From an article in the New York Times--Comics Prices are going up...again.
The timing may seem odd since the U.S. and, indeed, the entire World is well into a recession, but
Dan Buckley, The President of Print and Digital Media for Marvel cites rising costs in everything from travel and entertainment expenses to paper, ink and distribution. My first reaction to this is that perhaps Marvel Employees should consider cutting their travel and entertainment expenses in order to stay competitive in an economy with less available disposable income. Also, I happen to know that pulp mills have fallen on hard times and are sitting on a surplus of materials, cutting back hours, and laying off employees because the demand is so low. Low demand means lower prices for paper, not higher prices. So Marvel's claims of rising costs don't ring true. (At least at the moment-once production is cut back and the low value dollars from the economic stimulus are dumped into the economy we will eventually see rampant inflation. Maybe Marvel is gearing up for that?)
The other thought provoking item from the New York Times article is Buckley's statement that Marvel plans to raise its prices on some of the books with the highest circulation — Hulk, Thor, Dark Avengers and New Avengers — to stave off an increase across the line.
Now, generally, if we see an increase of one dollar per book (they are slated to go from $2.99 to $3.99) we would like to see an increase in quality or content, and indeed, their competitor, DC has plans to include an 8 page back up feature in the books that they post an increase on. Marvel, apparently, has no such plans. In fact, the Hulk is currently one of the quickest reads of Marvel's line-up. Jeff Loeb is laughing all the way to the bank, because he's figured out how to write a comic book in a third the time, by including not one, not two, not three, not four, but five double page spreads and a full page spread in the latest issue of the Hulk.
Now if this artwork were Perez-style masterpieces with hundreds of figures then I might understand, but this is pretty standard stuff that most artists are able to pack into smaller frames. It is visually appealing, but very little story gets told in the course of an issue. To substantiate my complaint I've included a few scans below:
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