You Won’t Make Fans from Behind a Paywall

People hate risk. Well, most people hate risk. It’s the uncertainty of the thing, you know. Like, what if I buy this thing, and I don’t like it. Now, I’m out of money, and I have this thing that I don’t like. We’ve all been there. Trust me. I bought Dionne Farris’ Wild Seed - Wild Flower album based on the “I Know” single. I had $17.99 CD, with one song I liked, and when the allure of the single wore off, I couldn’t find a CD Warehouse or Hastings to give me five dollars for it.

Dionne Farris and her record label and producers didn’t make a bad album. By most accounts, actual music people thought her album was great, and they’d probably pay $17.99 for the CD and extra for more of her work. At $17.99, it was too much for me. I liked the single. It’s a cool song. Unfortunately, it didn’t make me a fan. And, I was even more irritated that I paid nearly $20 dollars for the CD, and, then, I couldn’t get back a fraction of what I’d paid.

Ah, first world problems, right?

Comics suffer from a similar situation. At the moment, a regular comic ranges in price from $3-$5 depending on the title, the issue number (price’ll be higher for anniversary issues) , special variant covers, bagged with a card, or something else. So, if I’m a kid with five bucks in my pocket, and I go into a comic book store there’s not much I’m going to be able to get. One comic will wipe out my cash, and, if I don’t like the comic, then I’m going to feel like I wasted my $5, and I’m probably not going to buy any more.

The thing is, for most of us, comics were cheap and people weren’t depending on them to supplement their unborn child’s future college fund/wedding/major life expenses. Nope, comics were 75¢. So, if I bought one and didn’t like it, I was out maybe a dollar. There was low risk involved. I could afford $1. Even better, used book stores had older comics that were 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, or even 50¢.

Now, I get it. I’m sounding like one of those, “Well, back in my day…” old men talkin’ about how a haircut cost a dime, and gas was under $1 a gallon, and all that. I get it. I’m not saying increases in the price of a comic aren’t worth it or necessary. Today, the art is amazing, the paper that comics are printed on is nicer and thicker (in most cases), the colors are better. Everything that goes into making a modern comic book is worth the money.

For the already existing fan.

For a kid? Walking into a comic shop for the first time? If the issue they pick doesn’t blow them away or make them an instant fan, then they’re going to feel cheated and that they wasted their money.

For some people, that’s cool. The “Gate-Keepers” who don’t want to let anyone in, don’t want to share, want to make people prove their fandom by knowing obscure bits of trivia, but then feel it’s necessary to say things like, “Comics are dying because no one reads them.” 

Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

If there’s a desire to get comics into kids’ hands, have them read them, become fans, and preach the comics gospel later in life, then the looming threat of risk, or not getting their money’s worth, has to be lowered.

Easier said than done, right? Well, actually it is. However, there is one truth comic book collectors, including myself, have to come to terms with.

95% of the comics we bought as kids, and have held onto, aren’t worth their cover price. 

Even though this is a blog on the internet, I can hear the collective gasp.

Look, no one is going to pay $100 for West Coast Avengers #22. It’s not going to happen. Try it. Grab that issue. Throw it up on eBay for $50. It’ll sit there a long time. 

A long, long time.

But, sell West Coast Avengers #22 50¢? That’s no risk. If I’m a kid, I can easily part ways with 50¢ and not feel like I got burned. As opposed to spending $7.99 on an X-Men Hellfire Gala One-Shot that is going to require me to purchase 25 corresponding comics just to follow the main story. Not only did they just spend the equivalent of a movie ticket, now, they’re looking at having to make a substantial (in a kid’s perspective) investment in other titles costing just as much.

Think of how you became a fan of something. Chances are the initial entry into that fandom was pretty low cost.

“Hey, I’m a fan of Alice in Chains.”

“Wow! How did you become a fan of Alice in Chains.”

“I heard their song on the radio.” (for free)

“My buddy made me a copy of their cassette.” (blank cassette = 99¢)

“I saw their video on Headbangers’ Ball on MTV.” (free-ish. My parents paid the cable bill.)

Once I was a fan, then it was a no-brainer for me to drop $16.99 for the Facelift CD. And I bought the cassette, so I could listen to it in my car minivan. The cassette was $9.99 + tax. So, because I heard Alice in Chains for free on the radio, on MTV, and got a low cost and low risk cassette, they made nearly $30 off of me. 

Why? Because I was now a fan. I was a fan when Sap was released (bought it), Dirt (got it), Jar of Flies (yup, you guessed it, bought that one as well), the self-titled album and every album that followed on CD, mp3, and vinyl. They got me. They got me good.

And, at first, it didn’t cost me anything to hear Alice in Chains on the radio, watch the videos on MTV, or get a cheap copy from a friend.

But, when it comes to comics, people want to charge for entry. Those old comics that have been sitting in the back issue bin for the last five, ten, twenty years, will continue to sit there. Lower the price, help a kid become a fan, and watch them come back again, and again, and again, and again. Now, you got them. You got them good.

I didn’t become a Spider-Man fan because I was paying $5-$50 for old back issues. I became a Spider-Man fan because I was buying 10¢ and 25¢ copies of old Spider-Man comics. Then I wanted to read the modern adventures of Spider-Man, so going up to 75¢ for a new issue or even $1 wasn’t a big deal. Why? Because I was a fan? I was in it.

Now, years later, I’m still a Spider-Man fan. I still read Spider-Man, and I shell out $4.99 per issue to follow the story and there’s like eight different Spider-Man titles.

I get them all.

And I don’t regret it a bit.

Adventures in Ink will have a collection of inexpensive comics for kids to purchase, enjoy, and discover their fandom. 

Then, I’ll get ‘em.