the problem is that he's juggling too much. the answer is simple, and simple is hard. instead of focusing on the human quality of story and art, he comes off as a status quo man trying to please everyone. dot matrix color printing was cheaper and paper was cheaper. how much? i don't know, but before and after there was a huge leap in prices in the early 90's. i had no problem with dot matrix or lesser paper, and if it meant shaving up to a dollar off a given book, i highly doubt anyone else would either. but he doesn't even seem to care to find out: status quo.

it takes faith in the reader and courage to cut away from everything else and ride out the storm. if he can't muster it, 4 and 5 dollar comics certainly won't cut it. i've read them at bookstores, sometimes at comic shops. it takes maybe 5 minutes and their forgotten. story compression is gone. i won't look down on the leadership behind D.C. and Marvel, but i can't look up to them either, let alone enjoy their work.

However, I also submit (and others have mentioned) that comics offer less value per issue than ever before. The panels are larger, some comics are more 'cartoony', and the stories are less dense. A 12cent Charlton from the 60s probably has the amount of story contents of 3 or 4 issues today (though certainly I wouldn't argue quality with most Charlton books...). Coloration has improved substantially, but the other comic elements (lettering, story, art) have not---though some artists do stretch boundaries and produce some wonderful results.... Still, there are fewer panels per page for most publishers today...

If the company has too much costs then they have to cut back within the company, not at the expense of the reader or charge more for their ads inside their best selling books.

Marvel publishes more monthly book now than ever so they still are doing good business so why trying to gouge the readers plus they earn more money because of movie revenues and other merchandise revenue. so they are just trying to rip people off...

As a kid looking for fun,what would you choose, rent a video game that will last for hours or days or read a comic that will last for half an hour to an hour if you are a slow reader. think about this.

Rising prices will only lead to people buying less book and looking for cheaper entertainment that will last longer. People are not dumb. Goign this way the publishers will only end up killing their business.

The prices are rising but the quantity of the product is the same as decades ago. It is a no win situation for the reader.

Too many books, too much of a high cost. Marvel does not care about it's readers anymore, looking at this article they see people as just ATM machines that will give them moeny over and over.

nuff said !

We all enter cycles where we are fully engaged in comics (knowing most books' creators, knowing of significant events), and we all have other cycles where we find comics rather boring and nearly tedious.

This price increase is precipitating a less engaged cycle, but one that I fear will become permanent.

Cap'n Trade says YES IT CAN!!

Seriously folks, people who whine about corporate greed are the greediest little turds around.

As for the wisdom of raising prices, time will tell.