The Inflation of Comics

[grahamthomson]

Remember when all this was fields and a Transformers comic cost just 25p?

So, if a comic was 25p back in 1984, what would that be in 2008, taking recorded rates of inflation into account? I'll tell you: It would be estimated at, say, 52p.

And when the original UK Transformers comic ceased in 1992 at a price of 55p, that would now be 76p.

Of course, this doesn't take into account production costs of 2008 compared to back then, but I think it's an interesting subject to consider.

I used to get £1 a week pocket money when I was 10. Up to half of that was spent on Transformers comics and the rest "saved" to by a Mini-Autobot or Special Teams member every few months.

Do children even get "pocket money" these days, or do they just get everything they ask for as a given? Either way, a Transformers comic costs £2.60 and the cheapest Transformers toys are, what, £4.99 these days. (Or, reversing the inflation calculation, that would be the equivalent of £1.21 and £2.32 respectively.)

Times change, eh?

[Bogatan]

Toys arent so bad. Legends are only £2.99 and while some of them are fairly terrible others are of equal or even greater quality to Minibots. Hotshot/Bumblebee/Red Alert and Cyberton Starscream for example. And I suspect Legends Brawn will be interesting to compare with the G1 original.

I really dont remember how much the first few years of TF cost, but I do remember paying around £10 for classic Prowl back in the early 90's. Animated Prowl costs the same 18 years later which is pretty cool. And reissue prowl only a few pounds more.

Comic prices have gone a bit mental. Out of curiosity anyone remember how much the UK G2 comic an the Armada UK comic cost.

A for 52p comics, I wish. I know the quality of the paper was less and Im sure other areas as well but its hard to see how the entire industry has been able to raise prices that much. Although didnt TF UK have a couple of hundred thousand readers at its peak maybe massive numbers what kept the price so low.

Andy

[Deleted]

It amazes me how much the price of comics have shot up within just over two decades. Comics are though one of those commodities that are massive sellers around the world and when something sells really well the price goes up.

[The Doctor]

UKG2 was £1.50, which at the time was an outrageously high price for a comic and the main reason why I only bought one issue.

Comics in general costs ridiculous amounts of money, both on thier own merits and in relation to other entertainment media. It's insane that a cinema ticket costs me less than two comics! I find I've mostly moved to trade collections as they offer much better value for money if bought off the likes of amazon.

-Ralph

[legios]

I do wonder whether some of the price increase in Western comics in general comes from a shift in the market. With the demise, for all practical purposes, of the newstand market in American there was a shift in emphasis amongst comics readership. Whereas in the newstand days there may have been a sizeable opportunistic buying public, folk who randomly might pick up a comic, once the shift to the direct market took place you were primarily dealing with an audience already commited to comics in general and much more so to specific comics in particular.

That shift from a mass to a specialised audience might then have made it easier for folk to start placing a higher importance on comics than they had in the newstand days. A shift from the comic as disposable entertainment matter, to comics as artform. Certainly it is generally expected these days that comics will be printed on a far higher grade of paper, and will have far higher production values than they did in the recent past (say fifteen year ago). A dedicated audience would be more inclined to absorb the resulting cost increases in the interests of "improving the form". Likewise a dedicated audience is likely to be more loyal in the face of further price rises (as companies raise prices in order to stabilise profits against the falling readership size).

I don't really have any hard numbers to back this up, it is advanced purely as a speculative theory.

(Also, I should note that it only really properly applies to the US market. In the UK market comics are primarily seen as being for children and the majority of the market is probably pegged to the likely spending/pester power of the children, Europe is a whole different market (the Graphic Album and whatnot) and Japan is still wedded to the, relatively, cheaply produced and low-priced anthologies as primary material).

Karl

[grahamthomson]

I personally don't begrudge paying the £2.60 for Titan's TF comic since it is printed in this country. (Though, the free gifts are not manufactured locally, but it seems like they are "mounted" here.)

I think with the exception of the Annuals (which were printed in Italy), the regular Marvel UK TF comics were printed in the UK.

The print industry in this country is following a worrying and shameful trend to outsourcing to other countries in Eastern Europe and Asia. Which, obviously, is terrible for our own economy and people's jobs and livelihoods.

I do wince ever-so slightly when I see that IDW comics are printed in Korea. But I still buy them, so that is somewhat hypocritical.

But when a British comic/magazine is actually printed in the UK, I am happy to support it.

[kayevcee]

Graham- that may change in the next few years, since due to massive planting in the 80s Britain's sitka spruce factory forests are coming due for harvest. Sitka is popular with the paper industry because it's a very light wood with few other compounds along with the cellulose and Britain will be the biggest source of it in the EU. Of course, it might just mean we become massive pulp exporters to other European countries who make the paper in more cheaply-run mills and ship the resulting magazines back to us...

-Nick

[Nigel]

Jul 20, 2008 15:25:40 GMT Bogatan said:

I really dont remember how much the first few years of TF cost, but I do remember paying around £10 for classic Prowl back in the early 90's. Animated Prowl costs the same 18 years later which is pretty cool. And reissue prowl only a few pounds more.

Comic prices have gone a bit mental. Out of curiosity anyone remember how much the UK G2 comic an the Armada UK comic cost.

I remember that Hot Rod was £7. (I remember that because I couldn't afford to buy him on a trip to Toys 'R' Us and my brother generously paid for half.)

The Armada comic was £1.75.

In the UK market comics are primarily seen as being for children and the majority of the market is probably pegged to the likely spending/pester power of the children...

I think you can take the ridiculously small font size of the cover price as evidence of that - it seems to me that it's purposely printed that way so that parents will just chuck it in the trolley to keep the child quiet and not consider the price. (Meanwhile the poor old independent newsagent without the benefit of a barcode scanner practically has to use a magnifying glass to see it.)

[Deleted]

Do shops still exsist that don't use barcode scanners? All of the newsagents and post offices around where I live use them.

[Nigel]

It's very common for independent retailers across most sectors not to use scanners.

[legios]

Jul 22, 2008 15:47:15 GMT @zudobug said:

Do shops still exsist that don't use barcode scanners? All of the newsagents and post offices around where I live use them.

I'd say that of the newsagents along the road where I work it probably splits out 50/50 as to how many use versus don't use scanners. If your on razor thin margins then it may well be that it is an expense that you can live without.

Karl

[Deleted]

Jul 20, 2008 18:38:14 GMT The Doctor said:

It's insane that a cinema ticket costs me less than two comics! I find I've mostly moved to trade collections as they offer much better value for money if bought off the likes of amazon.

Good god! Where is this cinema dammit? My local cinema is £7.80 a ticket, a fair bit more than two comics, which is roughly a fiver. Once the missus has paid too then in some cases we've paid more than the eventual cost of the film on DVD.

I could be said to be biased because I'm selling comics, but I don't think the price is that bad. At about £2.50 it's less than a pint of beer and think how many of them you can buy in an evening.

Having said that I did prefer it when IDW charged $2.99 a comic instead of $3.99. That decision instantly added 50p to my costs, and while I still make exactly the same profit the product is more expensive and therefore less attractive. But at least the price of comics is fairly static. Postage on the other hand is guaranteed to increase once, sometimes twice a year, and by several pence.

[Deleted]

PS - Graham, I also got £1 a week pocket money and for that I had to clean out the garage. I bought TF and Thundercats (30p each) and spent the rest on sweets, or sometimes another comic.

[Deleted]

I also only got £1 a week pocket money and spent the lot on WWF wrestling cards (which I still have) even though I couldn't stand wrestling.

[primenova]

Include the cost of UScomic too. G1 was 60p an issues then G2 was £1.35. But then Marvel moved into the whole gloss paper £1.60 issues which then moved to no gloss paper but same price. While the $1 line was axed. Now everything seems to be around $3.

But its also the fall in sales & increase in pay for the workers.

While the Titan comic have the reprint fees, payment to Hasbro [seems like Hasbro UK must have finally relized they won Transformers], pay for the new 11 pages & features, then production costs. I wonder if Simon & Don get anythign for BW reprints from Titan?