Comic sales down in May

According to ICv2 comic book sales were down about 18%. This was attributed to the fact no number 1's were put out and Dark Avengengers was missing. I attribute it to the fact that comics are getting too damn expensive and I'm broke. My pull list use to be 30-50 books per month, including one-shots, annuals and mini-series. Now my total is 15-20. Granted I do have mail subscriptions to 10 or so titles, which saves me quite a bit per year, but that kind of drop in sales can't be isolated to just me. Surely others are feeling the economic pinch, which is not being helped by a comic book price increase.

When I was a teenager comics were 75 cents, gas was around $1 and I think cigarettes were less than $1(don't smoke kids... it really does stunt your growth, you smell bad and it makes your teeth yellow). That was roughly 20 years ago. Now comics average $2.99-3.99, gas has gotten as high as $5/gallon... though it is roughly $3 at the moment and cigarettes are hitting the $5 mark. This doesn't even take into account the fact that many of us have families, mortgages/rent, and other bills to deal with that we didn't have back then. Everything is 3 to 5 times more expensive and most of us haven't seen a pay increase of 3 to 5 times more $$$. Then everyone is surprised to see comic sales decrease? I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't get much much worse. I'm still dropping books or skipping ones that I want to get because of the price.

Maybe when I am a multimillionaire I can support the industry buy buying everything that is published, but for now it is every person for him/herself.

BTW I highly recommend you get at least a few mail order subscriptions if you are strapped for cash. I want everyone to support the brick and mortar stores, but in hard times it helps if you can find a way to save some cash. Besides if you have a set monthly comic budget and you subscribe to a few books once per year, you aren't buying that book each month and can spend that cash at the shop on something else.

ICv2 article