DC Comics has confirmed reports that it is moving to a $3.99 price point for some of its 32-page DC Universe and Vertigo imprint series effective July, following a week of speculation sparked by the release of the publisher’s August solicitations.
Bleeding Cool was the first to break the news that the publisher was not only following Marvel Comics’ lead in raising the price from $2.99 on selected titles, but doing so retroactively, adding an additional dollar onto the price of new series Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, Time Masters: Vanishing Point and The Mighty Crusaders, as well as increasing price on Vertigo’s American Vampire on its first issue not to feature a story by Stephen King. The confirmation given to Newsarama.com does not address the possibility of a retroactive price increase for those books.
Marvel have been offering 32 page comics at $3.99 since January 2009, and the majority of its line is now priced at that price point or above; at the time of the increase, there was much upset from comic fans when Marvel’s general counsel and EVP of the executive office said during a conference call that the move came in an attempt to maximize profits, (because many comic fans apparently forgot that Marvel is a business and businesses like to do things like “make a lot of money”).
As recently as December last year, DC co-publisher Dan Didio was telling journalists that DC would try and hold the $2.99 price for its 32 page comics as long as was possible. If the retroactive price hike turns out to be true, it will be the second time in two weeks that DC has significantly contradicted its own solicitations after release, following the retroactive cancellation of three months’ worth of CMX Manga books.
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