Always bank on the superpowers

Comic book shops - home to high-flying heroes and colorful adventures - appear to be weathering the economic crisis better than many retailers.

"The conventional wisdom has long been that comics do well in a bad economy in that they are relatively cheap entertainment and they're escapism," said Mike Coco, manager of Bargain Comics in downtown Colorado Springs. In fact, comics first rose to popularity during the Great Depression.

But that doesn't mean they're immune to the current recession. And with some comics climbing in price even as the economy has people pinching pennies more than ever, comic book retailers are worried.

The typical price of a comic book, which decades ago sold for one thin dime, is $2.99.

But Marvel Comics, which along with DC Comics accounts for nearly 80 percent of the comics market, has priced a handful of ongoing titles and several limited series at $3.99.

"We're doing everything we can to ensure that the largest number of customers and retailers can continue to get a large majority of Marvel Comics at the standard $2.99 price," Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada said a few months ago in one of his "MyCup o' Joe" columns at MySpace.com.

But comic book retailers - and fans - still fear an industrywide increase could be in the works.

"If either Marvel of DC went to $3.99 across the board, the other would soon follow suit," said Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord, Calif., and president of ComicsPRO, a retailer organization. "I am really hoping that does not happen."

A price hike on top of the sour economy could lead some comic book shops to go out of business, he said.

After several years of solid sales growth, Field saw a drop in sales at his store of 6 percent to 8 percent in 2008. He said he blames that partly on the economy.

"I have lost a good number of long-time customers who were in the mortgage business," he said via e-mail. "When their jobs went away, so did their spending here."

Sales of comics and graphic novels reached $700 million in the U.S. and Canada in 2007, said Milton Griepp, chief executive officer of ICv2.com, which tracks the business of pop culture. Though figures for 2008 are still being collected, indications are that comic book shops generally are "holding up pretty well," he said.

Coco of Bargain Comics said his business has remained steady. But he, too, said he worries about the effects of a price increase, which could spur customers to cut back.

"Certainly as a consumer, $3.99 is a tougher pill to swallow. And then you have to go, ‘Am I still reading this just because I always bought it? Do I enjoy it all the time?'"

Thomas Polok, 26, of Colorado Springs has already scaled back his comic book buying.

Last month, his and his wife's employer announced 10 percent pay cuts because of the recession. So Polok has decided to cut the number of comic books he buys by half. He had been spending close to $100 monthly.

"I love comics and will continue to buy them, but I can't justify such a large expenditure when, if things get much worse, I might not be able to pay my mortgage," he said via e-mail.

The dismal economy is one reason Top Cow Productions, publisher of such titles as "Witchblade" and "The Darkness," recently pledged to hold the line at $2.99 for its comics through 2009.

"Fans and retailers are looking for an excuse to drop titles or reduce their monthly expenses, so let's not raise prices and give them just cause to do so," Top Cow's publisher, Filip Sablik, said in an e-mail.

The economic crisis is making it tougher for a new series to succeed as retailers tighten their belts and order more conservatively, Sablik said.

But overall, he said, the industry is doing OK - thanks mostly to what he calls "Wednesday warriors," those fans who show up at their favorite comic book store every Wednesday for new comics. "I think those hard-core fans are likely to find room in their budget for comics because it's their favored form of entertainment."

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CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or bill.radford@gazette.com.