Is $4.99 Where Comics Readers Finally Draw The Line?

By Nick Tylwalk | Oct 3, 2014

I’m old enough to remember a whole bunch of price increases in normal monthly comics. When I first started getting into them in my youth, they were 75 cents. Since the majority of them are now $3.99 — I know some are hanging on at $2.99, but my guess is their days are numbered — that means that regular comic books have increased in price by just over 530 percent in roughly the last 30 years. That’s pretty steep.

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This is a relevant discussion because of the news about the upcoming “Endgame” arc on Batman, which is set to close out the impressive Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run on the book. DC announced earlier this week that for the six-issue duration of the arc, Batman would be going to $4.99 an issue.

DC’s thinking is easy to follow, as the issues will also increase in page count, going to 30 pages of story. On a per-page basis, that makes the $4.99 Batman issues cheaper than the normal ones.

Here’s the thing, though: comic books can’t be purchased a la carte, and we don’t buy them per page. An extra dollar is an extra dollar, and a big 25 percent hike from what readers are used to paying.

Snyder says he’s fighting it, but no matter what DC decides to do with Batman, this is an interesting development because I think $4.99 is matter of if, not when. It’s the question what comes after that really interests me, because the future of monthly comics is wrapped up in the answer.

There’s something psychologically significant about a $5 price point. I’m not sure if it’s because Abe Lincoln is on the $5 bill or what, but there’s definitely more of a natural aversion to going from $5 to $6 than there is at going from $4 to $5.

I have no idea how many readers have decided to throw in the towel on the hobby, or at least switch to trades, every time the cover price for most books goes up by $1. Historical data suggest some definitely do, though it’s always difficult to separate the impact of price hikes from all the other factors that go into the overall sales numbers of comics. When comic books go from $3.99 to $4.99. a percentage of existing monthly readers will also drift away.

But I think if/when publishers try going beyond $4.99, that might be the point where the majority of monthly readers just say, “The heck with this.” For whatever reason $5 feels like the proverbial line in the sand.

I hope we never have to worry about that. Heck, I hope DC changes its mind on Batman. Just remember we had this discussion a few years from now, because it won’t be shocking if we’re having it again.