Chris Walsh of Friendly Frank’s B-Bop Comics in Overland Park, Kansas read Ilan Strasser’s comments regarding DC Comics upcoming price increases (see “Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics and Games on DC Price Hikes”) and had this to say:

I read with some interest Ilan Strasser’s posting on DC price hikes.  As the shop foreperson at B-Bop Comics in Overland Park, Kansas, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about what’s coming “down the pipe.”  From going through Previews page by page, to surfing every comic news site of worth on a regular if not daily basis, I try and keep my ears open to the latest in the comic book world.  After all, my knowledge of the industry is a key part of what makes me valuable and helpful to the store owner.

So I’m a little shocked by Mr. Strasser’s comments.  Having googled for any further comments on an inevitable price hike from DC, I find the same few articles over and over again, all of them pertaining to a simple quartet of books that come out in August and a few retroactive re-pricings of previous issues of said series.  We’re talking about the new 32 page Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, American Vampire, Mighty Crusaders, and Time Masters: Vanishing Point.

Let’s break this down.  Stephen King is no longer going to be “hands on” with American Vampire, but it is more or less a licensed property.  Like all the Vertigo/Wildstorm books based on movies or video games, or even a 32 page creator-owned effort like Astro City, this is pretty common practice for DC and has been for over 2 years.

To my awareness, Mighty Crusaders was going to be on-going and then was changed to a miniseries.  It was also scheduled to be 40 pages at the new price point, last I knew.  Even if that’s not the case, I think we can safely say that most (if not all) the Red Circle characters will likely vanish after this book’s run is complete.  The same thing happened with the botched re-launch of Milestone as only Static remains in Teen Titans.

Time Masters, from issue #1 was to be a tie-in to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.  Given how that book sold at $3.99, it’s no shock that a tie-in miniseries would follow suit, especially a series containing notables like Green Lantern and Superman.

The one true worry of the group is the new Emerald Warriors title.  It’s pure and simple greed, with DC drinking from the Marvel well.  If one sells great, try two.  If two sell good, try four.  It’s a sad fact of the times that these trends will inevitably spread across the industry. 

My employer is already talking about what he perceives as an inevitable “implosion” at Marvel.  If one needs evidence, look at the recent gimmick promotion to have retailers ripping covers off unsold Siege and Second Coming tie-in issues in exchange for a Deadpool variant on the new Wolverine #1.  In one fell swoop, these coverless books become harder to recognize, all the more so because they’ll likely vanish into retailer’s 25 cent bins.  Meanwhile, Wizard will no doubt list the variant as THE HOT book in a month or two.

But, by the end of first quarter 2011, there’s every chance in the world that sales of Emerald Warriors and Green Lantern Corps combined won’t be what the numbers were for GLC alone coming off of Blackest Night.  One need only look at the expansion of Hulk into Incredible Hulk, both at $3.99.  Now in the July Previews we have received word that in addition to Hulk, the Incredible Hulk book will be coming out twice a month, and still at that handy $3.99 an issue.

As San Diego Comic-con approaches this week-end, all sorts of news is already leaking.  A new Knight and Squire miniseries, a new on-going Batman: the Dark Knight by David Finch, a group of Batman Returns one-shots bringing Bruce Wayne back to the fold.   Can we expect all of these titles to fall into the dreaded $3.99 category?  For the most part, probably (and sadly) yes.  Perhaps after issue #1, Mr. Finch’s new book will slide back into the regular $2.99 Batman fold, or perhaps it will be a 40 page book like Batman: Streets of Gotham or Justice League of America.  But trends have shown that Marvel is the industry leader and at the House of Ideas, miniseries and one-shots are routinely $3.99 and routinely make up half or more of the publishing slate.

Until we know for sure, however, I don’t see the good in pressing the panic button.  No “source” that I know of (including DC’s blog of that name) are proclaiming a sudden push to move DC’s entire line to Marvel’s price levels.  In point of fact, over the last two years, Marvel’s line has gone from about 30% at $3.99 to about 70% or more at $3.99 (and many books at MORE than $3.99!), all while constantly out-publishing DC some 100 titles to DC’s approximate 75-80 offerings.  In that same time, DC’s pricing has gone from about 15% of all titles line wide at $3.99 to just about 30%.   If DC is able to hold form for another 6-18 months, then my employer’s prediction of a Marvel implosion may not be so far fetched after all.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.