I went to the Golden Apple yesterday because I decided that afternoon that I really wanted to get DK2 for some reason. I ended up going there around 7:30ish or so and while shopping around, I found that they were having a 10/$1 sale on about 12 or so long boxes of assorted back issues. And not just crap, but some really really good stuff. I ended up spending about an hour (until closing) rooting around and picking up some issues. I went back this afternoon and went through everything that was left (it started on Friday), and ended up spending $31. You do the math.
Some of my finds included: Electropolis, Terminal City, and Mister X (all by Dean Motter), almost every issue from #1-50 of Sandman Mystery Theatre, a host of The Books of Magic and other Vertigo books, and also a bunch of later Valiant issues (long after I stopped collecting).
Now, the point of all of this? Well, I suppose, that I would buy comics all the time if they were 10 cents a pop. I would buy stuff based on their cover and try something new. This of course, is the point that Scott McCloud tries to make everytime he’s given a talk or interview for the past several years. It’s really too bad that the industry hasn’t moved quicker onto the Internet, as they stand to benefit even more than the Music Industry for several reasons: 1) distribution costs are much higher due to paper costs. Barring legalization of industrial hemp (did you know the U.S. Constitution was printed on hemp?), costs aren’t going to go down. 2a) the comic industry loses way more money than the music industry, 2b) the comic industry is much smaller than the music industry; both of these give the comic industry much more impetus to try a new economic model. 3) the comic industry is overflowing with content, the majority of which comes out regularly, and is serialized.
For every 1 collector, I’m sure there are at least 10 who used to read comics, but don’t anymore because it’s impossible to keep up / too expensive. Just imagine the possiblities having a library or subscription model on that. I mean, the ability to catch up on old issues alone would spur so many new / recurring sales. For those so inclined, imagine being able to add say, the golden age DC books or the early Lee/Ditko books to your personal digital library for your personal browsing. Books that you’d never be able to read otherwise. Personally, I think it would work (especially for periodicals), but hey, what do I know.