisfaction by going to the shops or being able to wait a bit and get them all at once for a cheaper price. You can also just wait for the collections and buy them discounted at instocktrades or Amazon but again there's the wait there but comics are coming out so fast these days and at such a high volume that it's not as bad as it used to be.

Really the only area in which Marvel has oddly resistant price parity is with the digital versions on comiXology which offer no extra content (AR or otherwise) and of course aren't tangible copies. Whether that bothers you or not depends on your standards on value but as much as I think $3.99 for 20 page comic stinks it oddly enough still gives you more value compared to the digital copies. Otherwise you'd have to wait for 99 cent sales on Mondays or whenever Marvel decides they want to run a sale which is kind or random.

I'm waiting for the Online All-you-can-read monthly plan for new books. It will happen.

I'm sure this will happen eventually although probably not for while for newer books since that type of service would cut into comic shop sales pretty deeply if they offered a reasonable monthly plan.

[Doctuh]

I'm sure this will happen eventually although probably not for while for newer books since that type of service would cut into comic shop sales pretty deeply if they offered a reasonable monthly plan.

I know, and I love my LCS but Netflix killed the video store, Spotify/iTunes killed the music store and eventually the comic store will be mostly dead for new product. It is the way of the world, forestalling the inevitable hurts everyone in the long term.

[Will.S]

I know, and I love my LCS but Netflix killed the video store, Spotify/iTunes killed the music store and eventually the comic store will be mostly dead for new product. It is the way of the world, forestalling the inevitable hurts everyone in the long term.

Well tablets are certainly gaining momentum but it's not 100% to the point in which every comic fan will fully transition to it.

When Marvel starts to finally lower their prices on digital and offer something more cost friendly they might see a decent to good bump but comics are still too entrenched into the paper thing if they can get their profits more securely from there even if the market might not be as big as it used to.

[Pat Thomas]

Well tablets are certainly gaining momentum but it's not 100% to the point in which every comic fan will fully transition to it.

When Marvel starts to finally lower their prices on digital and offer something more cost friendly they might see a decent to good bump but comics are still too entrenched into the paper thing if they can get their profits more securely from there even if the market might not be as big as it used to.

A full switch to digital will doom the comics industry eventually, but I hold out hope. That is, unless true collectors make the switch too, which I don't see happening for an extended period of time. The actual book itself, at least to me, is what I am buying it for, not data stored somewhere. Once you take that element out, there are many longtime collectors who will just move on, even though they don't want to.

[Joe Acro]

You complain about paying for $4 books, yet there are so many ways not to pay cover price on anything.

Yes, but even when you're not paying cover price, the $4 comics are still going to be more expensive. (Unless you have a really generous retailer.)