Throughout the last few years, we’ve been reporting the slow and steady climb of comic-book cover prices — but we’ve always also been able to say that the most common cover price for comic books offered by Diamond Comic Distributors has remained $2.99, even in months when the average cover price was climbing as much as 55¢ more. No more. In March 2010 — a month that is looking to be a very good month for comics sales, for which our sales estimates will be along soon — the record was broken. More comic books in Diamond’s Top 300 were priced at $3.99 than $2.99.
It’s still close: 130 comic books were priced at $3.99, with 124 priced at $2.99. The intermediary step, $3.50, continues to be bypassed with only 16 comics at that level.
It is mainly a psychological barrier, as the average price of comic books offered was $3.55 — and the average price of all comics retailers ordered was $3.52. The average price will not be $3.99 until a lot more comics are priced higher still — and that does not look likely any time soon. Only eight comics were priced at $4.99 in the March Top 300. It’s also possible the most common price might drop back to $2.99 in some later month. But it is a noteworthy moment, right back with the first time most comics were priced at 15¢, 50¢ or a dollar. Four bucks is the new four bits, kids…
Comichron founder John Jackson Miller has tracked the comics industry for more than 25 years, including a decade editing the industry’s retail trade magazine; he is the author of several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books for various franchises.
He is the author of novels including Star Wars: Kenobi, Star Wars: A New Dawn, Star Trek: Discovery – The Enterprise War, and his upcoming release, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The High Country. Read more about them at his fiction site.
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