Mayo Report 2009-03 Comics

[jlshank007]

I have to agree with Bob and John about new series from Marvel and DC and how they should approach them. I know myself having a budget of $50.00 a month currently that will basically get me the main titles I like plus maybe 1 trade. Now if I do not see a trade I would like then that is when I might try out some new books. First place I am going to look is at what creative teams are coming out with new books or have books out now that I havent been getting. Second would be, are there are books on the forums or through word of mouth that I have heard about that are just doing really good. Then last it would be based off solicitation or reviews that I have read and even at this point it would have to be a "wheelhouse" book for me.

Coming out with a new title for a character that is "B Level or C Level" just will not make my pull list. I might try issue #1 out since I am sure it will be 75% off at DCBS but unless its an amazing issue no.1 I dont see becoming an ongoing pull. I am just not going to dump a PowerGirl book for Batman no matter how good PowerGirl might be or how big her melons are.

Good example of budget issues for me is the Blackest Night and ReBorn mini-series coming up in July. Both are $0.99 cents for the first issue at DCBS but I know each issue after that is going to be $3.99 (or $2.39 at DCBS) . In September due to my wife staying home with our child my budget is going to be cut to $20.00 a month. So, I am not going to order either of these series. I will just read the copies my friends get. Now since Hitch is one of my favorite artist I will probably get the trade of Reborn later but you get my point.

Also with the cost of what a trade is vs. issues off the rack for alot of this stuff I also have a tendicy to wait and here if the book is good and then try out the first trade for myself for $5.00-$10.00.

I enjoyed the discussion about this topic and I am done rambling now.

[Frank Castle]

I didn't get to download the ep yet. Was the winner announced for the ASM contest?

[JohnMayo]

I didn't get to download the ep yet. Was the winner announced for the ASM contest?

Yes. The winner was announced near the beginning of the episode.

[Frank]

http://www.dcindexes.com/database/repor ... l-cost.php

Anyway I listed to your podcasts and agree with the discussions about budgets, but I think the above link will prove instructive... In DC's Silver age the cost of every single DC comic for the year was around $40 (late 50's... when I started to read comics)... I normally multiply the price of everything by 10 to get a rough compare of todays prices... (We bought a 1958 Chevy for $2200 new...).

So anyway that would roughly put you at $400 a year if you bought every single comic. (only about 1/3 of the DC comics of that era were something I would have been interested in... the superhero ones... or Mystery in Space..) there were a bunch of romance books, or Jerry Lewis or TV tie-in books that I had no interest in at the time.

I don't believe in the late 50's that I ever bought a non DC book... I don't even remember any non DC books being on the newstand that were every other block in my neighborhood in Brooklyn...

In 2008 it would have cost $10,684 for all the DC material... plus there is Marvel! and all the Indy publishers.. So from a standpoint of material availability it is terrific, but you need a hefty budget and an enormous amount of time to keep up with more than a tiny fraction of what is available.

Now I haven't been in Brooklyn for years, but in my rural town the one Luncheonette/Newstand store went out of business 10 years ago. I am just wondering what the distribution channels will be... It just seems that comic book shops are not quite enough to keep the industry going.

[JohnMayo]

http://www.dcindexes.com/database/repor ... l-cost.php

Anyway I listed to your podcasts and agree with the discussions about budgets, but I think the above link will prove instructive... In DC's Silver age the cost of every single DC comic for the year was around $40 (late 50's... when I started to read comics)... I normally multiply the price of everything by 10 to get a rough compare of todays prices... (We bought a 1958 Chevy for $2200 new...).

So anyway that would roughly put you at $400 a year if you bought every single comic. (only about 1/3 of the DC comics of that era were something I would have been interested in... the superhero ones... or Mystery in Space..) there were a bunch of romance books, or Jerry Lewis or TV tie-in books that I had no interest in at the time.

I don't believe in the late 50's that I ever bought a non DC book... I don't even remember any non DC books being on the newstand that were every other block in my neighborhood in Brooklyn...

In 2008 it would have cost $10,684 for all the DC material... plus there is Marvel! and all the Indy publishers.. So from a standpoint of material availability it is terrific, but you need a hefty budget and an enormous amount of time to keep up with more than a tiny fraction of what is available.

Now I haven't been in Brooklyn for years, but in my rural town the one Luncheonette/Newstand store went out of business 10 years ago. I am just wondering what the distribution channels will be... It just seems that comic book shops are not quite enough to keep the industry going.

That is some very interesting information at that link.

Personally, I figure that if you are already getting *everything* published by DC in the comic book format then only items original to trade should be included in the total cost to get everything published by DC.

I'm also a little confused by the average cost per issue for only comics in 2009 being $6.5731. That seems a bit high. Or maybe I'm misreading the chart. (I should probably go eat lunch, my brain tends to go offline when I haven't eaten all day...)