How much is a single, basic...

[LonnieFisher]

They should go back to newsprint for comics. I hate the glossy interiors.

[MRP]

They should go back to newsprint for comics. I hate the glossy interiors.

Newsprint now costs almost double what plain paper does. We looked into it for some of the self-published comics we did. There are very few offset printers in operation now that can handle newsprint, and there is a very limited supply because demand dropped off so much for it that no one was making it except to fill pre-existing orders. A single copy of a comic on newsprint would have cost us 2.5 times what plain paper or glossy paper did, and we would have had to pay more for shipping because the closest offset printer was not in a day's driving distance for us to do a pick up like we can do at other print shops, which would have put our break even price per issue at $8.99 because of the materials and size of our print run. That was for a 24 page comic mind you. Newsprint is not an option for publishers to return to.

-M

[LonnieFisher]

Strange that newspaper is still on newsprint, and not super expensive...

[emeraldknight47]

I know newspapers are on some variation of newsprint these days, but I don't believe it's the same newsprint that they used to use "back in the day" (whenever that was). The paper in newspapers today is a whiter, brighter and sturdier than it's classic counterpart, probably more akin to a 28 lb. bond paper than true newsprint, which, due to it's very nature and the way it was produced, was always a little either gray or brown as opposed to stark white. I do miss comics on newsprint because they were more flexible and they have a very particular smell as they age. I actually saw a new version of a Marvel Treasury Edition (I think it was Spidey Super Stories?) and picked it up to look through it. It was done on the standard shiny stock and, IMHO, that made the pages difficult to turn and the whole book never wanted to really open all the way because of the amount of glue they have to use in the perfect binding process for stock like that. If a company would just go back to printing a book on 20 lb. bond (the weight of the paper in your typical copying machine), I'd be happy. It runs fine on web, offset and digital presses and doesn't cost a small fortune.

[MRP]

Strange that newspaper is still on newsprint, and not super expensive...

The newspapers pretty much monopolize the supply of newsprint now. It is produced to meet their supply demand and more of it is not really produced because the market for it disappeared, which turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy because now there is not really a supply of it beyond what the newspapers use. Newspapers also own their own offset printing presses, most print shops today do not, because they are very expensive to run unless they run continuously and the biggest needs for them is newspapers who have their own, so the presses sit idle and lose money, so most print shops got rid of them because there was no market for their use.

The market demand for offset newsstand printing disappeared, so the infrastructure for it was dismantled outside the presses used by the last vestige of it, the newspapers themselves. The lack of materials (newsprint) and the lack of available offset printing presses make it a very expensive option unless you have your own supply and production means. Comic publishers don't. You can't even find cheap coloring books on newsprint anymore, that comes on high quality white paper stock now (and that's the lids coloring books not the adult coloring book products that are in vogue right now).

Newspapers are still on a form of newsprint because they preserved (and own) the infrastructure to produce that way. Access to that is not cheaply available for anyone else. And with the decline in circulation of newspapers, if they did not control their means of production they too would have had to change or disappear. Print had to evolve or die.

-M

[Brue]

hmm I like the discussion of newsprint. I too liked the old style comics. i hadn't really thought about it being harder to produce today, and why and how newspapers still do it, but that makes sense.

I haven't bought many new comics this century. They prices, types of releases and related media and merchandising reflect the times. They seem more like myths, legends, or fairy tales of old that are retold and reimagined today rather than a new story.

[Spyweb007]

The newspaper business has seen better days as well, you might be surprised by what they will print. I currently work for a newspaper, and we have or papers printed by another newspaper company in our area, a larger paper, but still technically a competitor printing another company's papers. It's possible they would print comics for you at a newspaper that owns their own press just to make more money. Of course, they might not be able to print in the comic book size/format with their set up, but it would be interesting to look into.

[MRP]

And yesterday DC announced all their monthly comics will be going up to $3.99. They will keep their 2x month books at $2.99 (for now). We will see how long that lasts.

-M

[emeraldknight47]

And yesterday DC announced all their monthly comics will be going up to $3.99. They will keep their 2x month books at $2.99 (for now). We will see how long that lasts.

-M

((sighs)) It looks like I will likely never return to a hobby/lifestyle I used to love. IMHO, anything that breaches the $3.00 mark, let alone the $4.00 mark, for 22 pages and 10 pages of ink-on-paper is ludicrous. I do have a feeling that physical comics' days are numbered and pretty soon it will all become a digital medium...

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

Yeah, I flipping hate it but my physical copy comic buying days are quickly coming to an end.