Okay, that makes sense for putting out multi-feature magazines like Marvel especially has tried through the years with MARVEL KNIGHTS, MARVEL SUPER-HEROES MEGAZINE, or the various kid-oriented magazines.  But 22 pages for $5 is ridiculous!

Raising prices in comics has always been an issue of perceived value.  If everybody is selling 20 pages for $3, then that must be what they cost and are worth.  $4 for 28 or 30 pages seems reasonable looking at the 20-pagers.  A movie costs $12-16 for two hours of enjoyment, a $3 or $4 comic seems equivalent.  A gallon of milk or a gallon of gas also costs an average of $3, and comics always seemed in line with these things.  ARCHIE will give you 100 pages for that price at the supermarket checkout.

A $5 comic breaks all the rules!  Nobody will pay that...except maybe a CEO who would never step foot inside a comic shop but sometimes passes a newsstand.  So, even though these $5 comics are in places a kid or a mother might come across them, there is no way they expand the audience.  They MUST have low sales--which surely would make newsstand dealers think about eliminating them from the line-up.

I just don't understand the business plan here.

Modern-day comics pricing is one of the reasons I stopped buying comics. It's just too cost prohibitive anymore. 

I've been away from the print world for a few years but I know there was a paper crash as early as 4 years ago stretching back a few years. Paper mills were going out of business - large printers as well. It was getting expensive and challenging for my company to source the paper we needed for our catalogues. 

I don't see the printed comics industry lasting much longer. Used to be they could raise the per book prices when print runs were shrinking. Now the print runs are so small, there is no wiggle room to do so.

When is a comic just too expensive to buy?

And, if you're sure about a series, you can subscribe to most Marvels and DCs for about $2.25 an issue.  The annoying thing is when you subscribe to a series because you really like the creative team and they switch to somebody you don't like 4 issues in.

And then if you're going to a con anyway, there's usually plenty of chances to buy trades for 50% off!

So, you can see why I'm so thrown by the idea of spending $5 an issue!  That's TWICE what I normally spend!

J.B. i felt the same pain as you regarding price hikes,the distributed seemed to go from 10p to 12p to 15p to 20p to 25p in about 5 years,luckily i got a Saturday job to fund my addiction!