The [irrational & annoying] price of comics.

E said:
Even on the $3.99 books? I misunderstood - I thought that was on the cheaper books. Wow.
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Yes, it's the standard page count for all their 32page books. 18-20 pages (really less since I believe the 'previously' page is counted in that), and the rest is ads.


E said:
It's meaningless to me. It's not interesting or compelling enough to make me feel like paying an extra dollar is worth it.
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I didn't mind it at first, but when they do a lot of boring things and then have an app that barely works, I stopped with it completely.
 
Ice said:
Yes, it's the standard page count for all their 32page books. 18-20 pages (really less since I believe the 'previously' page is counted in that), and the rest is ads.
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Unbelievable. Has Breevort (or anyone) ever given any justification for that?


Ice said:
I didn't mind it at first
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I don't mind it, but that's just the thing. It is completely meaningless and therefore worthless to me. I don't see it as any kind of worthwhile feature. I tried it a couple times but you're right; the app doesn't' work well.
 
Ice said:
I know we addressed this somewhere, and that was that we're also paying more for less. We pay more for comics, but the pages of stories has gone down. While we're paying $4 a book (plus tax), we only get 18-20 pages. Although there are like 1 or 2 books that will have an extra page or two for that price.
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E said:
Even on the $3.99 books? I misunderstood - I thought that was on the cheaper books. Wow.
Click to expand...

Ice said:
Yes, it's the standard page count for all their 32page books. 18-20 pages (really less since I believe the 'previously' page is counted in that), and the rest is ads.
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E said:
Unbelievable. Has Breevort (or anyone) ever given any justification for that?
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Ice said:
Not that I've seen, but I'd be surprised if at least one other person somewhere hasn't asked him.
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Yeah, the price difference has nothing to do with the amount of content. It's just about whether or not it is selling well. If they don't think a book will do well, they put it out at $2.99, expecting that it will eventually get cancelled. If it's popular, they hike the price a dollar. Which seems like like robbery, but according to Breevort in the interviews you posted, is the only way to make the books viable long term.

Ice said:
They also add the AR content (though not in all the books) to give fans more for what they pay for. So what do people think about that?
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E said:
It's meaningless to me. It's not interesting or compelling enough to make me feel like paying an extra dollar is worth it.
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Ice said:
I didn't mind it at first, but when they do a lot of boring things and then have an app that barely works, I stopped with it completely.
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E said:
I don't mind it, but that's just the thing. It is completely meaningless and therefore worthless to me. I don't see it as any kind of worthwhile feature. I tried it a couple times but you're right; the app doesn't' work well.
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The AR content is a waste of time. If it was a way of referring back to previous issues or older Marvel history, that would be cool. The ones that I've seen have all been really terrible attempts at humour. That and the app is horrible.
 
Captain Canuck said:
Yeah, the price difference has nothing to do with the amount of content. It's just about whether or not it is selling well. If they don't think a book will do well, they put it out at $2.99, expecting that it will eventually get cancelled. If it's popular, they hike the price a dollar. Which seems like like robbery, but according to Breevort in the interviews you posted, is the only way to make the books viable long term.
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What I said there has nothing do with what Brevoort said in E's post. I was just adding/reiterating that while the price of comics is going up, we've also gotten less content in the comic.


Captain Canuck said:
The AR content is a waste of time. If it was a way of referring back to previous issues or older Marvel history, that would be cool. The ones that I've seen have all been really terrible attempts at humour. That and the app is horrible.
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There are some comics that do refer back to previous issues and older Marvel history. But now they are doing more content that is just boring and unneeded.
 
Ice said:
I know we addressed this somewhere, and that was that we're also paying more for less. We pay more for comics, but the pages of stories has gone down. While we're paying $4 a book (plus tax), we only get 18-20 pages.
Although there are like 1 or 2 books that will have an extra page or two for that price. They also add the AR content (though not in all the books) to give fans more for what they pay for. So what do people think about that?
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Valiant books, while $3.99, as still the only comics I know that feature 22-24 page stories. Even if you only read one of their books, essentially you're getting an entire comic's worth (or more) of extra story pages each year.

Just saying. ;)
 
You know what bugs me right now? The seemingly random price of an issue of Batman. I swear I don't know what its going to cost month to month anymore. I know its supposed to be $3.99 but it seems like it rarely comes in there.
 
DIrishB said:
If you don't even try them how can you know whether it excites you or not? I enjoy Valiant, personally. People need to be willing to try comics from other publishers besides Marvel and DC.

But seriously, Valiant is awesome.
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Nice of you to assume I didn't try them without even asking if I did, because that's not even something I've shown to do with anything.

And by the way, I read/have read outside of Marvel and DC.
 
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Ice said:
I really can't remember at this point. It was something I had checked out when I was at the LCS.
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Suuuuuuuuuuuuure you did.

Well, I'd recommend you give Harbinger another try. It's got the team dynamic you seem to be into in regards of X-Men, but it's definitely got a flavor all it's own. It's also quite smart, interesting, and intriguing. Imagine Professor X as the bad guy, or more of a relatable villain.

X-O Manowar is pretty decent too. Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps is fun.

But my favorite is Archer & Armstrong. It's a perfect blend of Indiana Jones like adventure, X-Files like conspiracy theory, and it's own brand of tongue in cheek humor and satire. I look forward to it every month.

Quantum & Woody is really funny, but it's not particularly deep or great on a storytelling level. It is hilarious though.

Eternal Warrior is ok, but the most recent arc (Eternal Emperor) was pretty good and offered a great dynamic between Gilad and his granddaughter.

Shadowman is ok, probably my least favorite of Valiant's ongoing titles, but Peter Milligan is doing some interesting stuff with his first arc (has a very early 90's Vertigo vibe).

Seriously, it's not all gold, but it's at least all good, and some of the titles are reliably stellar.
 
Captain Canuck said:
The AR content is a waste of time. If it was a way of referring back to previous issues or older Marvel history, that would be cool.
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Yes. This. I miss how marvel (I'm sure DC has done it at some point) used to have little editor's notes reminding us things that have happened in the past in relation to certain panels or storylines. They way overdid it in the 90s and junked up the comics but I'm sure there's a way to do it right and be helpful. You can even show images or short animations of what you're referencing.
 
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