Is it just me or are prices for current collectibles/toys getting out of control

[ChattyLMS]

if the total cost is something that's acceptable to you, buy it.  If not, move on.  There's never a shortage of stuff to spend money on.  Right now I'm essentially not spending any money on my collection (except the odd thing on occassion), but I can find ways to acquire things that give me pleasure, by trading, by making things, etc.  I don't miss not buying monster toys because I'm busy with other things, and when I get back to monster toys I'll be happy with that too.

Well, I guess you are right.  Really it's how much you want it and how much you're willing to pay.  I did hear at one time that somebody was selling something for an extremely high shipping cost.  Then they put a really low starting price.  Their ebay fees were very low then.  I wonder if ebay or other sellers caught on to that.

[Wicked Lester]

New comics? What are those beside a rip off? I gave up on new stuff in the mid 90s.
Only reprints and cheap reader back issues of OLDER issues and not very often.
The only monster toys I am even looking at are MPC PopTops or Marx and only at a good price.
I am mainly a mask/prop guy , not to mention DVDs. I have haggled with people on the last certain piece in their place and done good or been a X repeat customer and got a good price.
Would I love a fully poseable Regan Exorcist prop. F'YEA! can I come anywhere near to afford it. NOPE! I'm still debating for a month if I can afford $70 for really cool evil pumpkin hands for a mask I have.
Real life sux.

[NekroDave]

   

  In the sixties and seventies you got a decent story with a few ads thrown in, now your paying for 50% ads if not slightly more.  Since the companies are making money on this extra ad space, I can't see the price increase for less product.

When I first read this, my intuition told me that it was inaccurate. So just for fun, I just grabbed two random comic books and compared.

Tomb Of Dracula #27 (dated Dec. 1974) contained the following:
17 pages of story
12 pages of ads (15, if you include the back cover and inside front and back covers).
2 letters pages
1 news/editorial page.

Simon Dark #16 (dated March 2009) contained the following:
22 pages of story
9 pages of ads (12, if you include the back cover and inside front and back covers).
1 news/editorial page

I agree that comics currently cost way too much, but, and I'm not singling you out here CreepysFan, but I think some of you sound like grumpy old men. "It was better in my day!". Well, it really wasn't. While this is purely a matter of opinion, the idea that comics were better pre-1980 seems laughable to me. Cheaper, yes, but better, no.

Incidentally I've had the new Creepy #1 sitting on my nightstand for about a week now. Really need to read that... lol.

[depressedlarrytalbot]

Good stats, dave. Point taken. On the other hand - and it may just be my grump brain of course, but ... I could follow those 70s stories. Now.....

[**this post may contain spoilers, though I'm so ill-read these days, really, I think anyone who cares will know at least as much already ... which is part of my point ...**]

Case : Grant Morrison, a talented scribe, wrote the recent BATMAN RIP as well as the FINAL CRISIS.  I couldn't tell what the hell was happening in either of them. I can't even figure it out reading the wikipedia summaries.  Near as I can tell, Batman dies in each, and leaves a charred corpse, but he also ends up lost in the prehistoric past doing cave paintings.

I've enjoyed much of this writer's work in the past, but I have no idea what was supposed to be going on in FINAL CRISIS. It seemed to me an overworked, overpacked mess, and trying to keep track of its manifold nuances (?) at a few pages a month was simply too much effort (and money). For me, it simply provided an excuse to say "enough" to myself and drop DC almost entirely (I'm still getting FLASH for my kids). It was a FINAL CRISIS alright; the final crisis in my wavering support for the company. Batman's dead? Superman's off-planet for a year? Great. Good a point as any to stop. Nightwing is Robin? Awesome. Never been a NIGHTWING reader for its own sake. Have fun with that.

Now Marvel is deactivating the Hulk, and as it's already my last title with them, I know I'm going to stop buying that too.

I don't think the corporations get it. I want stories about Batman, Bruce Wayne being Batman, policing the underbelly of Gotham. I don't really want him in a wheelchair for a year. I don't want to read about Metropolis patrolled by Mon-El while Supes is being a Kryptonian cop or something. I don't want Son-Of-Hulk running with Bruce Banner for a year while the latter is (apparently) unable to transform.

Instead of giving us fun, action-packed stories with the characters as we love them, these publishers have learned they can take the generics off-line again and again. Kudos for having the cajones to do this, and it would be OK for a month or three, but instead it's a year or more at a time, with a slow creep back for the inevitable return. Worse, the 'year' is inevitably about a lot of lurking and rumor-mongering as the staus quo waits to reassert itself, while mumbling characters reveal flashes of the story's underpants a few lines at a time.

I'm just tired, and I've walked. Sorry DC and Marvel. It's too expensive to be this exasperating. Hence the point most of us fanboy fogeys are making here.

[michblk]

Hey Dave, maybe it's just me, but didn't there used to be more panels per page?  Again, I could be another one of those old grumps that it was better in my day.. lol

K

[NekroDave]

(*at*)depressedlarrytalbot : I totally agree with you about those 2 Grant Morrison titles. Terrible, just terrible. I almost got the impression he was just seeing how much he could get away with. (Like that Onion video about Dominoes seeing how bad they could make their food before people stopped eating it. ) But at the same time, I loved Jonah Hex. And while I wasn't reading it personally, everyone I know who did said the the Green Lantern was great at that time. So it's not like everything is bad.

The same inconsistencies occur in individual titles and there's no better example than Hulk. Planet Hulk and WW Hulk were both phenomenal. But then they did a 180 and went for a more silly, comedic slant. Why, I have no idea. But it ruined it for me.

In any given year, in any given decade, you'll have ups and down. I think the problem now, versus then, is just the price. Most people like us who have other hobbies to spend our money on simply can't be dropping $4 a book all over the place trying to find out where the good stories are or to buy everything hoping that a down time in a favorite title passes.

(*at*) michblk : I didn't count up the panels, but in general, you are probably right. There certainly do seem to be more splash pages than in the past. I think the art is more of a selling point than it used to be. I know we have some comic artists in our midst so I'd be curious to hear their opinions and experiences. For instance, do the artists get paid by the panel or by the page? Or how exactly does it work? Because knowing that might help us to understand where the money goes. But either way, if the random comics I grabbed are representative of the standard for their times (and I'm not saying for sure that they are), then you still get 5 more pages of art/story now than you used to. So even with fewer panels, I suspect it evens out. And frankly, I think in general the art is better now than it used to be, in terms of depth and detail, if not style (and no, that's not me just sucking up to the aforementioned artists in our midst! LOL) .

[Anton Phibes]

Straying a little off topic, but vent!  People Vent!!!  On Grant Morrison---he successfully did something no on else had ever made me do.  Quit all Batman titles! The current direction may or may not equate to more sales...but not from me. Bruce Wayne is Batman, and someone decent needs to write him. Morrison has taken waaaaay to much peyote to be a coherent writer anymore. he just scribbles stuff down and people marvel at how deep it all is.  While he laughs because he doesn't even remember what he wrote.

[BaronLatos35]

I agree Anton,

Killing Bruce Wayne is DC's answer to Marvel killing Steve Rogers. "Let's freshen up the story" Why? Bruce Wayne is Batman IMO, and Batman RIP wasn't all the hype I thought and neither was that band of international heroes storyline Batman was a part of. Grotesk was the last good Batman story with great unique artwork.

I'll still pick up Batman out of loyalty but I'm hoping for a change Same with Greg Pak coming back to The Hulk

Despite the delays and the critics/fans bashing, I enjoyed Miller's and Lee's All Star Batman, it was a crazy off the wall Dark Knight story but it was still entertaining.

Just venting...back on topic.

[Wicked Lester]

DOH! Stupid twitchy finger.

[Wicked Lester]

I agree Anton,

Killing Bruce Wayne is DC's answer to Marvel killing Steve Rogers. "Let's freshen up the story" Why? Bruce Wayne is Batman IMO, and Batman RIP wasn't all the hype I thought and neither was that band of international heroes storyline Batman was a part of. Grotesk was the last good Batman story with great unique artwork.

I'll still pick up Batman out of loyalty but I'm hoping for a change Same with Greg Pak coming back to The Hulk

Despite the delays and the critics/fans bashing, I enjoyed Miller's and Lee's All Star Batman, it was a crazy off the wall Dark Knight story but it was still entertaining.

Just venting...back on topic.

D.C Showcase. Sure it's B/W but at about $12-15 for 500 pages of reprints...
Screw all this new stuff. "Oh look at me and see how deep I write"
2-4 panels per page with 15 seconds of script and the "hero" looks like he injects D-Bol at every meal.
Go HOME already! I'm not buyin it LITERALLY.

[Monster Bob]

Eh...comics is for kids...except for EC's, Warren, and Eerie Publications!

[MDG]

... There certainly do seem to be more splash pages than in the past. I think the art is more of a selling point than it used to be. I know we have some comic artists in our midst so I'd be curious to hear their opinions and experiences. For instance, do the artists get paid by the panel or by the page?

They get paid by the page, but splash (or even "splashy") pages are more fun to draw and bring a much greater return on the original art market. When I was writing a comic years ago, the artist (who was calling the shots) wanted a splash on page one , a double-page splash on pages 2-3, and two more full-page splashes in the story.

[spooky]

I dont read any of the newer superhero stories because of the crossovers.Worst thing to happen to comics IMO.

DC Vertigo on the other hand has put out some great comics over the years.Preacher,100 Bullets,Y the Last Man & Scalped have some damn fine storytelling between the pages.

Theres also alot of really good manga available.Berserk,Dragon Head & Monster just to name a few.

Theres more to comics than just the big two superhero stuff.

[BaronLatos35]

D.C Showcase. Sure it's B/W but at about $12-15 for 500 pages of reprints...
Screw all this new stuff. "Oh look at me and see how deep I write"
2-4 panels per page with 15 seconds of script and the "hero" looks like he injects D-Bol at every meal.
Go HOME already! I'm not buyin it LITERALLY.

I hear you Lester, but I just don't feel a 500 page tome of black and white comics, especially if they used to be in color. Old Vampirella mags looks great in B&W, House of Mystery looks better in color.

I wish DC would put out a good color TPB of the I...Vampire series.

[Monsters For Sale]

Well, I guess you are right.  Really it's how much you want it and how much you're willing to pay.  I did hear at one time that somebody was selling something for an extremely high shipping cost.  Then they put a really low starting price.  Their ebay fees were very low then.  I wonder if ebay or other sellers caught on to that.

I figured that's why eBay was trying to get people to list items with free shipping.  Some of the DVD sellers were routinely listing their movies at low prices with outrageous shipping costs and no opportunity to combine shipping.  The excuse given was that the movies might be stored in multiple warehouses around the country.  Then the 2 or three movies you bought would all arrive in the same box.

Like Bobby says, you just have to make sure the TOTAL cost is no more than you are willing to pay for the item being sold.