| So I was going to spend
this week talking about 2.99 comics and the promise that
was dropped, big time, on both companies. I was going to
rage and rage about it but I can’t. I mean, I’m going
to, but that’s not all I’m going to talk about. That’s
for sure. So around
the world in October, a promise was made. DC made a big
fuss about changing their comics and giving the world
2.99 comics back. Hooray. We should all be so lucky.
Now, the problem with this change on DC’s part is they
are then changing all of the books to be 20 pages of
story/art content. That’s not that big of a deal for
some, but it is for me.
One of my favorite
on-goings: Invincible, is 20 pages. Every month. And it
always has been. Nothing has changed. It didn’t start at
22, it started at 20 and has kept going that way ever
since.
I never noticed because
the story was great. It was awesome. It was enjoyable
and I flew through it every month. I figured it was just
because I loved it so much that I flew through it. And
then the hard covers. It’s because the story is so good
that I fly through the thing.
Now, DC changing their
books (and it’s still not all of them, no matter what
they try to tell us) to 2.99 at 20 pages of content is a
stroke of bullshit. They’re taking away 2 pages of story
and art every single month, from the majority of their
comics, in order to save money. Why are they trying to
save money? They’re owned by Time Warner. What in the
world would cause them to need to save money? It’s
ridiculous. They’re taking money away from the creators,
they’re taking money away from the people who need it to
make a life for themselves.
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They are
basically then taking away story and art
from each of the ongoing comics. They have
37 Batman comics every month but they have
to save money by cutting pages. They have to
take away from your favorite monthly comic
and take a large chunk of your reading
pleasure away.
And they wonder
why people opt to steal their comics online.
I’ll get to comics piracy on another week,
because it’s the biggest crock of shit that
anyone could ever do. I’m not against music
piracy, per se, because the musicians still
make shitloads of money on concerts and
record sales and selling music on
commercials and for movies, but comics
piracy is much different.
Much, much
worse. And I’ll get to that, in time. But
this issue isn’t going away any time soon.
Neither is the problem with 2.99 comics. On
the flipside of the argument is Marvel. I’m
a Marvel Zombie, through and through, always
have been, always will be. But for fuck’s
sake, talk about dropping the ball.
Marvel
mentioned, around the same time, that they
would be changing their line of books to
reflect a change in price. We would see more
2.99 comics coming out. Never a mention of
line wide changes, but they would change
things. Don’t you worry about it. Now it’s
December, pushing January, but look, we have
how many 2.99 comics? Monthly? |
I’m not talking about
mini-series. I’m talking actual physical 2.99 monthly
comic books. Shield. Bi-monthly. Secret Warriors. Just
about over. I think issue 28 or 30 is it’s last issue.
Fantastic Four is right now. But lord knows if that will
change when one of the members dies.
Iron Man is jumping to
3.99. Wolverine is 3.99. Uncanny X-Men is 3.99. X-Men is
3.99. Thor is 3.99. Amazing Spider-man is 3.99. The
Ultimate books are 3.99. MAX books are 3.99. The
majority of Marvel’s line, in toto, is 3.99. And that
pisses me off. Like most comic readers, there is a line
in the sand drawn when they will not read their favorite
books.
I gave up on Wolverine at
3.99. I gave up on Uncanny X-men. I’m giving up on
X-men. I will be trade waiting for Iron Man and maybe
Thor. But the line in the sand for me was 2.99. And that
was still a very hard pill to swallow. Had they given me
3.25, I would have accepted it. I would have been
willing to go to 3.50. But a full dollar jump in a short
period of time caused me to drop New Avengers
IMMEDIATELY upon the change to 3.99, in the middle of a
story-arc I think.
And I didn’t care. I’d
had it. When comics jump to 3.99, there needs to be an
extension. Something offered to give me more bang for my
buck. Whether it’s a back-up story, a longer story, or a
bunch of short stories like in the annuals or the X-men
Unlimited type books, I love extra content.
Which is why I hate
taking away 2 pages from a monthly comic.
So when Marvel made their
“announcement,” I got super-excited. I could read
Wolverine, New Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, and all my
favorites that I had been reading since they started. I
could get back into books that I had stopped reading
monthly because the price of comics was taking a massive
chunk out of my ass. And my hope was quickly dashed when
I saw the solicits for November, then December, then
January, and then February. All of these books stayed
3.99, and even more were joining them.
I was interested in
giving some comics a chance if they changed to 2.99. But
staying at 3.99 means I’m a lot less willing to try
something new. And it’s a killer. It’s not fair. I love
comics. And I hate the way they’re priced. It’s complete
nonsense. Marvel is owned by Disney and they’re
completely frugal in the way they spend their money. You
have to spend money to make money, is the old adage, and
Marvel should be going out of their way to get new
readers or to get their readers back.
They need to be spending
all of their new money from Disney in saving the comics
world. In pulling it back from the brink, just like
Marvel did once upon a time, pulling itself out of
bankruptcy. Marvel needs to be on the frontlines, but
instead, they are falling quickly behind. 2.99 comics
need to be the be all end all of the pricing wars. If
all comics were 2.99, they would be an easier sell to
parents. They would be an easier sell to all of the old
comics readers who have lost their way.
| But that’s
not all. Instead of rage, let’s move to
something a little more fun. A lot more
exciting. And really REALLY fucking
enjoyable. Pardon my language, but X-MEN THE
ARCADE GAME IS FUCKING BACK!!!
This was THE
game that changed my life. This and the
Ninja Turtles Arcade Game were the two
games, besides Super Mario 3 that my
brothers and I played until our hands bled.
And X-Men the Arcade Game never was released
for any of the consoles.
Had it been,
you can bet your ass we would have bought
that specific console just for that game.
But it’s back. The game I went to arcades
searching out, the game I went and played at
airports and bowling alleys and tried to
obtain full arcade versions of for my house
and almost got a loan for once (no joke) is
out on the Playstation Network, and soon to
be X-Box Live. |
 |
But PSN got it first, and
I have a PS3, so I win. I’ve already played through it
twice. My childhood exploded on my HDTV and rocketed
into my face, and all I can say is my excitement knows
no boundaries.
I’ll probably play it at
least 3 more times before I hit the sack tonight. But
X-men the Arcade Game is out now for the PS3. I might
even do a review of the game for this website just
because it’s that good. It’s a chunk of my childhood and
it only cost 10 bucks.
What more could you ask
for? |
