Marvel publisher says price changes are coming for comics readers and comics stores
Marvel Comics' publisher explains the company's thoughts behind pricing, and where it hopes to change
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How much should a Marvel comic cost?
That's a highly debatable point between fans, retailers, comic book professionals, and accountants. Recently at the closed-door B2B event the ComicsPRO annual conference, Marvel president Dan Buckley spoke to a group of retailers for nearly 20 minutes in a wide-ranging keynote address that covered everything from the original hero of Spider-Verse to the integration of Marvel's publishing arm into Marvel Studios marketing, but one of the most upfront and honest bits was about the price of Marvel comics.
"We know that pricing is an area where we need to adjust to fit your needs. We want to make it consistent for you and your customers," Buckley told a group of comic shop managers. "The bulk of the line will be $3.99, with new number ones and eight to ten core titles with top talent and top characters being priced at $4.99."
The mention of "the bulk of the line will be $3.99" drew immediate cheers from the comic shop employees - to the point of causing Buckley to get ruffled and surprised.
As a snapshot, Marvel comics published 66 new comic book issues in February 2024 - with 51.6% of those being priced at $4.99 or higher. When you take out #1 issues, which Marvel routinely makes more expensive for retailers and fans, it's a 50/50 split between $4.99 comics and $3.99 comics.
While Buckley says "the bulk" of Marvel Comics will become $3.99 in the near future, he did add that there will be "exceptions for event books, one-shots, and anniversary books."
"You'll also see a much more consistent pricing approach to those offerings, too," Buckley added.
Marvel will also be aiming to be more predicable for retailers who, due to current print and distribution systems, have to finalize their orders on books two to three months before they actually go on-sale to fans.
Taking Buckley at his word that "the bulk of the [Marvel Comics] line will be $3.99", that could mean either some comics that would currently cost more than $3.99 will be priced down, or that Marvel will be creating a higher number of comics it believes are feasible at $3.99.
In February, Marvel had four titles priced at $5.99 (all were first issues), and one at a whopping $6.99 (Giant-Size Fantastic Four #1)... although the latter was the trifecta of it being a #1, a one-shot, and an anniversary book.
These comments by Buckley, who has been Marvel Comics' publisher since 2003, and was a marketing VP there in the late '90s, gave us an excuse to dive deeper into the price of Marvel Comics.
Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights: How 2024 is a pivotal year for Marvel Comics & Marvel Studios, the 3 big challenges facing Marvel Studios in 2024 (and what they could learn from Marvel Comics), Inside Marvel Comics' plans to fix its pricing issues, Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak, and the biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows.
How the creators affect price at Marvel Comics
As Buckley says now publicly, Marvel increases the price on some titles with what it defines as "top talent and top characters". Looking at Marvel's February 2024 schedule, the most prolific Marvel creeators who don't have a title at the $3.99 level are Jonathan Hickman (Ultimate Spider-Man, G.O.D.S.), Dan Slott (Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Boy), and the the Amazing Spider-Man duo of Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.
While talent salaries are rarely if ever disclosed publicly, it would seem to be a given these four creators get paid more than whatever Marvel Comics' entry level page rate for creators are. Slott has been under an 'exclusive' contract with Marvel for over 20 years now, and all have lengthy tenures at Marvel - with Hickman, who is spearheading Marvel's relaunch of the Ultimate Comics line, being the most junior, having made his Marvel debut 17 years ago and Romita, the most senior, celebrating his 55th year in comics (and primarily at Marvel) this year.
How page count affects price at Marvel Comics
The more pages in a comic, the more it costs to create and print... right? While that math seems to math, it's not as big a driver to the total retail cost of a comic as you might think.
While the most expensive comic for Marvel in February 2024 is the 48-page Giant-Size Fantastic Four #1, the creative costs aren't for a 48 page comic, as it contains the full 1964 comic story Fantastic Four #33, in addition to a new story by Fabian Niceiza and Crees Lee.
When looking at Marvel COmics' new comics for February 2024 from above, 81% of their 66 new comics have 32 pages. Now that's not all new comics, as there's paid advertisments, internal marketing for other Marvel products, and various credits/backmatter pages. (The norm for actual comic content in a regular Marvel title is around 20 pages per issue.)
And while all of the $3.99 comics are 32 pages, less than half of the $4.99 comics run longer. 53% of the $4.99 comics are 32 pages, with the 40-page $4.99 books being #1 issues - which Buckley has said Marvel prices higher.
Back in late 2024, Marvel Comics made a rare move to drop the price of a comic - that being the first issue of Star Wars: Mace WIndu #1. Originally announced as a $5.99 book, it was later reprised to $4.99. That does however, bring up a surprising factor.
Marvel's licensed comics cost more
When looking at the 66 new comics Marvel plans on releasing, we learned that while no single Marvel character was had comics only above #3.99 regularly, all of Marvel's licensed comics were $4.99 or more. That even goes for comics using characters from the broader Disney family.
All of Marvel's various Star Wars comics were priced at $4.99, and the Marvel comics it was publishing based on Disney's newly-acquired Fox properties were $4.99 or more. Beware of the Planet of the Apes #2 and Alien #4 were $4.99 each, and both Predator #1 and Alien: Black, White & Blood #1 were $5.99. (The last two are, of course, first issues.)
While these titles may be easier for Marvel to license as its being licensed from a sister company under the Disney banner, we can't assume there isn't other costs being incurred - or minimums that need to be met - for Marvel in these partnerships with other parts of the larger Disney business - especially since Disney has shown it has little reluctance from licensing its properties out to other comic publishers besides Marvel if there's reason to.
The standard price of comics
If Marvel stays true to what Buckley has said here, the standard price for typical comics without some sort of special feature (be it size, talent, or a special event) will continue to sit loosely at $3.99.
$3.99 is the price point Marvel, DC, and other publishers vaguely went to in the mid '10s. Marvel and DC tested the $3.99 price point in in 2010, but rolled it back to $2.99 for a time in 2011 - however the slow creep of $3.99 became the norm in a few years later.
Due to the higher cost of paper, the higher cost of printing comics, financial troubles at major companies which own comic publishers (like Disney, Warner Bros., EMBACER, IDW, and others), and the undeniable need for creators wages to grow with inflation, the rise of the cost of comics is bound to be a discussion that won't end here - and may not end ever.
Read what Marvel's executive editor Tom Brevoort things about discount comics for new readers, and our own deep dive into what works (and what doesn't) in comic book price stunts.
