Bring back newsprint

Here is an idea for Marvel. How about print most regular monthly books on cheaper newsprint like the old days (and obviously charge significantly less). Then when it is time to reprint and make the trade of those books print on the more expensive stock as is being done now.

Why?

1. Those who just want to read a monthly can do so and will be able to do so cheaply.

2. Those who like to wait for the trade will get a quality, lasting product.

3. Those who buy the cheap newsprint monthly may then also later buy the quality trade for keeping. They could then pass on the cheap newsprint monthlies to somebody else to get them hooked, spreading the word, and maybe getting somebody else to buy the trade as well.

I know once I buy a monthly Marvel title now, because of the high quality of paper, it is unlikely I will buy the trade as well, but I would be very inclined to buy a trade later after having bought cheap monthly newsprint copies if I really loved the story.

I don't think newsprint lowers the price as much as you think. That said, it would be interesting to see how the market breaks down. If Marvel put out, say New X-men in two editions one month - one in newsprint for one dollar and another in new-standard for 2.25 - which would the majority choose?

put out, say New X-men in two editions one month - one in newsprint for one dollar and another in new-standard for 2.25 - which would the majority choose?

I don't think it would lower the price over much myself. It's been discussed here befopre, and while I don't recall the figures that were floated it was pretty much stated that the difference in price between the paper is negligible these days. Beside that you can't get the quality of artwork on newsprint that you can on the higher quality paper. Especially if you retain the issue in a collection... over time the art bleeds and the quality really suffers. Comics -N- Such (http://www.comicsnsuch.com)

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They did that once and that's why we have Marvels books printed on glossy paper now. Back in the 90's Marvel started printing most of the X books on two different types of paper and letting the consumer choose which they bought. A majority always bought the glossy, so retailers started just ordering the glossy. Even though there was a fifty cent rice difference between the two consumers went for the better paper.

That's mostly due to the fact that the glossy paper version was released 2 weeks before the cheaper version.

The difference wouldn't be that much. Besides, which retailers would be willing to stock and sell a $1.00 comic when they could sell the same comic for $2.25 ?

Anyway, real newsprint paper comics probably aren't a viable economic option anymore. Mike Allred chose a non-glossy paper for _Atomics_, and he eventually switched to glossy paper because it was easier - and it didn't cost much more.

Maybe my eyes are just getting older (along with the rest of me :^) ) but I find the glossy paper harder to read due to the glare. (Add to that the fact that they use bad color combinations for the text boxes like black text on purple background)

Speaking as someone with experience in the printing industry:

1. With the print runs of your typical Marvel comic, the paper is probably the cheapest element in the comic book's pricetag. Creative and editorial salaries, not to mention the actual cost of printing (irrespective of the paper being used), are both going to be much more important. So reducing the quality of the paper will not noticeably reduce the price of the comics.

2. Reducing the quality of the paper to newsprint, however, will reduce the quality of the comic books. Ever wonder why modern comics have such marvelous coloring, whereas older comic books used four-color process? It's the same reason that your fingers turn black if you handle a newspaper for too long: Newsprint is a cheap paper that doesn't hold ink well. This means that ink will bleed when you put it down on the page, and any attempt to do fine color work is a waste of time. Comics, as a visual medium, will suffer if you cheapen the paper stock. Reducing the quality of the actual product is not the way to increase sales.

3. Marvel can, in fact, print a comic that can sell for 99 cents and make a profit (or, at least, they could just 5 years ago). But the problem is that there just dosen't seem to be any evidence that the lower cover price appreciably increases sales. So even if each individual issue is turning a marginal profit, Marvel would be better off devoting the same creative editorial resources to a regularly priced title.

For example, imagine that you've got a $2 comic and a $1 comic. Marvel makes a 10% profit on both of those. So they make 20 cents off the $2 comic and 10 cents off the $1 comic. In order to make the $1 comic make good business sense, Marvel would need to sell twice as many copies of it. Marvel's experiments with this type of price reduction in the past indicates that cutting the price in half doesn't double their sales.

So this just isn't a good solution.

Justin Bacon

<< 2. Reducing the quality of the paper to newsprint, however, will reduce the quality of the comic books. Ever wonder why modern comics have such marvelous coloring, whereas older comic books used four-color process >>

You're still using 'four-color process' (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK or CMYK), it's just that the screens are finer (150-line as opposed to 65 or 85-line)

There is still the other option: Two times more pages for the same price.

Folks....pay attention to this.

Think carefully....and you'll see why demanding a return to 'cheaper' comics is actually a demand to kill the industry.

'Cheaper' comics is not an answer....but a better value comic just might be....