Comic Book Prices and The Economy

I'm stealing from myself as I posted this on the Comic Book Conversation blog that I tried to start as an experiment. It seems to be slowly dieing, but it was something that I tried for fun. On that blog I asked:

At what price point does a regular 22 page comic book become too much.Gas prices, home heating oil, food prices and more are all going up and the US dollar is going down. Regardless of what the leaders are saying (those who used to be the servants of the people) we are in an "R" word. But even before that there comes a price point that is too much for a floppy. Right now a $5 regular book is out of the question. A $4 book from Marvel or DC is an easy drop, as Marvel is constantly pressing the $4 barrier with their max line and certain mini-series.So for me $5 is a definite no. $4 (especially from Marvel or DC) is the easiest book for me to drop or not ever try and $3.50 has me wondering.

To further elaborate on this point I just finished reading five books.

Simon Dark $2.99 - It is really worth the money. You have Scott Hampton artwork, being done in a very different style that is a mixture of pencil art and photshopping (I'm guessing) and Steve Niles writing.

Countdown to Mystery - $3.99 A dual feature book that give you 38 pages for only $4. At this point since it contains the last work of the recently departed Steve Gerber, any price may be worth it.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #6 - $2.99 - Exactly what I want for $3 in a main stream comic. A fast paced action/adventure and great art.

Locke & Key #2 - $4 - Only 22 pages for $4. Still worth it, because the smaller press have higher cost, but IDW also gives you outstanding production values. Of course this is another barrier for some smaller press companies, to get people to pay more for 22 pages of story and art. I will admit that my it is easier to drop a $4 book over a $3 book, but I do not think you should miss trying it due to the price.

Annihilation Conquest $3 - A solid space super hero mini-series, $3 is a good price point for this.

Still the pressure of limited money in an economy that I believe will continue to tank even further makes one think about these things more and more.

In my personal situation I don't have as much pressure as others, but I also want to retire some day so I can't blow all my money on comics.

It will be interesting to see how this year plays out with comic sales, because I think there is pressure for comic companies to raise prices, but as they do it becomes very easy for me to skip books.

Sorry for a short post, but the week-ends have become too short for many reasons lately and I have not had as much time to focus on week-end posts.