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Going over comic sites in the last few days has hinted that comics may again go up in price. The warning signs are there with Marvel putting it's limited series issues at $3.99 rather than the standard $2.99. There is also this from an interview with Joe Quasada;

Quote:
JM: Many smaller publishers have already moved off a standard $2.99 cover price into $3.50 or $3.99. Marvel and DC seem to be holding the line pretty well at $2.99. How inevitable is the bump up, and the death of the $2.99 comic? I know the standard answer is always "we hold the line as long as we can," but what kind of thought process goes into making cover price determinations? How much are you involved on an editorial end? Or is it solely a business/sales concern?

JQ: I think it's safe to say that the rising costs of everything everywhere are forcing us to evaluate pricing on a series-by-series basis. There are many things that go into the pricing of the book, but the ultimate driving force is cost. This can come from many places, from the physical material of the comic, to the shipping and distribution, to the price of talent on a book.

JM: Right now, it seems like pretty much all your limited series—Marvel Zombies 3, Big Hero 6, the Noir books—are at $3.99. Is this a planned "hedge" against a general price increase? Maybe you make a couple extra nickels here and can stave off bumping up Amazing Spider-Man and the like?

JQ: Let me leave it at this, Jim: We're doing everything we can to insure that the largest number of customers and retailers can continue to get a large majority of Marvel Comics at the standard $2.99 price.


So it looks like there is a good chance that comic prices will again rise.

This may be premature, but my question is is Moonstone thinking of raising their prices again? This year we saw the cost of Phantom issues go from $3.50US ($8.10AU) to $3.99US ($8.80AU). Now, almost $10AU per issue is a hell of a lot for a comic but I pay it because I love the character and the stories are very good.

However, if Moonstone was to raise the prices of their issues again the stories would have to absolutely blow my mind every single issue for me to continue to buy the singles. I hate to say that, but $10+ for an issue of below frikkin' awesome standard is too much and I'd just wait for the trade.

Now, of course I don't want to stop getting Moonstone's books so I'm asking, is there any risk of another price hike?

From the Big Cheese:

"Our prices are holding at 3.99…no increase is imminent."
Thanks for that, Mod.
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